Cliff Stamp
BANNED
- Joined
- Oct 5, 1998
- Messages
- 17,562
This is a custom made knife by Luke Freeouf who posts on Bladeforums as Lurkers. It is a heavy duty seven inch blade made from A2 with a Paul Bos heat treat. This mass is 525 g, which is quite high for its ~7" blade length, however the center of mass is only about one cm in front of handle, so it is close to neutral in balance. It thus feels very solid in hand, but does not induce a lot of wrist strain. It is an interesting combination of weight and balance. It has a full height flat grind on ~5/16" stock, and the grind transition from primary to full stock in the choil area is simply excellent, very smooth and flowing.
The handle is contoured in both in width as well as in depth which makes for very comfortable grip and also enhances security. However, and the pins are not flush with the grip which could be abrasive to some depending on size of hand and grip, plus the holes are also places where water and debris can collect, so the make cleaning the handle more difficult. The grip length area however is a little short for me, this is person dependent factor of course, my hands are around five inches wide. I would also want a more aggressive surface texture on the wood, but this is always a tradeoff for security at the expence of comfort and something the user can alter to his taste with little work.
The edge is basically flat ground, more specific it measures 0.037" thick at the back of the edge which is ground to 18-19 degrees per side. The edge has seen some use and shows minor chipping at the level of 50 microns. This is far below the level that you can see by eye, you can just pick out some roughness with a thumbnail check. The Project from Chris Reeves also wore in the same way after chopping. It is still easily sharp enough for most work, but would want to be touched up for finer cutting. Here is a side shot of the blade :
http://www.physics.mun.ca/~sstamp/images/Lukes_knife_side.jpg
and one showing the handle shaping :
http://www.physics.mun.ca/~sstamp/images/luke_blade_bottom.jpg
Misc work outdoors :
The knife was carried for a few weeks of lot clearing. It saw a lot of limbing, as well as some bucking and even felling, the latter was on the smaller wood. It was also used for splitting to fuel the routine fires at lunchtime and in the evening as well as using the point to break the dry wood apart for tinder as well as using the edge as a scraper for shavings and then slicing slightly thicker bits for stoking after the flame had caught on. It was also used for simple food prep, on both freshly caught fish as well as the more normal bread, sausage and cheese and the like. In general it handled all those tasks well enough, though it was over built for such work as this kind of use isn't that demanding in general so a thinner blade will have higher performance. Overall I would also want a more blade balanced piece to allow more power when chopping, and a longer handle , specifically the end of the handle should be out past the handle to prevent any abrasion. Also the end talon should be fully matched with the handle slabs to minimize pressure on contacts.
Misc work indoors :
Using the blade in the kitchen, while it can slice vegetables and such, because of the thicker cross section it tends to break them apart. For example cutting through a turnip you get about halfway and then it break in half, thus fine cutting isn't possible. However it works easily well enough to just chunk things up for a stew, and with the edge sharp sails through meats and soft fruits and vegetables like tomatoes. It is of course heavier and thicker than what is necessary for such work, and really only excels at things like crushing nuts, or chopping through frozen foods. On just normal utility cutting much the same is seen, it is in general over built for this type of word and thus in general you are using more force than needed.
Heavy work :
This is where the knife excels. I carried the blade for quite awhile and whenever I had something heavy to do pulled it out. It is very rugged due to the cross section and steel type, and thus you can lean on it very hard without fear of significant damage. For example even the heaviest digging/prying I could do in wood would not even flex the blade let alone come close to bending or breaking it. It is also heavy enough to use the spine as a makeshift hammer. Thus it is ideal for such work and is definately in the sharpened pry bar class, built as a utility tool and thus has a very broad range of work. I would feel comfortable carrying this knife in being able to handle just about anything that you needed to do.
Stock testing :
After getting a feel for the blade in just routine work I then did a number of stock tests to gauge it alongside other blades I had. In a chopping comparison to a Tramontina Bolo (which is in the same class as the Wildlife Hatchet from Gransfors Bruks), Luke's blade was at 49 +/- 3 % . This is not efficient from a mass point of view, but from a length perspective it is very much so. Using a hook grip around the end will increase penetration, but the control goes off which is counterproductive so overall I didn't notice a significant increase. More work with that type of grip would increase my precision, but it isn't very comfortable as the steep talon curvature doesn't lend itself this sort of grip and as well makes using a lanyard not overly functional for the same reason.
Before I did the rest of the stock testing I altered the bevel profile slightly. The main edge I left at a similar same angle, it was 0.039" x 0.070" which is ~16 degrees, however I put in a shoulder, 0.070" x 0.141" which is a reduced 12 degrees. It was then sharpened using waterstones and finished on a CrO loaded strop. On 3/8" hemp using a rocking cut it took 28-32 lbs near the tip which is quite good, but 60-62 lbs near the base. The much increased force required there is due to the lack of curvature. Since the edge is very flat, much of it hits the cutting surface and thus you need a lot more force to get the required pressure. However without the cutting board influence the cutting ability in general is a lot higher, for example whittling hardwood dowels it took only 16.3 +/- 0.7 slices to make a point. Compare this to the Twistmaster from Cold Steel which takes ~12 which is a widely regarder as very efficient cutter.
