Is there such a thing as an indestructible knife?

golok

golok

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Oct 20, 2000
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Maybe I should qualify that and say "near indestructible" knife. I have often heard people say that such-and-such a knife cannot be broken.

I take that to mean that a particular knife will not be chipped, bent out of shape or simply broken despite strenuous efforts to abuse it to the point of no return.

It is my humble opinion that some knives can be wonderfully made and earn the label "high performance knives" so as to be virtually indestructible, within reasonable limits. Of course, if one is determined to put "an end" to it, it will be broken, one way or another.

What I am saying is if a knife is just used in the normal course of events, meaning in hunting, skinning, chopping or whatever that calls for a knife, it won't break, chip, or be dulled easily.

Anyway, how does one arrive at a verdict where a knife truly earns the title "indestructible"?
 
I would have to say that the Swamp Rat Battle Rat and the Himalayan Imports Ang Khola are as near indestructable as you can get.

EDIT: I thought I was in Blade discussion...:footinmou

There are probably custom makers that can produce "nearly indestructable" knives, but I don't think too many people want to abuse their customs like that.
 
There are lots of custom knives that would meet your definition of nearly indestructible. As long as they are used for what a knife is meant to be used for many knives will last more than one lifetime. It is when people start to use them as prybars, screwdrivers or whatever that damage could be done. Use a knife for what it was designed for and any properly made knife should out last you.
 
Yes any knife can be broken, an argument often used to defend those knives which break very easily because with enough care and skill you can avoid breaking any knife. Of course this type of logic also allows for the defense of knives that cut really poorly as any knife can cut anything if you apply enough force. Really abrasive and insecure handles can be defended as if your hands are tough enough and your grip strong enough you can make anything work.

Some knives are far more durable than others as the makers (or manufacturers) take care to insure that the steel was properly selected and heat treated so as to insure the necessary functional level of durability. Such knives tend to get called indestructible because it takes extreme levels of stress to do any functional damage and they can do things that other knives can not. These are knives that can easily withstand loads of 200+lbs applied to the handle, take repeated impacts on the spine from a framing hammer, chisel cut through bone and nails etc. .

-Cliff
 
We've all seen lots of ads where full integral knives out of A2 and such are pressed through steel...but they are made in a fashion that maximizes their ability to do that, but not necessarily be a good cutting tool.

Of course no knife is INDESTRUCTIBLE...but I think in keeping a very good cutting tool and approaching indestructible...would be a properly forged and heat-treated blade of L6 with micarta handle.

Just some thought...
Nick
 
Hey Nick, that sounds just like the next project I have in mind for you! ;) :D
 
Randall Models 14, 15, and 16. Am I allowed to say the "R" word on this forum?
 
...from David at CQC Tactical Knives, an owner of a Greco fulltang fixed blade clamped it up in his vise and proceded to try to bend/break it and was successful.........in pulling the workbench from the wall!! Upon reinstalling the workbench onto the wall, he kept after the Greco until he finally got it to break in two. This was told to me in good faith as true and from what I've seen of John Greco's work I, for one, wouldn't discount it's veracity!

Larry S.
 
Nothing is indestructible. Take the hardest material known so far, the diamond. It will not be scratched by any other material except a harder diamond (not all diamonds have the same hardness). It will break if hit from the right direction, but if it's cut right you won't break it. Even this material has weakneses:
1. it transforms (slowly) into graphite
2. it burns and transforms into CO2

For any material/object someone will figure out a way to destroy it.
Any knife will break or bend. Even in normal use, it will wear eventually. A good knife will perform good for the task it was ment. It won't break, bend, chip or dull too fast under "normal" use, even if it's put to hard work.
 
I don't know if you could call them "indestructible", but I do know for a fact that no Tim Herman knife has ever been returned due to damage or refinishing. :D

Keep up the good work Tim!
 
I once knew a reliability engineer who had a sign right on his desk "Anything you can make, I can break". It's true.

We see a knife made out of .25 inch steel to be tough, "bombproof", and semi-indestructable. Truth is, a quarter inch of steel isn't all that much once you start looking at things other than knives.

A given amount of a given material can only take so much force before it breaks. No amount of maker's skill can change that fact. The skill is what allows the knife to still be an efficient cutting tool while being strong enough to handle any reasonable task that will come its way.
 
Golok,

Yes, but you'll have a hard time getting them away from Wolverine...:D

Hey, Phil! Are you planning on making it to Blade this year?

-Jose
 
Originally posted by Jose Reyes

Hey, Phil! Are you planning on making it to Blade this year?
Click to expand...

Jose, I'm there...21 days and a wake up :D

How about you?
 
I make several models of solid 440C integrals that are for all intents and purposes indestructable. This is not to say that a really determined individual could not do damage to them but in normal use they won't fail.
 
Originally posted by PhilL
I don't know if you could call them "indestructible", but I do know for a fact that no Tim Herman knife has ever been returned due to damage or refinishing. :D

Keep up the good work Tim!
Click to expand...

ROFLMAO! Now THAT's funny :D

I'd put my money on a Rinaldi Armageddon though :)

RL
 
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