pics of camping trip with a broken knife

johnwaynesandw

johnwaynesandw

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Mar 18, 2005
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The wife and I went for a week long camping trip in Arkansas. We stayed at a state park in a town called Daisy. Our campsite was on the little Missouri River, which was real nice. I broke my Cold Steel the first day (go figure), But my Becker took care of the splitting and chopping. I just thought I would share some pics. If you want and close up pics of where the CS broke let me know and I will try to get some good shots. BTW it broke batoning through some hardwood.

Thanks for looking,
John















 
Great photos! Glad you had a back up knife! Those Cold Steels are just not the knives they used to be 10 years ago.
That Becker is a beast! Is that the Magnum?
 
That's the knife they renamed. I can only remember the Patrol Machete name. It's like a Machaxe that's straightened and lengthened. Very impressive!

The top photo in post#2 is incredibly beautiful. I can almost hear the evening breeze. :)
 
What a beautiful area! Nice looking camp site!

That looks like a Recon Tanto, correct? How old was it? What else have you done with that knife? That looks like an odd failure. I would like to think the Recon tanto would hold up to batoning better than that. Lord knows i have beat the snot out of my Master Hunter over the years, although that is a shorter blade.

So the Becker Patrol Machete/Bush Hog/BK6 stood up to the baton pretty well for you? Awesome! I am hesitant to use mine for that purpose. Perhaps it was Cliff's review that scared me. I have split a lot of kindling with my Becker TacTool, though...
 
Unfortunately, the Beckers aren't being manufactured right now, until they find someone to replace Camillus.
 
There are good reasons why old stick-tang knives had soft tangs. You need the metal to be softer (ie tougher) where it pinches down at the start of the tang or it is a weak spot.
 
hikeeba said:
What a beautiful area! Nice looking camp site!

That looks like a Recon Tanto, correct? How old was it? What else have you done with that knife? That looks like an odd failure. I would like to think the Recon tanto would hold up to batoning better than that. Lord knows i have beat the snot out of my Master Hunter over the years, although that is a shorter blade.

So the Becker Patrol Machete/Bush Hog/BK6 stood up to the baton pretty well for you? Awesome! I am hesitant to use mine for that purpose. Perhaps it was Cliff's review that scared me. I have split a lot of kindling with my Becker TacTool, though...
Click to expand...

My Recon is at least 10 years old, and has been beaten hard over the past year. I am the second owner and it has served me well for the past year or so. I have batoned with it a good bit , but it just had a breaking point.

The Becker is a beast I LOVE it. Just can not say enough good things about it. It has been a work horse and The coating has held up very well under the use I have put it through.

Thanks for all the other commints. I really enjoyed the stay and I will go back soon.

Thanks,
John
 
Nice pics! The new Recons and SRK's are made from AUS8a, because of the Camillus closings. They're probably more resiliant than what ever carbon V was.
 
heh, Beckers and Carbon V Cold Steel knives are the same steel made by the same manufacturer-50100B by Camillus.
 
Wunderbar said:
Nice pics! The new Recons and SRK's are made from AUS8a, because of the Camillus closings. They're probably more resiliant than what ever carbon V was.
Click to expand...

How do you figure? The carbon V steel and the stuff becker was using is the same and is a hell of alot tougher than AUS-8.
 
You know....

The last time I tried to explane why I dont like a fully hard blade I got dumped on by a lot of guys.
Many guys who know a lot more than I ever do about steels say that the Fully hard blade is the best way to go.

But then I keep seeing photos like a see here, posted by guys who had trusted a knife in the field and it let them down.

I keep thinking to myself, What if the guy's life had been on the line?

What if it was a life and death situation for him and his wife?

What if that had no back-up knife and they really needed this blade to take a beating and ask for more?

This is why I have come to believe that a blade with only an "Edge-Quench" is the best way to go for my blades...
Yes, a soft spine on my blades means they might bend.
But had the knife in the photos above just had a little bend in it after a camping trip? Well no harm done, the owner could just bend it back to straight.
 
Interesting Allan. And johnwayne, nice pics! I suppose anything that sees hard use will break sooner or later.
 
That still doesn't tell us the condition of the blade, hardened and tempered properly ? Condition of fracture area [sharp notch ] ? Exactly how was it struck .perpendicular to blade ?, at an angle ?Batoned at what point on the spine ? Lots of variables there.
 
mete said:
That still doesn't tell us the condition of the blade, hardened and tempered properly ? Condition of fracture area [sharp notch ] ? Exactly how was it struck .perpendicular to blade ?, at an angle ?Batoned at what point on the spine ? Lots of variables there.
Click to expand...
yes, but a bit moot too, you never know that stuff until it's too late!

The only wise thing to do is to design the HT from the start that will allow for a less chance of something going wrong down the line.

Fully-hard people always laugh at some of us guys who forge knives and have come to swear by the edge-only quench, but the more I see fully hard knives fail, the more Im sure that Im on the right track and they are in error.
 
mete said:
That still doesn't tell us the condition of the blade, hardened and tempered properly ? Condition of fracture area [sharp notch ] ? Exactly how was it struck .perpendicular to blade ?, at an angle ?Batoned at what point on the spine ? Lots of variables there.
Click to expand...

I was batoning near the handle with the blade level when it broke. I was switching sides after each blow from tip to rear. It seemed strong until the handle was in my hand the the blade was still stuck in the wood. I would say it was hardned right as it was a good knife for a while, but it did get abused and everything has a breaking point. Hope this helps you out. Let me know if there is anything else you would like to know.


John
 
Jeff Clark said:
There are good reasons why old stick-tang knives had soft tangs. You need the metal to be softer (ie tougher) where it pinches down at the start of the tang or it is a weak spot.
Click to expand...

Brand new BRKTs still have :).

Not really an odd place to break. This is already the second CS that someone posted having broken right there at the tang.
 
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