This wood cutting did reveal a problem with the choil area of Luke's knife however in that the smooth taper left the index finger cutout too thin. The pressure was so high that I very quickly had to wear a heavy work glove to continue the cutting. With the glove I would not have been able to work with a choked up grip and thus I would have to use a regular grip and thus face a significant torque disadvantage. However at the same time a fine feature was noticed. I was using a Camp Tramp from Swamp Rat at the same time and Luke's grip at the front is well rounded whereas on the Camp Tramp the grip is very square to the handle and thus is very uncomfortable in a choked up grip as the top corners of the grip are high pressure points. The grip should flow down from the top and down into the blade for maximum comfort in such a grip.
Doing some tip penetration tests is another area where the knife really shines. The blade penetrates 662 +/- 32 pages into a phone book, which is in the same class as the significantly heavier Battle Mistress from Busse Combat. The blade really came into its own when I used it for digging in 2" scrap (2x4 and 2x6" mainly). It took on average 18 +/- 2 stabs and prys to get enough of a hole to fit my index and middle finger, and this was 2.2 +/- 0.2 minutes. The best I have seen so far. Of course wood density has a fair bit of influence on this, so I need to do some more digging to give a more robust rank however just by the feel of its performance I could tell it was well suited to the task. It is very heavy which allows for a lot of power yet is not so long which increases precision and tip was so strong that I could very quickly and without fear put a lot of weight into breaking out the wood with a press down.
Where the knife comes up short however is in slicing 3/8" hemp rope. I set out to do some edge retention work by simply cutting the rope and measuring the sharpness, however the force required was so high it was simply quite difficult to do, and the high level of force tended to mask the sharpness changes. Getting specific, an average quality knife finished on a 600 grit DMT rod will see an increase in force of about 5-10 pounds (Cold Steel Twistmaster for example) after cutting 126 pieces of hemp on a two inch draw. Because the force required by Luke's knife was ~50 lbs on the start it was impossible to see an increase of this extent as it is simply masked by the variance in cutting. What I can say is that it was at least as good as the Cold Steel blade and likely better in regards to edge holding because it wasn't significant different in regards to force required to cut the hemp after the 126 cuts were made.
On a tangent of this issue, if you draw the blade back through the rope with the knife held at an angle, you will increase the aggression significantly. For example I could get it decreased to ~35 lbs on Luke's blade, however I have done all the cutting to date with the blades run flat, so to be consistent in comparison I had to do it this way with this blade. However for normal utility use this isn't a factor obviously. I will be thinning the edge shortly and will rerun the stock testing as well as some regular work to confirm there was no functional loss of durability.
-Cliff
The handle is contoured in both in width as well as in depth which makes for very comfortable grip and also enhances security. However, and the pins are not flush with the grip which could be abrasive to some depending on size of hand and grip, plus the holes are also places where water and debris can collect, so the make cleaning the handle more difficult. The grip length area however is a little short for me, this is person dependent factor of course, my hands are around five inches wide. I would also want a more aggressive surface texture on the wood, but this is always a tradeoff for security at the expence of comfort and something the user can alter to his taste with little work.
The edge is basically flat ground, more specific it measures 0.037" thick at the back of the edge which is ground to 18-19 degrees per side. The edge has seen some use and shows minor chipping at the level of 50 microns. This is far below the level that you can see by eye, you can just pick out some roughness with a thumbnail check. The Project from Chris Reeves also wore in the same way after chopping. It is still easily sharp enough for most work, but would want to be touched up for finer cutting. Here is a side shot of the blade :
http://www.physics.mun.ca/~sstamp/images/Lukes_knife_side.jpg
and one showing the handle shaping :
http://www.physics.mun.ca/~sstamp/images/luke_blade_bottom.jpg
Misc work outdoors :
The knife was carried for a few weeks of lot clearing. It saw a lot of limbing, as well as some bucking and even felling, the latter was on the smaller wood. It was also used for splitting to fuel the routine fires at lunchtime and in the evening as well as using the point to break the dry wood apart for tinder as well as using the edge as a scraper for shavings and then slicing slightly thicker bits for stoking after the flame had caught on. It was also used for simple food prep, on both freshly caught fish as well as the more normal bread, sausage and cheese and the like. In general it handled all those tasks well enough, though it was over built for such work as this kind of use isn't that demanding in general so a thinner blade will have higher performance. Overall I would also want a more blade balanced piece to allow more power when chopping, and a longer handle , specifically the end of the handle should be out past the handle to prevent any abrasion. Also the end talon should be fully matched with the handle slabs to minimize pressure on contacts.
