Received my gratis BAS today

[Chiro75]

Uncle Bill, nice soul he is, sent me a tortured, beaten BAS from his collection for further inspection and testing my me. The scabbard is a discarded one from another knife, but it still fits well...it's just a bit on the short side. Also theere is no chakma or karda, but when it's free what can one say?

I didn't understand why people kept writing "if you like your villager wait'll you see your first real HI...". Well, I now know! The BAS is a bit smaller than the village Dhankuta I bought s few weeks ago, and it has the same type of horn handle. The buttcap is cool, with a classy bit of scrollwork carved into it. The blade is about the same, but it is smooth and polished, making it look SO much better! Also there is the carving and brass inlay on the blade, which to me looks incredible. I will take up-close photos and make them available to Bill and other folks who want 'em. At first glance I thought Bill sent the wrong knife, but when looked at from abbove or down the blade from the tip, you can see the massive beating this thing has endured. If it wasn't an HI, I would say "shame on you, Uncle!", but considering the knife instead I encourage further beating! Weird, huh?

Anyway, this knife got pounded on or something toward the tip because Bill ground out the damage and it's a bit rough from the grinding. The blade is bent at the handle a few degrees, then somehow received an incredible torque that caused it to bend in the long axis of the knife (it's twisted, in other words) a few inches down from the handle. It looks like it got torqued even furthe in the same direction an inch or two toward the tip after the hump in the spine, then it bends laterally back toward center. So it has major torque damage and a kick-ass S-bend. When we see this type of damage in the bike shop we laugh and say "can we keep this for a bike toss?" (for those who don't know, a bike toss is a tradition of bicycle shop mechanics that includes any combination of throwing, pounding, destructively riding, lighting on fire, ghost-riding, jumping on, etc of a dead bicycle)! Anyway, I will treasure this beauty and send it through the ringer once again. Methinks it will take the beating and ask for
more. What do you guys think? Thanks, Uncle!

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[Bill Martino]

The BAS is not the knife that the AK is or you would not see any torques or bends -- but it still did more than most knives will ever do in a 100 years of hard use and survived pretty well. Give it a try yourself and see what it tells you. I think it still has some life left in it.

Uncle Bill

 

[Cliff Stamp]

Chiro :

If it wasn't an HI, I would say"shame on you, Uncle!"

I could not agree more with this, not limited to just HI, but it is an excellent example of such. Standards should not be rigidly set but relative and evolving. My performance expectations are not now what they were 6 months ago and will not be where they are now 6 months from here.

For example, recently I got the chance to have a look at CPM-3V. Up until I used this knife I did not think that no bevel grinds were practical in medium use knives. However since the blade I was using had more than enough durability for this range of use my opinion has no changed and I see no reason to accept performance of a lesser standard. I am now thinking about designs using this geometry and am interesting in a machete with a full no-bevel grind in 3V for example.

As an example that is more relevant to this forum. I recently brought a CS Trailmaster, the village khukuri and another knife into work. All knives could handle light work easily (soft materials, light lateral strain). I was discussing them with some friends, one of which asked the question "What are you actually getting in a better knife?". Good question, reasonable. Why go looking for any particular blade, shouldn't just about any piece of sharpened steel cut well?

I took an equipment stand (soft iron) and chopped into it with one blade and it indented badly. Some of the people commented that this was unfair as it was metal. Fair enough. I then took the Trailmaster and Villager and chopped hard about a dozen times twisting the blades to the side after impacts. Net result, neither blade suffered any damage. Now some opinions had changed.

Later on that week I was out with several friends and found a leg bone of a cow. I went straight through it with the trailmaster and the edge chipped out. Once again I heard the comments of "Not fair, that is bone." So I take out the villager and chop the bone into pieces. Net result, neither blade suffered any damage and once again opinions had changed.

I gave the villager to a good friend of mine Casey Butt (cbutt@physics.mun.ca), and it is his first upper quality blade. His opinion of what a good knife should be able to do is vastly different after seeing and using that knife as it should be. I have asked him to drop by and post up his opinions after he has worked with it a little. He is a fair bit stronger than me (and much more direct) and it will be interesting to see how it works out for him.

-Cliff

[This message has been edited by Cliff Stamp (edited 06 August 1999).]

 

[Bill Martino]

Cliff, I have to laugh at you calling the villager an "upper quality blade." Of course, it is but that was the knife that was too ugly and flawed to sell!

Uncle Bill