Knife Testing

blgoode

blgoode

Joined
Oct 3, 2003
Messages
7,189
Well....after finally learning to read my etches it looks like I am getting my blades a tad hot in the HT. (Not to the point where they wont hold an edge or even the average guy can tell.) So I decided to do some testing on a blade yesterday. :D I put a hairpopping edge on it and went to the woods....

The blade is from 1/8" 0-1 4.5" drop/spear point thats been differentially HTed. I started off by doing what I did when I was a kid....throwing that sucker and watching it fly off trees and even stick from time to time. What I was trying to test was the tip. Ground thin and never broke or bent. Then I went with a batton at some 3" dia pine. not the soft stuff but hard limbs. Went through a few of these fairly fast. Then I kept on chopping. Vines (no problem), brush...no problem(consitering the 4.5" length), then more harder limbs.

No Chips and still shaves :D

Next for the kitchen. I took this blade, that had no etch to minimise the stain, and went to work on peeling some potatoes, cutting roast my dear wife made.
Worked like a charm and I NEVER retouched the blade from the first sharpening. The wost thing for the edge up to this point was the ceramic dish that the roast was in.
All I can say at this point is good job Brian. I'll get some photos up and continue the testing on this lil', painters tape wrapped handle, 0-1 blade.

Any one want to give me testing ideas that are real world conditions?
 
drop it on a hard floor... act like a clutz and let it fall or fumble out of your pocket...... not that I do this or anything :D :rolleyes:

pry some nails out of old lumber cuz you're too cheap to buy new lumber! (once again not me!) hahahaha

last but not least, pop a few tops with it! the thing here is you have to drink the beer too! after a few of those I'm sure you will come up with all kinds of ideas lol

:D
 
I'll pop a few cans tonight and see what the results are ;) Has to be a soft drink though :grumpy: I'll look for some nails while I am at it...
 
blgoode said:
I'll pop a few cans tonight and see what the results are ;) Has to be a soft drink though :grumpy: I'll look for some nails while I am at it...
Click to expand...

get some dads root beer, gotta be glass bottles, see who wins the fight, the edge or the bottle... :D
 
Yesterdays photoes show what this blade did to a cucumber without the use of a cutting board, slicing potatoes, and meat. No problem with any of them.

Well....here is my test continued. What I did today was chop through a dried 2" tree. This was no dryrotted wood for sure. It took plenty of wacks to get through. Keep in mind I did this same task through 3 yesterday as well as smaller brush and went to work on peeling cucumbers and potatoes like butter.
So far she is still shaving so thats a good sign ;)

Now to push this blade like no one normally would. Say your cought in a car, plane, whatever. First off this is 1/8" steel. Not the steel thickness I want if I am I am in a survival situation just because it is more flexable and thinner than I'd like if one blade is all I would have with me.
 
Now on to the good stuff. To make this blade fail....
In doing this test I can say I would have loved to have had this blade(If I didnt kill it). This blade did not fail because I didnt make it good enough...it failed because I made it fail. You shall see......

Next time your near a folding chair wrap your nuckles against it. Hurts huh? Well, with baton in hand I went to cut a hole in one ;) The blade didnt chip as fast as I thought it would. I was halfway through with the hole before the major damage was done. I was pleased to say the least ;)

I knew the 1/8" steel would break if I pushed it to do so so in the end I was glad to see that the grain was fine and smooth. Just like it should be. TEst went well IMHO.....It was fun too :D
 
Here is the grain. Maybe Mete or someone can shed light into this. The grain was small and satin along the edge. I was happy about that. Would have made a nice knife :D
 
Hi Brian,

How was Trackrock? Sounds like some good testing that you are doing there. Now you can show your customers the pics and tell em that your blades can take the punishment. That always makes people feel better about spending the bucks on a custom blade.

Chuck Fogarty
 
Trackrock missed you my friend. I wish you could have made it. We had a good time. I was damn surprised that that knife edge cut a hole in steel that was thicker than it self. MAde me feel better about the blades I am making. I need to come HT with you sometime when I am cought up...whenever that is!
 
For those who arent members...here's the knife and here is the hole in a folding chair. Just before I broke the blade to look at the grain structure ;)
handsizedriedtree_knife.jpg

chair_hole.jpg
 
Glad to see your testing, I know it can be painfull to destroy a knife you've got time and effort in, but it does let you know where your at and just what a good knife if capable of.
 
I know what you mean Will. The edge did receive chips but not because the steel was brittle. The thickness of the chair seat was just that tough. It made what can goods are packed in look like plastic. I was very happy to see that the tip did not fail. Sure it became dull, but I used this knife like a can opener on that chair. The knife edge almost had a silky look to it when I put the enitial edge on. What I am going to do now is etch the blade fragments and "read" the etch to get a better understanding of what my future etches will "read" back to me. :D
 
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