Lifespan of a knife--what am I doing wrong (or right)

yablanowitz said:
They figured that lifespan on an average person having only one knife, using it every day for everything they did, whether it was whittling soft wood, scraping dried mud off their shoes or cutting asphalt shingles. They figured that person would have little or no sharpening skill, and would likely be using a bench grinder as their primary sharpening tool. Trust me, I know some of those people, and 3 to 4 years is pushing it. I've known guys that would wear out a knife in three to four months. For every knife knut who gets 50 years out of a blade there are a hundred who get less than one. Most of them have no idea that you can thin out the main grind and make the knife usable again, so once their 50° edge bevels have gotten wider than the spine of the blade, they figure it's shot and time for a new knife.
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My Uncle was "that guy". I have known many that are "that guy". My Uncle was careful to always use the "fine" wheel on his grinder when grinding a knife so he could get a good edge. My grandfather thought a knife was a screwdriver, mini pry bar, scraper, lever, awl, and sometimes even a cutting device. He sharpened his on a grinder as well. Both could and did grind their knives to a nub in short order.

With me on the other side of that coin, I have a couple of old CASE knives that have another few lifetimes in them. One I personally bought new in 1976, and it still has 90% of its steel, even though it was my only work knife for about 3 years. Proper sharpening and care will extend the life of any knife, even if it is used daily on a job site for all kinds of nasty tasks.

For most of today's folks that open packages, cut fruit, a steak, whittle, cut a string here and there, and other stuff along those lines I think a good knife should last many decades with just a bit of care.

Robert
 
I think the life span f a blade can vary wildly from 2 years to a lifetime. All depends on how the knife is treated and how it's used in the owners lifestyle. I've seen a knife go 40 years and I've seen a knife go 2 years. My old man was a suit wearing Washington D.C. guy, didn't hunt after the war, but fished. His knife got only light use, opening mail, cutting string, slicing up some chicken liver when he went what he called 'catfish hunting', whittled a hot dogs stick, and once in a while opened a package. As a result of the light use, his knife lasted from his going off to college to the late 1970's when he retired it.

On the other hand there's my friend Chet. Chet is a knapper. He loves to knap flint and obsidian into arrow heads which he hunts with, small knives that he actually uses to skin the game he gets with his primitive archery. He even makes very pretty arrow heads to go on western style string ties for dress occasions with brained leather ties. But Chet is hell on pocket knives. He cuts all manor of stuff, scrapes, pries, pokes and prods, and does abuse a knife because he doesn't buy very expensive knives. We, his friends know that because we see what he has at our Friday morning b breakfasts. Chet is a very enthusiastic user of Rough Rider pocket knives, and he kills one about every two years. We've seen him with RR peanuts, RR trappers, RR barrows, RR stockmen. Chet uses his pocket knives for everything because it's there in his pocket. He sharpens it up on stone steps or the side of a brick building. Chet is the textbook case of a man who doesn't care about pocket knives, but nows he needs one, so he buys a low cost one to abuse to death until he needs to buy a new one.

Those are the extremes of knife owners. From one who held the knife in great esteem because his mother gave it to him as he was leaving, the other who just uses the liven' dog poo out of it and when it's worn out, doesn't feel bad about tossing it in the trash can or river and buying a new one. In France, the Opinel's are sold in boxes to farmers and workers in vineyards as a disposable knife. It was never designed to be an object of love and art and carved into al kinds of art works. Or the knife in general, which has a obsessed cult following like us here on a internet forum that is devoted to knives. The rest of society feels we are the nuts. But since we hold knives so dear, it would never occur to us to abuse one and kill it in a two year period. But I see my friend Chet do this regular. I saw my fellow GI's do it in months. They had a box full of the demo knives and TL-29's in the supply room, so they were treated like a cheap screw driver or putty knife. If it broke, they got new one from supply. If they broke up too many in a month the supply sergeant would chew them out a bit. Look at all the people who use a 1.99 serrated steak knife for anything. They don't care about it. If it breaks, they just buy another one. They don't care. We do. That's a big difference right there.
 
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jackknife said:
I think the life span f a blade can vary wildly from 2 years to a lifetime. All depends on how the knife is treated and how it's used in the owners lifestyle. I've seen a knife go 40 years and I've seen a knife go 2 years. My old man was a suit wearing Washington D.C. guy, didn't hunt after the war, but fished. His knife got only light use, opening mail, cutting string, slicing up some chicken liver when he went what he called 'catfish hunting', whittled a hot dogs stick, and once in a while opened a package. As a result of the light use, his knife lasted from his going off to college to the late 1970's when he retired it.

