I have been a member of the ABS for two years and was hoping to test next year for JS. Lately I have been having some trouble with my wrist and have decided to quit forging for a while, maybe permanently. Being kind of mad and having just finished up a knife, late in the day and raining I saw the last blade I forged setting on my bench and decided to give it the ABS test. As close as I could anyway.
I realized that it wasn't really typical of a test knife, but it is likely the only one I'll have for a good while and I wanted to know if it would pass. There are a lot of comments about the ABS test and the knives being tested being made especially for the test. This one was not. It was made for hunting and I figured it might have problems with the bending part of the test. I didn't follow the ABS routine exactly, but it was close. First I put the fine handle you see on it because it fit so well in the pipe I was going to bend the knife with. Here is where I deviated. This blade is a 1084 drop point hunter 5.5 inches long and it's 1/4 in thick. I knew it was going to be rough going on the 2X4 so I decided to bend it first. That way if it failed I would not have beat myself up cutting the board for nothing. I clamped the blade in my vise, stuck a pipe on it and gave it a bend past 90 degrees. No problem. I bent it back straight and then, in honor of EF, bent it past 90 degrees in the other direction and then back to straight. No problem. I hung up a piece of 1 inch rope and Charlie gave it a chop. No problem cutting the rope. I then went to work on the 2X4. Cut it in two twice and the knife will still shave hair. I then stuck it back in the vise and gave it one more 90 degree bend just so it would be bent when I took the pictures. The knife came through with out cracking or chipping and is still hair shaving sharp. I know that prior to testing for real many more knives will have to be made and I hope to be able to do it one day, but for now, I feel better knowing that the ability is there even if I might have run out of time.
I realized that it wasn't really typical of a test knife, but it is likely the only one I'll have for a good while and I wanted to know if it would pass. There are a lot of comments about the ABS test and the knives being tested being made especially for the test. This one was not. It was made for hunting and I figured it might have problems with the bending part of the test. I didn't follow the ABS routine exactly, but it was close. First I put the fine handle you see on it because it fit so well in the pipe I was going to bend the knife with. Here is where I deviated. This blade is a 1084 drop point hunter 5.5 inches long and it's 1/4 in thick. I knew it was going to be rough going on the 2X4 so I decided to bend it first. That way if it failed I would not have beat myself up cutting the board for nothing. I clamped the blade in my vise, stuck a pipe on it and gave it a bend past 90 degrees. No problem. I bent it back straight and then, in honor of EF, bent it past 90 degrees in the other direction and then back to straight. No problem. I hung up a piece of 1 inch rope and Charlie gave it a chop. No problem cutting the rope. I then went to work on the 2X4. Cut it in two twice and the knife will still shave hair. I then stuck it back in the vise and gave it one more 90 degree bend just so it would be bent when I took the pictures. The knife came through with out cracking or chipping and is still hair shaving sharp. I know that prior to testing for real many more knives will have to be made and I hope to be able to do it one day, but for now, I feel better knowing that the ability is there even if I might have run out of time.
