Ankerson
Knife and Computer Geek
- Joined
- Nov 2, 2002
- Messages
- 21,094
This is a full review of the GSO 4.1 in M390.
My full battery of testing, rope cardboard and wood.
The knife was tested with the edge it came with and I never touched the edge during the whole testing process.
Photo thread with impressions here:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1062388-Survive-Gear-GSO-4-1-in-M390-Impressions
Specs from the Survive - Gear Site:
GSO 4.1
Blade Material: Bohler M-390
Blade Length: 4.25" (tip to front of handle)
Blade Cutting Length: 4.33"
Blade Height: 1.25"
Blade Thickness: 5/32"(.156")
Overall Length: 8.95"
Hardness is 59-61Rc, done by Peter's, with three tempers and a cryo bath.
1st up is the 5/8" Manila rope, I made 100 slicing cuts through the rope, the knife isn't a slicer by design with what appears to be a 20 degrees per side edge and .035" to .040" behind the edge intended for harder use/Utility. The edge did hold up very well with no noticeable damage as in rolls, chips etc.
Next was the cardboard, I cut up a bunch of boxes to keep it more real world that really needed to be cut up and tossed. The knife performed very well cutting cardboard and as you can see I cut a lot of it, the edge had a few shiny spots, but would still slice printer paper after so it still had a useable edge.
And last, but not least by any means was the wood, now being this knife was designed to be a tool I used it as such and as you will see in the photos I didn't baby it at all. I carved up and made a fuzzy stick out of a stick, then whittled it in half, then split it up into pieces and made another fuzzy stick and kindling for a fire. Then after that I took another stick and made some deep cuts snapping the edge out sideways torquing the edge, then I stabbed the point into the stick and snapped it out a number of times to test the tip. The was no damage at all to the knife and in the end it would still slice printer paper so M390 really showed in a number of ways here.
Conclusions:
The knife perform excellent throughout the testing process and proved to me that it's more than capable of what it was designed to do and M390 is an excellent choice of steel for this model IMO. It was very comfortable to use in the testing process and I didn't wear gloves and even under hard cutting it was nice on the hand. If one wants and or needs an excellent tool to get the job done in a great steel this is the knife to get in a 4" range blade length.
My full battery of testing, rope cardboard and wood.
The knife was tested with the edge it came with and I never touched the edge during the whole testing process.
Photo thread with impressions here:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1062388-Survive-Gear-GSO-4-1-in-M390-Impressions
Specs from the Survive - Gear Site:
GSO 4.1
Blade Material: Bohler M-390
Blade Length: 4.25" (tip to front of handle)
Blade Cutting Length: 4.33"
Blade Height: 1.25"
Blade Thickness: 5/32"(.156")
Overall Length: 8.95"
Hardness is 59-61Rc, done by Peter's, with three tempers and a cryo bath.
1st up is the 5/8" Manila rope, I made 100 slicing cuts through the rope, the knife isn't a slicer by design with what appears to be a 20 degrees per side edge and .035" to .040" behind the edge intended for harder use/Utility. The edge did hold up very well with no noticeable damage as in rolls, chips etc.
Next was the cardboard, I cut up a bunch of boxes to keep it more real world that really needed to be cut up and tossed. The knife performed very well cutting cardboard and as you can see I cut a lot of it, the edge had a few shiny spots, but would still slice printer paper after so it still had a useable edge.
And last, but not least by any means was the wood, now being this knife was designed to be a tool I used it as such and as you will see in the photos I didn't baby it at all. I carved up and made a fuzzy stick out of a stick, then whittled it in half, then split it up into pieces and made another fuzzy stick and kindling for a fire. Then after that I took another stick and made some deep cuts snapping the edge out sideways torquing the edge, then I stabbed the point into the stick and snapped it out a number of times to test the tip. The was no damage at all to the knife and in the end it would still slice printer paper so M390 really showed in a number of ways here.
Conclusions:
The knife perform excellent throughout the testing process and proved to me that it's more than capable of what it was designed to do and M390 is an excellent choice of steel for this model IMO. It was very comfortable to use in the testing process and I didn't wear gloves and even under hard cutting it was nice on the hand. If one wants and or needs an excellent tool to get the job done in a great steel this is the knife to get in a 4" range blade length.
weird I know.
. Looking forward to know if Peter's heat treat M390 is any better at edge holding than other production e.g. Spyderco, Benchmade?