On the other hand there's my friend Chet. Chet is a knapper. He loves to knap flint and obsidian into arrow heads which he hunts with, small knives that he actually uses to skin the game he gets with his primitive archery. He even makes very pretty arrow heads to go on western style string ties for dress occasions with brained leather ties. But Chet is hell on pocket knives. He cuts all manor of stuff, scrapes, pries, pokes and prods, and does abuse a knife because he doesn't buy very expensive knives. We, his friends know that because we see what he has at our Friday morning b breakfasts. Chet is a very enthusiastic user of Rough Rider pocket knives, and he kills one about every two years. We've seen him with RR peanuts, RR trappers, RR barrows, RR stockmen. Chet uses his pocket knives for everything because it's there in his pocket. He sharpens it up on stone steps or the side of a brick building. Chet is the textbook case of a man who doesn't care about pocket knives, but nows he needs one, so he buys a low cost one to abuse to death until he needs to buy a new one.

Those are the extremes of knife owners. From one who held the knife in great esteem because hs mother gave it to him as he was leaving, the other who just uses the liven' dog poo out of it and when it's worn out, doesn't feel bad about tossing it in the trash can or river and buying a new one. In France, the Opinel's are sold in boxes to farmers and workers t vineyards as a disposable knife. It was never designed to be an object of love and art and carved into al kinds of art works. Or the knife in general, which has a obsessed cult following like us here on a internet forum that is devoted to knives. The rat of society feels we are the nuts. But since we hold knives so dear, it would never occur to us to abuse one and kill it in a two year period. But I see my friend Chet do this regular. Look at all the people who use a 1.99 serrated steak knife for anything. They don't care about it. If it breaks, they just buy another one.
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This sums this whole thread in a nutshell. :thumbup: :)
 
Markesharp said:
This sums this whole thread in a nutshell. :thumbup: :)
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+1 and it brought me pleasure to see that he had enough wisdom to use cheap knives for his hard use knives.

I generally use my knives for cutting only.

I usually grab my Utility knives, scraper tools, small pry bars, and an assortment of hammers for my hard use tools.

I have a lot of knives - new and old. I have more small hand tools than knives - for the tough work. ;)

If I did not own many tools, I would opt for a Scout type of hard use knife. I do have a couple old beaters though.
 
I read somewhere that the average lifespan of a Remington knife, as stated by the Remington cutlery company, was approximately 3 years.

That still makes me sad thinking of all the vintage Remingtons out there that were worn away before I could take a gander at them...
 
Generally speaking my pocket knives see daily, light-duty use. Rarely is there a day where my knife doesn't get used anywhere from once to several times in a day for light tasks. But that said, I use the right tool for the job. When I know ahead of time that I'll be performing rough tasks, then the yellow Sodbuster Jr (I only have one) goes into my LFP along with my change, nail clippers, keys, lucky silver dollar, etc. It's my down-n-dirty working knife - I don't fret over it in the least. It gets "run hard and put away wet" as they say in the equestrian world (not really wet, but you get the idea). The large Case 6375 Stockman is next in line for heavy-duty pocket knife tasks. If things really are abusive then a stout fixed blade or disposable razor knife is far more appropriate at that point.

How you sharpen the knife is perhaps the biggest factor in it's long term life span. Any grinder is abusive. Even stones aren't always necessary if you strop often enough and properly. But proper use of the right stones should still give you years of service from a good blade.
 
The sheepsfoot blade on this 32 year old Case is it's most used blade.As a powerlineman I used it to strip insulation off wires attatched to the low voltage side of pole mounted transformers,stripping insulation and penciling when making splices on underground cables,and cutting kites and kite string out of powerlines.Not typical uses and very hard on a sharp edge,thus pretty aggressive sharpening was sometimes needed to remove the nicks from the edge and the kick has had to be filed down twice over the years to keep the tip from being exposed when closed.The clip blade is also much thinner now but the spey blade has only been used for cutting yearling bulls(hence the name spey)and skinning a few squirrel,rabbit,and bird skins that were to be tanned for use in my fly tying,and it looks almost the same as it did when new with the exception of the THE FOR FLESH ONLY etch being lost to time.The shoulders of the two most used blades were lowered using sandpaper in 1999 when the loss of metal made the bevels too thick and though well used it still has a lot of utility left.So I think the lifespan of a pocketknife is at least 30 years even when used hard and sharpened frequently.This pic shows how loss of metal on the sheepsfoot can leave the tip exposed when the blade is closed and the kick can be filed to allow it to sit lower when closed.This knife has also had the bolsters squeezed in a vise to alleviate blade play that resulted from hard use(abuse).

