O1 Knife Test

[General Specific]

Hi all. I've finally been inspired to beat the hell out of one of my knives to see if I'm creating crap or the shizznit. I had to cut the testing short due to my ever-loving wrists and shoulder wearing out on me, but not before getting a lot of chopping done. The knife is 5/32" O1 steel. With OAL of about 10", blade about 5 3/4". Overall weight I can only guesstimate at around 7 oz. Began by batoning a (Poplar?) log into 6 pieces. Still shaving sharp. Then chopped 2x4 in half with all the skills God reserves for retarded Ninjas. You can see how far off I was when trying to meet in the middle:grumpy: Could still shave hair but definitely not as sharp as before. After that I jammed the knife into the 2x4, 3 or 4 times and levered it sideways to pop out a plug of wood. There was no breakage and no warping found afterwards. The tree is where my wrists and shoulder refused to go on. I'm sure the knife could have finished the job, but by then I was chopping like a girl and the 80 year old next door neighbor was probably getting a good chuckle, so I called it a wrap. I'm really happy with the performance of the O1. Never would have believed it could do these things without chipping out or rolling an edge. After the tree I could get a hair or two to come off the arm, but it was definitely time to sharpen up. It took maybe a minute on the crock sticks to get her sharp as hell again. Anyhoo, thanks for letting me share and thanks to those who inspired.

Regards,

Dave

Edit - Forgot to include HT Info... 8 minute soak at 1500F in HT oven, edge quenched in Brownell's ToughQuench - Slowly cooled to ~130F (before I realized marquench not necessary here) then 1 hour at approx. 400F in toaster oven - cooled to room temp then back in toaster oven at 400F for another hour.

 

[David Schott]

Nice!

Heres a few more that are nice:
-Cleave tin cans lethgwise through the tab and check for any edge damage
-purposefully hack through knots in those 2X4s.

Its so nice to have backup beyond specs for heat treating that make you feel good sending a knife out knowing that the buyer will probably never put it through what you've tested.

 

[General Specific]

Agreed, Dave. Unfortunately couldn't find any available cans and just couldn't bring myself to eat Chef-Boyardee just to get the can. I will definitely be doing it in the near future. It is a relief to know the HT is not bad. I'll post more as I come up with other chores for the knife. This one definitely lacks the weight for good chopping and the chili pepper butt does not help either. I've changed the newer knife handles for greater retention and they are slightly longer as well as 3/16" thick, so I expect better functionality in that department.

Regards,

Dave