Power Cord Melts Benchmade Knife

Chang

Chang

Joined
Oct 9, 1998
Messages
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A friend was working with computers and he had to use his knife to open a box of computer parts or cut plastic ties or something. This was in the Linux computer labs inside the University of Illinois. Some moron, who wasn't even supposed to be in the lab, saw the knife when my friend wasn't looking (working on something), exclaimed, "COOL KNIFE!" and grabbed it... you guessed it... tried to cut a high voltage power cord with it.

Not only did he try, but he succeeded with extremely good results as the wire was cut with just forward push and then pulling back. This was a THICK cord with copper wires inside, and was sliced almost effortlessly, so we know the Stryker is a very nice knife. There was an extremely loud popping noise and and many sparks. There was also a soot like compound all over the place.

Needless to say, it surprised the idiot and he yelled "SH*T!" and almost threw the knife backwards. Luckily, he did not, or someone could have been hurt very badly. The moron in question did not receive much if any shock due to the G-10 handles being a very bad conductor. My friend was busy, and by the time he looked up, the guy had put the knife down and wandered off so that he wouldn't be held responsible for breaking University property and damaging private property.

It melted about 1/8" to 1/4" into the blade and there is also some copper welded into the knife.

If you find this idiot, please tell him to stop cutting power cables with knives, because he's going to get shocking experience one day. Suspect has hands most likely covered with a soot like substance and probably acts like an idiot.

Now, I have a question. Do you think Benchmade will warranty this blade? It kind of sucks because the burn hole is where the blade is most often used to cut.

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Chang and the Rebels of the East
(Southern Taiwan Shall Rise Again!)
 
I remember melting a gap in a Puma folder about 20 years ago. I was installing a radio in my truck and grounded the "hot" wire accidently with the blade. About 1/2 second of spark and poof!.....melted gap in the blade edge. On the bright side, radio played real well.

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Art Sigmon
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me"
Php. 4:13

"For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword"
Heb. 4:12
 
It's not a total loss though,you should be able to regrind it.I have done this before when a customer has tried to use one of knives as a prybar.It may end up shorter and thinner but will still be usable. Dave
 
The guy really didn't get shocked? My brother just picked up a stryker a month ago, and it I was messing with it and comparing it to my axis. The Stryker looks like it has steel liners, which would contact your hand at all the handle edges. Maybe the electric current choose the shortest path to completion and didn't even travel up the handle scales and through the dork? If you can cut a 110v wire while holding metal in direct contact with the blade, then are electrically insulated handles on fixed blades just a gimmick?
 
I suspect that if it was in the computer lab it is a 3 conductor power cable. One of the conductors is a to ground, to protect the device from some kind short (like being cut). In this case the blade completed the "circuit" from hot or neutral to ground, without any current flow beyond the point of contact. Thus the idiot did not get the shock he should have. Maybe you should switch to ungrounded power cables! LOL

~Mitch (who has been working too hard on an EE final project)



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FIND HIM...get him to do it a few more times, and you will have a completely unique serrated blade...........
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maybe you could get him to lick it while he is cutting the cord......
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unless this guy was a REAL good friend ...... he would be paying for a new knife !!!

Either with money or with some brand spankin new bumps and bruises !!!
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What a D***

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Alex
This way to my Knife page

<A HREF="http://home.att.net/~a.boriqua" TARGET=_blank>
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Ny son had a similar experience with an AFCK. While working as a maintenence man at a hotel he was using his AFCK to loosen the screws on a fixture he was changing out. Got some metal to metal contact and put a ding about half that size in his blade. No shock though. Gotta love G10. He also has learned to love screwdrivers and circuit breakers.
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Jack
 
Comrade,
Your hero probably have cut through low voltage power cord. This could cause high current, which melted the edge and the lack of electric shock.
I doubt that BENCHMADE will cover this with their warranty.
 
I believe BM will replace the blade for about $30.00 + $5.00 shipping.
I don't think this idiot will have a long fruit full life if he keeps these kinds of stunts up.
 
If this idiot is a college student he may well progress to the point where he will join the ranks of those educated beyond their intelligence!
 
