Knife life span.

Here is another very good link, it was started by me asking the question

Folder Longevity

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=543352&highlight=folder+longevity

I think if your buying something like a Sebenza or other high end knife that is made with good to excellent quality materials and good to excellent quality workmanship and you know how and more importantly when to sharpen the knife could easily be handed down to a son or other person for continued use and carry.

I know plenty of people that have carried one or several knives for decades, we don't live in the woods anymore and even those of us that spend a large amount of time outdoors, in the filed, in the bush, in and or on the water, etc. will probably have a hard time wearing out a knife of the quality referenced above in their lifetime.

Check out both links and there as there is some good stuff and I even think some pix in my thread.
 
Blade width (seems to me) would effect the longevity of a blade. I'm thinking something like a chef's knife could take many more sharpenings than a more narrow blade.

Am I correct in this thought? Or is it case of: normal use and proper sharpening on any quality blade should make it last a life time.
 
My parents still have one of the kitchen knives from well over 20 years ago, it looks like a fillet knife. Also the blade has bent sideways a little bit.

I'll snap some pictures with my phone when, I'll get a chance.
 
the "old knives" thread in the traditionals subforum has a bunch that have seen a ton of sharpening like that. and I know I've seen some pics of spydercos that are noticeably "narrower" because of heavy use/sharpening.
 
With the knowledge I've gained here I don't think I'll ever wear a knife out. I now use sharpening medium with different grits and ever more importantly I now use a strop. Using these methods I'm in more danger of losing a knife than using it up.
 
Used up knives were much more common in the paste than they are now. It's part sharpening methods, part the steel used, and part sheer use. Commercial operations which sharpen daily or weekly on grinding wheels use up blades fast. Many of the older kitchen knives were intentional made soft for easy user sharpening. You often run across Old Hickory and similar at flea markets with half the blade worn away from daily sharpening in a pullthrough sharpener of some sort. The housewife of years gone by used her knives three meals a day, and they got a lot of wear.

The problem is much less likely to arise today. We do not use our knives as much, the steels are generally more wear resistant, and those of us who take knives seriously are more sophisticated in our sharpening methods.
 
My solution to the problem (of a knife wearing out): I bought two. I have two Fallkniven A1's. I think even if I sharpened daily I couldn't go through two A1's in a life time. Also, one is a back up for loss or theft.
 
Some people miss the point.

With the exeption of knife knuts who obsess over thier cult worship item, Most working men thought of thier knives with little more feeling than a screwdriver. It's a cutting tool, no more. When it got worn out, they went by the feed store, or hardware store, and just bought another on like it.

To our grand fathers and they're generation, we're nut cases, who think a kjnife is something special.

It's just a cutting tool, and it's supposed to wear out if you use it and sharpen it a lot.

Least that's what I was told by more than one old timer.
 
jackknife said:
Some people miss the point.

With the exeption of knife knuts who obsess over thier cult worship item, Most working men thought of thier knives with little more feeling than a screwdriver. It's a cutting tool, no more. When it got worn out, they went by the feed store, or hardware store, and just bought another on like it.

To our grand fathers and they're generation, we're nut cases, who think a kjnife is something special.

It's just a cutting tool, and it's supposed to wear out if you use it and sharpen it a lot.

Least that's what I was told by more than one old timer.
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jackknife has it right, as he so often does.

Knives were — and are — tools: nothing more. Only we knife nuts imbue them with anything other than that.

I wrote early in this thread that I had worn knife blades down to almost nothing. Granted, it took a lot of years of repeated sharpening, but the fact is that if you use a knife — and sharpen it — long enough, you're going to wear it out. Any knife, bar none. Some may take longer than others to wear away, but if you use it, you lose it.

The only alternative is to hang it on the wall in a glass case and never use it — it'll last a long, long time that way. Me, I'm a user; when they wear out, I replace them.

YMMV
 
At the tender age of 53 I don't much worry about how long a knife will last. Cause I know it will last a lot longer than I will.
 
I have several knives that my father had in the 40's and carried until about 2005. I believe that most any current production knives will last at least two life times assuming it is not abused or neglected.
 
If you send it back to Benchmade's LIFESHARP, you can expect it to come back home 1/8" shorter after one sharpening. :eek: :mad: :thumbdn:
 
Silverdagger said:
If you send it back to Benchmade's LIFESHARP, you can expect it to come back home 1/8" shorter after one sharpening. :eek: :mad: :thumbdn:
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haha, good point! It happened to my AFCK. Guess you can only do that 15 or 20 times before you have no knife at all. Do you think they give you a new blade at that point?
 
It depends on what you cut and how often and what the steel is, etc...

I have "used up" 2 folding knives, both with 440A blades. One was a Smith & Wesson liner-lock, one was a Kershaw "Liner Action". It took about 2-3 years each of EDC

I also came close to using up a fillet knife with about 3 years of EDC, but the blade still had a few months wear left when it broke.

Now I have a few more knives so they don't see years of non-stop EDC, and the steel they are made from is better, so I can go longer between sharpenings...I probably have enough knives to last 20 years without needing to buy any new ones, but...
 
Mahoney said:
It depends on what you cut and how often and what the steel is, etc...

I have "used up" 2 folding knives, both with 440A blades. One was a Smith & Wesson liner-lock, one was a Kershaw "Liner Action". It took about 2-3 years each of EDC

I also came close to using up a fillet knife with about 3 years of EDC, but the blade still had a few months wear left when it broke.

Now I have a few more knives so they don't see years of non-stop EDC, and the steel they are made from is better, so I can go longer between sharpenings...I probably have enough knives to last 20 years without needing to buy any new ones, but...
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Did the blades wear out sooner than the liner locks?
 
BryFry said:
Yeah I've seen plenty of blades that have been ground away until they looked like ice picks.

I think that mostly results from poor choice of sharpening methods. There are plenty of guys who only use bench grinders, bastard files, xx course stones, or those horrid carbide pull through sharpeners! If one uses these kind of implements for a knife on a daily basis it's going to wear down pretty quick.

Though with propper care and easy use, I see no reason why most knives wouldn't last generations.
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extremely well said.

i own a few old small pocket knives that were sharpened more then used.
 
Those often sharpened sliver knives are quite handy for certain kitchen chores like coring quartered apples and pears. Their utility stems from the fact that they can turn a sharp corner.
 
My Dad sharpened many a knife down to a sliver but his idea of a sharpener was a file!
Pop was an old school plumber and his knife was a tool just like his pipe wrenches and channel lock pliers. They were simply there to get the job done. His pocketknives always had broken points,cracked scales and not infrequently popped pins. They were short lived indeed.
His hunting knife was another story. It was cared for and treasured. No rust or broken points there. I remember him telling me you keep your hunting knife for hunting not hacking brush or digging holes. He knew his son well!
 
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