Random Thought Thread

schmittie said:
Please elaborate
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I have had it all winter. I used it to cut down a couple of small trees that were needing down, but mostly it has been me and my son using it to cut up firewood for the fire pit.

I feel like my Behemoth would probably cut down a small tree better and is more useful as a cutting tool.

It doesn't split wood very well.

20210323_211301.jpg

The edge durability has been pretty mediocre. At first I thought it was perhaps my son had been careless with it or whomever originally sharpened it used in overly thin angle. But I resharpened it at 20 DPS, wet, and it accumulated this damage in my use. That might be considered normal for a small axe, but good knives would not show that kind of damage from the sort of use I've subjected this to. This could be much better.

I'm impressed with the handle and the quality of the fit. It's a light and well-balanced piece that's fun to use. It's a nice little axe. But the edge retention doesn't meet my expectations.
 
While on the subject of axes, I recently used my 20% off coupon from REI to order a Fiskar Norden N7 which is a smallish hatchet. I really wanted a Gränsfors Wildlife hatchet but Lamnia was out of stock and I ain't paying the inflated U.S. sellers' prices out of (my fudged up and very skewed) principle! I received this axe this PM and man, this thing can spread room temp butter on a piece of toast so nicely, otherwise I have sharper finger nails than the edge on this thing. I reckon that if I throw it hard at the wall, it will boomerang back at me!
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
I have had it all winter. I used it to cut down a couple of small trees that were needing down, but mostly it has been me and my son using it to cut up firewood for the fire pit.

I feel like my Behemoth would probably cut down a small tree better and is more useful as a cutting tool.

It doesn't split wood very well.

View attachment 1532899

The edge durability has been pretty mediocre. At first I thought it was perhaps my son had been careless with it or whomever originally sharpened it used in overly thin angle. But I resharpened it at 20 DPS, wet, and it accumulated this damage in my use. That might be considered normal for a small axe, but good knives would not show that kind of damage from the sort of use I've subjected this to. This could be much better.

I'm impressed with the handle and the quality of the fit. It's a light and well-balanced piece that's fun to use. It's a nice little axe. But the edge retention doesn't meet my expectations.
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axe shouldn't chip out like that. Untempered martensite?
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
I have had it all winter. I used it to cut down a couple of small trees that were needing down, but mostly it has been me and my son using it to cut up firewood for the fire pit.

I feel like my Behemoth would probably cut down a small tree better and is more useful as a cutting tool.

It doesn't split wood very well.

View attachment 1532899

The edge durability has been pretty mediocre. At first I thought it was perhaps my son had been careless with it or whomever originally sharpened it used in overly thin angle. But I resharpened it at 20 DPS, wet, and it accumulated this damage in my use. That might be considered normal for a small axe, but good knives would not show that kind of damage from the sort of use I've subjected this to. This could be much better.

I'm impressed with the handle and the quality of the fit. It's a light and well-balanced piece that's fun to use. It's a nice little axe. But the edge retention doesn't meet my expectations.
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Well, the SFA isn’t really designed to be a splitter, so that’s understandable.

I’m not sure what to say about the edge damage. None of mine have experienced anything similar and I’ve cut/split through quite a bit of wood with them, particularly with the Wilderness Axe and Large Splitting Axe. They both stay sharp for a long time with regular use. You positive you didn’t run into some dirt/stones with that?

I’ll take some pics of the edges of the two I mentioned above this week when work slows down.
 
The Amazing Virginian said:
Nathan, on the "CPK Buy, Sell, Trade" thread you say: "if you post your authentic Conan the Barbarian collectors edition sword for sale (not a CPK related posting) I will edit your post to be about your My Little Pony collection and then I will mock you." That brought me great joy, as I was thinking or offering to trade my My Little Pony collection for a K18, and now you won't have to edit my post. :D

But seriously . . . how about a post offering one (or two) specific CPK knives for trade for a non-CPK item - or even a non-knife item (something perfectly legal, of course - just hard to find right now), or vice versa. That is, a trade offer involving CPK knives and something other than cash or other CPK knives. Asuming the poster (me) has a gold membership or above (I do). Is that permissible there? If not, does anyone know if it is permissible in any other subforum here at BF?

TIA!
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@The Amazing Virginian
Answering here to avoid clutter in the Buy, Sell, Trade thread. (***whoops. Guess it was in the ANAQ thread)

As I understand the rules, as long as it involves a CPK, it's fair game.

You can offer your My Little Pony collection as trade fodder for... say, a DEK1 (and folks have listed other knifemakers work in their collection, as potential trade to acquire a CPK).