Misc work indoors :
Using the blade in the kitchen, while it can slice vegetables and such, because of the thicker cross section it tends to break them apart. For example cutting through a turnip you get about halfway and then it break in half, thus fine cutting isn't possible. However it works easily well enough to just chunk things up for a stew, and with the edge sharp sails through meats and soft fruits and vegetables like tomatoes. It is of course heavier and thicker than what is necessary for such work, and really only excels at things like crushing nuts, or chopping through frozen foods. On just normal utility cutting much the same is seen, it is in general over built for this type of word and thus in general you are using more force than needed.
Heavy work :
This is where the knife excels. I carried the blade for quite awhile and whenever I had something heavy to do pulled it out. It is very rugged due to the cross section and steel type, and thus you can lean on it very hard without fear of significant damage. For example even the heaviest digging/prying I could do in wood would not even flex the blade let alone come close to bending or breaking it. It is also heavy enough to use the spine as a makeshift hammer. Thus it is ideal for such work and is definately in the sharpened pry bar class, built as a utility tool and thus has a very broad range of work. I would feel comfortable carrying this knife in being able to handle just about anything that you needed to do.
Stock testing :
After getting a feel for the blade in just routine work I then did a number of stock tests to gauge it alongside other blades I had. In a chopping comparison to a Tramontina Bolo (which is in the same class as the Wildlife Hatchet from Gransfors Bruks), Luke's blade was at 49 +/- 3 % . This is not efficient from a mass point of view, but from a length perspective it is very much so. Using a hook grip around the end will increase penetration, but the control goes off which is counterproductive so overall I didn't notice a significant increase. More work with that type of grip would increase my precision, but it isn't very comfortable as the steep talon curvature doesn't lend itself this sort of grip and as well makes using a lanyard not overly functional for the same reason.
Before I did the rest of the stock testing I altered the bevel profile slightly. The main edge I left at a similar same angle, it was 0.039" x 0.070" which is ~16 degrees, however I put in a shoulder, 0.070" x 0.141" which is a reduced 12 degrees. It was then sharpened using waterstones and finished on a CrO loaded strop. On 3/8" hemp using a rocking cut it took 28-32 lbs near the tip which is quite good, but 60-62 lbs near the base. The much increased force required there is due to the lack of curvature. Since the edge is very flat, much of it hits the cutting surface and thus you need a lot more force to get the required pressure. However without the cutting board influence the cutting ability in general is a lot higher, for example whittling hardwood dowels it took only 16.3 +/- 0.7 slices to make a point. Compare this to the Twistmaster from Cold Steel which takes ~12 which is a widely regarder as very efficient cutter.
This wood cutting did reveal a problem with the choil area of Luke's knife however in that the smooth taper left the index finger cutout too thin. The pressure was so high that I very quickly had to wear a heavy work glove to continue the cutting. With the glove I would not have been able to work with a choked up grip and thus I would have to use a regular grip and thus face a significant torque disadvantage. However at the same time a fine feature was noticed. I was using a Camp Tramp from Swamp Rat at the same time and Luke's grip at the front is well rounded whereas on the Camp Tramp the grip is very square to the handle and thus is very uncomfortable in a choked up grip as the top corners of the grip are high pressure points. The grip should flow down from the top and down into the blade for maximum comfort in such a grip.
Doing some tip penetration tests is another area where the knife really shines. The blade penetrates 662 +/- 32 pages into a phone book, which is in the same class as the significantly heavier Battle Mistress from Busse Combat. The blade really came into its own when I used it for digging in 2" scrap (2x4 and 2x6" mainly). It took on average 18 +/- 2 stabs and prys to get enough of a hole to fit my index and middle finger, and this was 2.2 +/- 0.2 minutes. The best I have seen so far. Of course wood density has a fair bit of influence on this, so I need to do some more digging to give a more robust rank however just by the feel of its performance I could tell it was well suited to the task. It is very heavy which allows for a lot of power yet is not so long which increases precision and tip was so strong that I could very quickly and without fear put a lot of weight into breaking out the wood with a press down.
Where the knife comes up short however is in slicing 3/8" hemp rope. I set out to do some edge retention work by simply cutting the rope and measuring the sharpness, however the force required was so high it was simply quite difficult to do, and the high level of force tended to mask the sharpness changes. Getting specific, an average quality knife finished on a 600 grit DMT rod will see an increase in force of about 5-10 pounds (Cold Steel Twistmaster for example) after cutting 126 pieces of hemp on a two inch draw. Because the force required by Luke's knife was ~50 lbs on the start it was impossible to see an increase of this extent as it is simply masked by the variance in cutting. What I can say is that it was at least as good as the Cold Steel blade and likely better in regards to edge holding because it wasn't significant different in regards to force required to cut the hemp after the 126 cuts were made.
On a tangent of this issue, if you draw the blade back through the rope with the knife held at an angle, you will increase the aggression significantly. For example I could get it decreased to ~35 lbs on Luke's blade, however I have done all the cutting to date with the blades run flat, so to be consistent in comparison I had to do it this way with this blade. However for normal utility use this isn't a factor obviously. I will be thinning the edge shortly and will rerun the stock testing as well as some regular work to confirm there was no functional loss of durability.
-Cliff
