Thomas W
Banned
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2005
- Messages
- 5,710
Don't forget hh's generosity as well.
-
The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Kershaw whiplash? any thoughts?
- Thread starter newknife
- Start date
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2001
- Messages
- 8,968
This should be good, two independent tests on the same model. I'm also interested in seeing how much the thin tang will take, stick tangs are a classic design, especially common in forged blades. It's the weak spot in the design, but we can get past speculation and see how well it will work with reported use. If Sal makes an 8Cr13MoV Mule, we can answer blade aficionado's question of the hole weakening the overall integrity (which it does to some degree) with similar steel.
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2007
- Messages
- 2,837
Obvious superiority of the round hole opener? To who? You?
Are you trying to speak for all of us?
Personally I don't find it obvious nor superior to a thumb stud or flipper.
"obvious superiority of the round hole opener"
Ah, never mind. That's just fanboy talk.....right?
For what it's worth, I plan on reviewing the Whiplash as well as soon as I can get my hands on one. I know how generous Thomas can be, and that's why I'm requesting that he not offer to send me one. I think I'll appreciate it more if I have to spend my own money on it. Kershaw has made very nice products, and I think this one will continue that effort. If not, I'll let you know.
Thanks for the compliment.
I'll be paying for the knife out of my own pocket, so if I break it, it won't be on purpose. I trust that Kershaw did a good job as usual, but I'll have to get the knife to see. That old thing where if I don't have the knife, I can't review it, you know?
- Joined
- Sep 29, 2008
- Messages
- 10,394
How does that sound like what I'm saying?
Obvious superiority of the round hole opener? To who? You?
Are you trying to speak for all of us?
Personally I don't find it obvious nor superior to a thumb stud or flipper.
"obvious superiority of the round hole opener"
Ah, never mind. That's just fanboy talk.....right?
Maybe it was a little fanboy-ish, but when you see the patent expire and suddenly it appears all over another popular knife maker's line of knives, there has to be something special about it right?
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2007
- Messages
- 2,837
Again, obvious, superior or special to who, and why? Because you think so.....
"Maybe it was a little fanboy-ish" Maybe? .........
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2001
- Messages
- 8,968
Make no mistake, I'm not going to 'review' it, I am just interested in seeing at what angle of flex it breaks. I have no question of build quality, steel, or heat treat, or the highly subjective ergos. Just how the notch affects lateral strength. I may do some batoning, will see what the other tests present first. Will probably pick up one or two other models of stick tang knives in the same price range and break them in the same way. I don't think the notch is too bad, should really do no worse, but we will see.
- Joined
- Sep 29, 2008
- Messages
- 10,394
Obvious superiority was the wrong choice of words.
To rephrase: "With the widespread implementation of the round hole opener across several knife companies, wouldn't any inherent weaknesses (i.e. strength, durability) have surfaced by now?"
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2009
- Messages
- 1,185
You said fold a piece of paper into a circle, you'd be surprised how strong circles are. But if a circle is missing, it doesn't make the blade any better. The strength or circles are irrelevant, it's the absence if the circle that represents the strength, not how strong the circle is when folded in paper.
- Joined
- Sep 29, 2008
- Messages
- 10,394
Look at how simple bridges are built, half circle right? Why not straight across or in a narrow V?
The circle is present, it's around that big empty space. I wasn't saying it made the blade better, I was saying it doesn't make it noticeably worse.
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2001
- Messages
- 8,968
A hole in a piece of steel makes it weaker, a round hole doesn't concentrate the stress the way an irregular one would, but still weakens it. If I had a spare mule, I would break it too. Maybe Sal could chime in, Spyderco does a lot of testing and discusses it openly, perhaps they've already checked it out. Personally, I would rather they didn't use the round hole on fixed blades. No functional application, some (no matter how little) loss of blade integrity, and the bug TM is enough to identify the maker.
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2007
- Messages
- 2,837
I'm not hating on Spiderco. Sal makes great knives, as well as BM and Kershaw.
I own a few. I'm just wondering why the "hole" makes them obviously superior.
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2009
- Messages
- 4,573
Wait for my review, SPXTrader. I think you'll find exceedingly fair, and as impartial as it's possible to be. I may laugh at a design shown on the web, but when I review the actual knife, I will do so fairly. I will not set out to break it, nor will I baby it. If it breaks, you'll know why. If it surprises me and proves stronger than I expect, you'll know that, too. Contrary to what you apparently believe, I have no axe to grind here: I'll call it as I see it -- and as you'll see it too. If I were to set out with making the knife fail, then I would be a failure, too, and no one would -- rightly -- trust any of my reviews in the future.
I'll tell you everything I like about the knife, and everything I don't like. I think the chances are that all three reviews will be fairly close. I may miss something that one of the others picks up on, of visa versa, but you'll have a good idea of what the knife is ... or isn't.