 
Good post, willis. I've been thinking about this recently as I'm an axe person and just recently started acquiring serious knives. When I first started with axes I heard something of a 3-hour rule: after three hours of fairly hard use you should sharpen your axe. I followed this rule fairly closely. It seemed in three to four hours of cutting birch, spruce, fir, and a little maple I would at the most need to sharpen a Gransfors axe with a fine or even very fine stone for 5-10 passes, and then strop. Or even strop one day and sharpen slightly the next.

Mind you, this was to keep an absolutely perfect edge. It seems I've gone a week or two with only stropping as well. And I don't think steel loss is at all noticeable to the eye on my main axe.

My question then, for those more experienced than me, are we talking about fairly coarse stones here? And is there a possible benefit in regular sharpening with a high-grit stone? My feeling is that if you do not care for the blade there is greater potential for chipping and rolling, but I could be mistaken. When using a medium stone to take chips out of used axes it can take a long time to remove material. So how long would it really take to wear away the steel on an axe or knife with fine stones?
 
Willis--
My grandfather was a lineman for many years before he moved into management. And since he only carried his one Case jack, I'm sure he must have used it similarly. The pen blade on his knife does have a proud tip. I have not lowered the kick as I want to keep the knife in the same condition he left it in.

Great replies, everyone. And Carl, I think you hit the proverbial nail on the head.
 
That's just the thing isn't it? As enthusiasts we here tend to have a selection of stones and sharpening methods. We try to take as little metal off as possible, in order to extend blade life. It's normal to use an Arkansas or Japanese waterstone, followed by a strop. That's not typical. Most people use some generic $5 stone, if they sharpen their knives at all. Those stones are invariably coarse and low quality, but they can still put a sharp (albeit ugly) edge on a blade. How likely is it that someone will spend money on a quality stone when they refuse to do so on a quality knife?

- Christian
 
The one in my pocket is going on a solid 7 years, and still strong. I use it for everything.
It would only be a compliment to me if I wear one out. I once said to a friend about one
of my double shotguns- I suppose the triggers will go first. He said it will only be compliment
to you if you ever wear it out. He was right.
Ken.
 
According to LG4, in 1931 Remington did a survey and found that the average half life for pocketknives was two years. That year they produced 10,000 knives/day. And in 1940 Imperial was producing 100,000 knives PER DAY. That is a lot of knives.

As has been noted, you had the whole range of knife owners - some who hardly used them and babied them, and some who abused them horribly. And in between countless people who used them every day. Remember that the majority of the knives then were not heat treated as hard as a GEC (probably low 50s RC for most) and the softer blades required frequent sharpening. And, judging from some of the well-used antique knives that I have, more than a few people were not gentle during the sharpening operation.
 
Blades have three grinds, hollow, flat and saber with a variety of spine thickness. With that said, the thicker spines were work knives and sharpened on anything to put an edge on and keep going. The medium to smaller gentlemen type knives were sharpened, along with the straight razors used to shave a mans beard, more carefully and were stropped on leather for sharpness. This is what I have seen on knives from the early 1900's. This seems to be the rule and there are exceptions.
Case stamped an "X" on their first heat treat and another "X" prior to final heat treat back in 1904. Hardness is not a factor........the knife owner is.
 
I think that, while the user is the dominant factor, hardness is also in there somewhere.
The softer the blade, the more frequent the sharpening.
 
I inherited one of my grandfather's pocket knives a few years ago.

An old Western Barlow. I have no idea how old it is.

My grandfather died 23 years or so ago.

It was old when he died. I remember him using it when I was just a little child.














My grandfather was a Boeing Mechanic in their heyday, and a farmer for my entire life and nearly my own father's whole life.

This knife still has many years left in it.
 
knarfeng said:
I think that, while the user is the dominant factor, hardness is also in there somewhere.
The softer the blade, the more frequent the sharpening.
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I still have my older knvies from 50 years ago with the scratch pattern of these 'fine' carbarandum stones
They look like course stone compared with the fine or extra-fine stone I have now

Case left their blade softer for easy sharpening
Regular sharpening on a 'fine' carbarandum stone of these softer steel means very fast blade wear

So 2 to 3 years for a knife in daily use by a farm hand or construction worker is reasonable
 
Here is a knife I bought a few years ago. It was most likely sharpened until the tips protruded above the handle. and so the owner ground down the kicks. Eventually there was no more kick to grind, and he then ground out reliefs in the handle to access the blades. I don't know how long it took to reach this state, but I believe if you bought a knife during the depression, you didn't just replace it if you could possibly make it usable.



I like to carry and use it, as the blades are like x-actos. If I'm careful, I think it could last for many years yet.

Of course, as others have said, there are those who use a knife up much, much faster.
 
I think some people sharpen to much, they over again their blades when all they really need is a quick steel or swipe on the strop. Just my opinion, as far as wearing out, I've never done it in Mark 50 years of carrying a blade.
 
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