question for cliff stamp

S

skarb

Joined
Oct 19, 1999
Messages
55
All these years you have responded in a detached, objective manner to questions asked- rarely offering your own opinions. I have 2 questions: If you were going to have a edc folder designed for you (3-4") what steel, what blade grind and what blade shape would you specify. Question 2: What steel and shape would you specify in a 4-6" field fixed blade?
 
I have yet to see a lock that was stable enough that I would feel comfortable putting any amount of force on it on a regular basis, and thus for heavy use I don't see any current functional folders, though there are some promising designs that I have no experience with. This means for any prying or heavy cutting work (or really dynamical) I don't see a folder as practical which means I am looking at a pure cutting tool. With this viewpoint you tend to go back to traditional patterns as this is what they are optimally designed for. Thus, right now, the optimal design for me would be a traditional stockman. The clip point blade I would have flat ground with a hollow relief. The sheepsfoot blade would be hollow ground convex chisel tooth serrated. The spey blade would be flat ground. The clip point blade would be used for very low stress cutting on clean materials. The sheepsfoot blade would be for cutting dirty and abrasive materials, ie. previously used. The spey blade would be for scraping and heavy cutting like wire trimming. I would also want to look at convex ground plain edge Sheepsfoot as it would be better at some things. In fact I'd probably get all four blades if I was going custom.

For the steel, for optimum performance it would be different for each blade. The clip point blade would have a very hard, highly wear resistance steel, something like CPM-10V or more traditionally M2, at 64+ RC, or ATS-34, or S90V at 62+RC if you wanted stainless. The sheepsfoot blade would not be as hard. Something like 52100 at ~60 RC would be an excellent choice or say 440C if you wanted to go stainless or S90V for really high end, CPM-3V and S30V would also be very functional choices. The spey blade could also be 52100, I would probably get the RC dropped a point or two. My optimal choice right now would be 10V/15V at 64+RC for the clip point, 3V for the sheepsfoot and spey.

For a medium class fixed blade, there are mainly three broad classes. Light use cutter, chopper, and prybar. I don't have a lot of use for a light use cutting blade in that length as I would prefer to do that type of cutting with a smaller blade length. As well those types of blades don't chop as well as I would want so I would carry something else. That basically only leaves you with one design, which I right now what I would carry in that blade length class - sharpened prybar. This is a knife that is mainly designed to split, hack, pry, scrape etc., with most cutting usually done by something else. Tom Johannings TAC-11 is an excellent example of this type of blade and I have been carrying it a lot lately. For that type of blade you want a really high impact toughness to prevent it from breaking under impacts and decent hardess to give it good strength and allow the edge to resist impaction and deformation. Steels like CPM-3V, 5160, L6 or the A8 that Johanning uses are all excellent choices.

-Cliff
 
Originally posted by Cliff Stamp

For a medium class fixed blade, there are mainly three broad classes. Light use cutter, chopper, and prybar.

... (good stuff deleted)

That basically only leaves you with one design, which I right now what I would carry in that blade length class - sharpened prybar. This is a knife that is mainly designed to split, hack, pry, scrape etc., with most cutting usually done by something else.

-Cliff
Click to expand...

Cliff wouldn't it be better to use an unshapened pry bar for this? Granfors Bruks makes some very nice ones and they are a LOT cheaper then just about any knife in this range.

Their 12" wrecking bar is somethng like $30.

Ben
 
As the familiar quite goes "A knife is the most expensive and least effective prybar". In regards to the first part this is generally true, especially when you look at custom knives. However where a knife really shines is in its versatility. While sharpened-prybar class knives don't cut very well, as say compared to an abs bowie, they cut, split, poke and scrape far better than a pry bar does. In regards to raw strength, while a pry bar will be far tougher and overall far more durable than even the high end knives, you can get knives that are easily strong enough for any prying and rough work up to jumping on them, or hitting them with a maul. Dan's two reviews of the TAC-11 showcase its versatility :

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=89352

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=90034

-Cliff
 
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