Send it back to BM and see what they'll do for you. About a year ago, they replaced a knife that got blown up (the owner is a demolition tech and, while making the final safety checks on a building they were about the destroy, he dropped the knife into one of the holes full of explosives. There was no time to safely remove the knife, so he had to abandon it. Later, while checking the area for any unexploded materials, he found the remains of his knife and sent it back to BM as a joke. They sent him a new knife.) I've also seen one BM replaced that was dropped into a camp fire.

The fact that the electric current did such damage is no surprise. Assuming this "high voltage" cable was a 120V line cord, the instantaneous current at the time of the cut was probably on the order of 100 Amps. P=IE, so that's 12,000 Watts of power focused on a very small point of your knife blade. (Yes, I know, it wasn't that much due to voltage drops elsewhere in the circuit, etc., but I'm being dramatic.) Now you know why we have circuit breakers.

G10 began life as a material for making electrical circuit boards. It's a very good insulator. That's a handy thing to know if you ever have to interrupt a circuit quickly in an emergency.



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Chuck
Balisongs -- because it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!
http://www.balisongcollector.com
 
Gollnick, it was indeed 120V I think. My friend who had this knife said that it was a 120V computer monitor power cable. There is also copper welded onto my knife (I say my knife because I was the original owner of the knife and I sold it to him a while ago, and I traded my much more normal 730BT for his screwed up 910BT so that he could have a useable knife... so I'm praying that BM will warranty it because it is now my knife).

Nimrod, the idiot in question was probably a college student. Sad isn't it?

Boriqua, my friend probably would have asked him to pay for damages, but the guy ran off before he could inspect damages, just leaving the knife on the table. He damaged private property and public property and just left without saying anything. My friend was occupied a couple feet away and wasn't able to do anything until he finished the task, and by the time he was done, the D*** just ran away.

General Lobster, the liners are titanium... they might not conduct electricity the same.

DC Knives, I could probably regrind it, but this is about 3/16 deep. If I reground it 3/16" down the blade, the edge would be twice as thick and would be extremely gross looking. I'd have a toothpick, not a knife.
 
My brother in law vaporized a small wrench working on a free electron laser at Boeing. Someone else turned the power on when they weren't supposed to.

It was a Craftsman wrench and he went to buy a new one. They liked the story so well they replaced it even though he didn't have any of the original wrench to turn in to Sears.

Phil
 
I think what you guys are describing is something us old geezers used to call arcing, or arking. I was tightening something on a car engine one night and touched a lead going to either the battery or the altenator. The reverse end of the box wrench (I hate buggered bolts and I always use a box end) was 'welded' to the solid part of the engine. In the case of the knife, I think the rocket scientist actually caused a short circuit, with the flow returning to the negative lead through the knife--an electric flow is often erosive, making a spur and a divot on the contact points of a spark plug. (Notice that copper was on the blade.) Well, the good part of this tale of woe is that the knife, the cord, and the repair bill ARE NOT MINE.--OKG
 
Benchmade cut the steel for that blade with a laser that brings only a couple thousand Watts to bear on a pin-point. The electrical accident in question brought several thousand Watts to a small point on the blade's edge.

You might ask, "why they go to the trouble and expense of a laser when an ordinary electrical cord seems to do just fine?" Well, aside from the cool gadget factor of a laser, the laser leaves a nicer cut than the electrical cord seems to have.

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Chuck
Balisongs -- because it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!
http://www.balisongcollector.com
 
Hi boys and girls, it's me, the poor guy who recently became Stryker-less. Comrade Chang was nice enough to furnish me with a new (or whatever) knife while the Stryker was dealt with. Fortunately, this one is also a Benchmade, as I recall him mentioning, but I love the axis lock. Anyhoo, this is my first post, so whatever.
Any comments on the poor Stryker are appreciated.
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Good news, y'all! I just talked to Angie at Benchmade today, and she is puting a very good condition (but not new) blade on the knife to replace the melted blade. The reason why not new, is because melting the knife is considered abuse (I wonder why
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Thank you, Benchmade for the good service. They had annoyed me a little when they wouldn't sell me spare parts for a voided warranty knife without having me send it in... but I am pleased again.
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Chang and the Rebels of the East
(Southern Taiwan Shall Rise Again!)
 
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