Wait for my review before judging.
I'll tell you everything I like about the knife, and everything I don't like. I think the chances are that all three reviews will be fairly close. I may miss something that one of the others picks up on, of visa versa, but you'll have a good idea of what the knife is ... or isn't.
Wait for my review before judging.
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2008
- Messages
- 4,066
Brad, make no mistake. I am a huge fan of Kershaw, but I am also a fan of Spyderco as well. I have nothing to gain or lose by doing an impartial test. Like I said before, pictures don't lie. I'll be taking pictures, or have someone taking pictures, while I'm running the knife through the gauntlet. As far as the actual review goes, I pretty much plan on writing what you'll be seeing in the pictures. If the knife fails then it fails, but I don't think it will. I don't know how to do the test that HH is talking about so if the knife is still intact after my test perhaps I'll send it to him to do the stress test with the vise and all.
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2001
- Messages
- 8,968
Now, I don't want guys breaking all their knives. I'll just fix the knife in place, measure the force applied and the amount of deflection, and increase force until the blade breaks. If anyone wants to repeat it to verify numbers, that would be great, but please don't go wasting your money. I just really hate speculation, good or bad. Let's get some measurements up, and a few to make comparisons to.
I'm sure it's good enough and I'm sure it sucks are not good ways to tell someone about a knife, or anything else, especially without actual knowledge of what you're talking about.
I'm sure it's good enough and I'm sure it sucks are not good ways to tell someone about a knife, or anything else, especially without actual knowledge of what you're talking about.
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2002
- Messages
- 131
Although this thread seems to be going down a new path of holes. . . Here's something that my dad wrote up today. . .We both are looking forward to some reviews from people that have had a chance handle the knife.
"Hi folks,
Grant Hawk here, I'm the guilty party responsible for the design of the Whiplash fixed blade. I've been reviewing the various comments regarding the Whiplash and especially the apparent weakness of the narrow tang section at the finger groove. I have to agree that a full tang knife will have a higher ultimate breaking strength than that of a narrow tang knife. Narrow tang knives, such as those fighting knife designs, that were in common use during World War II are not new, so we do have some history to draw from. I don't know what percentage of those knives came home from that war with broken handles, but whatever that percentage is, the same percentage probably applies to the Whiplash as well. The narrow tang knives of that era were not made stronger by a handle covering of stacked leather washers, but because the narrow tang couldn't be seen it was probably less of an issue.
The first objective of the Whiplash design was to provide for a simple, quick and easy method of storing the lanyard when the knife is in the sheath or the lanyard is otherwise not needed. Lanyards are sometimes very important. Such as when working over water or high above the ground, other times, when dangling from the handle of the sheathed knife they can be a major hassle. The Whiplash design is intended to resolve that dilemma for the user who often finds a lanyard useful but more often finds it objectionable. As to the unusually deep grooves of the thumb rest, the thinking was that by extending the reach of the grooves along the plane of the blades' flat side, some additional purchase and therefore some additional control, would be available to the thumb when in contact with the flat. That feature would only be most useful in those cases where precision control is important.
I never expected the overall look of the Whiplash to inspire such a level of controversy. I just hope the mall ninjas come out of this alive."
Gavin
"Hi folks,
Grant Hawk here, I'm the guilty party responsible for the design of the Whiplash fixed blade. I've been reviewing the various comments regarding the Whiplash and especially the apparent weakness of the narrow tang section at the finger groove. I have to agree that a full tang knife will have a higher ultimate breaking strength than that of a narrow tang knife. Narrow tang knives, such as those fighting knife designs, that were in common use during World War II are not new, so we do have some history to draw from. I don't know what percentage of those knives came home from that war with broken handles, but whatever that percentage is, the same percentage probably applies to the Whiplash as well. The narrow tang knives of that era were not made stronger by a handle covering of stacked leather washers, but because the narrow tang couldn't be seen it was probably less of an issue.
The first objective of the Whiplash design was to provide for a simple, quick and easy method of storing the lanyard when the knife is in the sheath or the lanyard is otherwise not needed. Lanyards are sometimes very important. Such as when working over water or high above the ground, other times, when dangling from the handle of the sheathed knife they can be a major hassle. The Whiplash design is intended to resolve that dilemma for the user who often finds a lanyard useful but more often finds it objectionable. As to the unusually deep grooves of the thumb rest, the thinking was that by extending the reach of the grooves along the plane of the blades' flat side, some additional purchase and therefore some additional control, would be available to the thumb when in contact with the flat. That feature would only be most useful in those cases where precision control is important.
I never expected the overall look of the Whiplash to inspire such a level of controversy. I just hope the mall ninjas come out of this alive."
Gavin