question about cold steels mystical polypropelyne stuff

[picklepie159]

I don't know if this has been posted before,

Directly quoted from cold steel's website:
they’re precision injection molded out of heavy-grade polypropylene, these bats just can’t be broken. There’s no need to worry about shards of wood flying in your face. No matter what you hit or how hard you swing them, they just won’t break. And they’re durable too, they won’t rot, crack, or splinter, or even fade. You can treat them as roughly as you choose. You needn’t worry about dirt or the weather affecting them either since they’re impervious to the elements and clean up with soap and water. Try that with a wood bat and you might damage it.


I also remember seeing a section on cold steel about how the handles would break after thousands of throws. I can't find it now, but I know for a fact that breaking tomahawk handles in the middle of a camping trip is plain annoyance. Why can't they make the handles out of the magical unbreakable polypropylene?

also, being an avid longbower, wouldn't there also be a market for the "unsnappable bow"?

does polypropelyne have properties that make them unable to be used for the applications above? or is it just that lynn c thompson is too busy designing some other exotic weapon to be thinking?

 

[Dorito Monk]

Makes great clothing for running in the cold :thumbup:

Not sure about knife handles, though... Doesn't the American Tomahawk Company VTAC use a polypropylene handle?

 

[Sevorius]

polypropylene is also used in car audio subwoofers because it is a very lightweight tough material. when pressed thin as in car speakers it is flexible and tough, and when you try to rip or tear it it stretches like rubber. I've never worked with thick polypropylene like their tomahawk handles or their bat, but I own a few of CS's machetes that have the IMPP handles and it seems very tough. It's not as hard or brittle as plastics like ABS or Grivory, so when impacted it tends to give and flex. Think of it like a very tough flexible grade of plastic, somewhat akin to nylon in my experience, but tougher. check out the wiki here. has some more relevant info if you want it. but if all you're asking is if it is some kind of CS gimmick, then no it's not, its just a tough plastic thats easy to work with because it has a low melting point (320 F) and therefore can be injection molded very well. In my experience with car audio, its biggest enemy is sunlight. An IMPP speaker that is exposed to sunlight will turn brittle and dry out in a year or two, but higher quality IMPP will usually contain some additive that protects it from sunlight.

 

[Skytorn]

American Tomahawk Company's a Cold Steel subsidiary.

Polypropylene is a flexible material (see the CS Sjambok, probably one of the coolest things they've ever made) and a flexible tomahawk handle just wouldn't do. I can see a poly baseball bat work well but I don't play baseball. If flexibility was a desireable trait, why would they make it out of wood & aluminum for sportsmen?

Remember, CS makes WEAPONS, not sporting goods. An unbreakable, flexible bat sounds more at home caving in skulls than hitting home runs.

 

[Sevorius]

I believe the Sjambok is partially hollow is it not? when it is formed as thick as a tomahawk handle or a "baseball" bat I doubt you could flex it very easily with your bare hands, perhaps someone who owns one could give some more insight, but it seems to me it would be just right to make a tomahawk handle. Don't get me wrong, IMPP is definitely flexible, but when thick enough it should be much less apparent, somewhat like a synthetic handled hammer or axe.

edit: after watching their videos I don't think the sjambok is hollow at all, just thin. that thing is nasty! I might have to pick one up to play with.

 

[THE PUNISHER]

American Tomahawk Company's a Cold Steel subsidiary.

Polypropylene is a flexible material (see the CS Sjambok, probably one of the coolest things they've ever made) and a flexible tomahawk handle just wouldn't do. I can see a poly baseball bat work well but I don't play baseball. If flexibility was a desireable trait, why would they make it out of wood & aluminum for sportsmen?

Remember, CS makes WEAPONS, not sporting goods. An unbreakable, flexible bat sounds more at home caving in skulls than hitting home runs.

itz a skull crusher not a baseball bat.........