You could offer up an MC as trade fodder for a Conan The Barbarian sword. (IIRC, someone's offered up a CPK as potential trade for ammo, sometime last year)

But listing non-CPK items for sale, is what's not OK (i.e. spammers trying to sell their crap, so they post a 'For Sell' ad everywhere).
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
I have had it all winter. I used it to cut down a couple of small trees that were needing down, but mostly it has been me and my son using it to cut up firewood for the fire pit.

I feel like my Behemoth would probably cut down a small tree better and is more useful as a cutting tool.

It doesn't split wood very well.

View attachment 1532899

The edge durability has been pretty mediocre. At first I thought it was perhaps my son had been careless with it or whomever originally sharpened it used in overly thin angle. But I resharpened it at 20 DPS, wet, and it accumulated this damage in my use. That might be considered normal for a small axe, but good knives would not show that kind of damage from the sort of use I've subjected this to. This could be much better.

I'm impressed with the handle and the quality of the fit. It's a light and well-balanced piece that's fun to use. It's a nice little axe. But the edge retention doesn't meet my expectations.
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This doesn’t really surprise me. Every axe I’ve owned and used has done similar. Vintage axes, Council Tool woodcraft, Wetterlings, etc. Minor chips are to be expected. We supplement our homes heat with wood heat. I split probably 2 cords a year. Axes are outdoor impact tools made with softer steels, and certainly not crucible steels at that. Pin knots can be deceptively hard.

A buddy of mine who was a second generation tree trimmer said trees grown in sandy soils can even have sand in the wood. Very abrasive to cutting tools. I don’t know if that’s true, but it wouldn’t surprise me.
 
schmittie said:
A buddy of mine who was a second generation tree trimmer said trees grown in sandy soils can even have sand in the wood. Very abrasive to cutting tools. I don’t know if that’s true, but it wouldn’t surprise me.
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100%
however, I think it has more to do with how fast a tree grows than the soil it's in, but that's speculative
 
bluemax_1 said:
I think part of it is that sandy soils have a higher tendency to 'splash' in heavy rain, or blow in high wind, and get embedded in the bark.
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OK, lemme play an arborer (arborist?) for a day without having any qualifications whatsoever in this field :confused: I tend to agree with you more on your theory than the notion that trees somehow turn sand into nutrients which somehow become a part of the trees' constituent. In general sand is bad for plants (sandy soils are much more porous unable to retain water for long) but some trees fare better in sandy environments than others and when we are talking sand, it really depends on what kind of sand as we have silicon dioxide (silica) being the most common type followed by calcium carbonate being the 2nd most common (there are also other rarer forms, but for brevity's sake, lets just say these 2 types). Another thing is that people may mistake how fungi and hyphae play the vital role in decomposing rocks, quartz, sand, silt, gritty stuff, mistakenly attributing these vital recycling jobs to trees.

#notarealarborer
 
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bluemax_1 said:
@The Amazing Virginian
Answering here to avoid clutter in the Buy, Sell, Trade thread. (***whoops. Guess it was in the ANAQ thread)

As I understand the rules, as long as it involves a CPK, it's fair game.

You can offer your My Little Pony collection as trade fodder for... say, a DEK1 (and folks have listed other knifemakers work in their collection, as potential trade to acquire a CPK).

You could offer up an MC as trade fodder for a Conan The Barbarian sword. (IIRC, someone's offered up a CPK as potential trade for ammo, sometime last year)

But listing non-CPK items for sale, is what's not OK (i.e. spammers trying to sell their crap, so they post a 'For Sell' ad everywhere).
Click to expand...

I traded a DEK1 for 1k rounds of m855 last year. I think I came out ahead that one!
 
WValtakis said:
This is what came out of my pants yesterday:oops:
View attachment 1532479
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It appears that my pants are operating at .25 Valtakis :p:D
clVrxjQh.jpg
 
Icky Thump Icky Thump :

Didn't want to clog up your WTS post so a couple of quick answers to some of your Qs in there:

- The EDC3 version was pretty much a swedged version of the EDC2, so if you want the one with the lower point, it is the OG EDC1 which you ought to be after. The OG EDC1 had a slimmer stock but thicker handle scales as compared to the other 2 variants, so for the slimmest set up, you are correct in seeking an EDC1 with the EDC2/3 scales.

- Back in the day, Jo & Nathan did some limited varieties of handle scales for the OGFK but none in Tri-color rag. There were some other fancy G10s but finding those in loose state is like chasing unicorns. Spare black G10 and black & natural micarta (buffered / unbuffed) may still be laying around.

Good luck with your sale and your search :)
 
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