S30V Millie vs. Dyneema Cut Resistant Sleeve

[Dave Rishar]

No, no graphic pictures. Fortunately no one was injured.

I attended this event today at the request of my employer. There were a number of vendors and manufacturers in attendance showing off their safety gear. One in particular was hawking cut-resistant gloves and sleeves. Instead of Kevlar, they were using Dyneema, supposedly the cat's meow for this sort of thing. As my trade involves a lot of knife work we were of course interested.

After some discussion with the vendor (who will not be named), he placed a sleeve over an aluminum cylinder and invited a coworker to cut it. The coworker in turn looked at me. I held up the Millie and waited for the okay, then sawed through the sleeve and into the cylinder in two slices.

"Wait, wait, you can't saw. I mean, you can saw through anything," the vendor complained. "Just slice it, like you slipped and hit yourself. One slice."

One slice later I'd again cut through the sleeve.

It got a little uncomfortable after that so we excused ourselves and went our separate ways, but the crew got a hell of a laugh afterward when the witnesses told the story. I feel bad for chopping up the guy's sleeve; those things aren't cheap and this one had looked completely undamaged prior to meeting the Millie.

Just to be fair to the vendor, a softer "target" inside the sleeve (such as an arm) probably would've allowed it to function more effectively, and I don't think that Kevlar would have done any better. The Dyneema stuff was certainly a lot more comfortable than our Kevlar gear, I'll give them that. While it didn't stop the knife, I'm sure that it would've lessened the severity of the cut and would certainly be better than nothing.

It's a testament to Spyderco's S30V that after this little demonstration, the edge did not appear appreciably duller, despite the vendor warning me about using my knife like that. I'm guessing he's not a Spyderco owner.

That being said, it's not every day that you get to show up a salesman at his own table. Hopefully he'll pass this on to his R&D people.

 

[yablanowitz]

Not a chance. That sleeve will be mysteriously "lost" on the way home, and he'll never tell a soul. If confronted, he'll deny it ever happened. Otherwise, he'll come off looking like a total yutz who can't sell his product. Kiss of death for a salesman.

In his (and his product's) defense, those things really aren't made to stop a deliberate attack, and yes, they do work better over soft tissue. They are most likely to fail where there is bone close to the skin (wrist, knuckles, etc.), but he should have known that.

 

[orthogonal1]

Not a chance. That sleeve will be mysteriously "lost" on the way home, and he'll never tell a soul. If confronted, he'll deny it ever happened. Otherwise, he'll come off looking like a total yutz who can't sell his product. Kiss of death for a salesman.

In his (and his product's) defense, those things really aren't made to stop a deliberate attack, and yes, they do work better over soft tissue. They are most likely to fail where there is bone close to the skin (wrist, knuckles, etc.), but he should have known that.

These protective sleeves and gloves are usually marketed as cut-resistant, not cut-proof.

I suspect he'll get together with his compadres and come up with a less failure prone deminstration.

 

[SOLEIL]

I have worn a variety of Kevlar gauntlets and gloves over the years. They are exactly as stated, "cut resistant". They do work well to prevent accidental cuts and slashes. They are no match to a sharp blade that is making a deliberate cut. They also offer little or no protection against accidental pokes and stabs from sharp points. They have definitely saved me from some potentially bad cuts and burns. Works OK for heat too.

 

[jiggyfly16]

if you want "cut proof" wear chain mail

 

[monsterdog]

It probably works really well against soft steel in a cheap knife?

 

[Reeek]

It still would have been funny to see what kind of reaction you would have gotten if you pulled your phone camera out and started to take a picture of the results

 

[orthogonal1]

It probably works really well against soft steel in a cheap knife?

I've noticed that the quality of the steel makes little difference in cutting any cloth, even the "high tech" super duper ones. A harder, more wear resistant steel will often allow one to cut the cloth longer, but a sharp knife such as a SAK can be used for a time all the same.

 

[Dave Rishar]

I agree that the test was not the best, but remember that it was his idea, not mine. He was probably used to knives that are not so sharp. Many of the knives carried around by my coworkers are inexpensive "disposables" and are sharpened half-heartedly with carbide sharpeners.

As for pictures, I wish that I could have gotten some but it wasn't possible.

 

[jill jackson]

I've read about the nearly exact same thing happening, only it was a Police glove that was being demonstrated and a man with a Cold Steel serrated knife asked to try his knife against it and cut through it.