Saw "Nail Busting" thread and that reminded me :What Knife for steel nail cutting

Wowbagger

Wowbagger

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You know ala the Buck Logo.
Serious question. If I want to carry a fairly short folder (presumably with a really thick stout blade) that I could literally put across a thick hunk of steel wire or a good sized nail and whack the back of it with a hammer . . . LITERALLY . . .

Well what do yah say . . .
I am thinking it needs to be not too hard . . . 55 or so and quite an obtuse edge grind . . .
 
Any folder with any steel will do that.
(Some folders may break before they snap the nail)

No folder, regardless of the steel (MAYBE 3V) will function as a cutting tool after doing that....

I am all for hard use, but if it destroys my edge to the point where cutting is no longer an option, I don't see the point.
 
CPM S-90-V is used to make blades for shearing steel. They call it the steel that cuts other steels. If you want to shear S-90-V, you have to heat it up to red hot. If using the S-90-V in a shear, the HRC could probably be 62 because there is no shock. If you want to try the baton/hammer thing, a lesser hardness would probably work better.
That nail cutting stunt is done on dead soft nails that have a low Carbon content and are not heat treated.
 
Just thought of something....

My Klein Side Cutters have cut hundreds of nails, and all kinds of hardened steel.

The are made of S5, have never chipped or failed in any way.

Bonus is, they only cost $40-$60 depending on the model, and you don't have to bring something along to hammer with, you just need to be able to squeeze hard...

Not very good at "slicing" though....
 
Klein Side Cutters . . . you just need to be able to squeeze hard...
Click to expand...

With my KNIPEX 71 12 200 I don't even have to squeeze hard.

I suppose that's it really. Life has become just too easy. I am attempting to introduce a little bit of adversity back into my EDC.

Hahaha

Nah I realize the edge on a knife like that wouldn't be doing much knife like slicing. Would be on the order of a cold chisel edge. I suppose I was picturing a two inch blade on the order of a War Toad or a Medford.

Thanks for attempting to get my feet back on the ground though.
 
I just found one candidate. It's called a Trouble Blade Works Debt Collector. The edge may be too thin but it's close; the spine is plenty thick. Could give the Manix a run for the title of "too wide in the pocket".
 
Strider SMF 3V
 
Id say buy the fattest cold steel and sharpen it to 55 degrees total or 27.5 per side


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I'll try it with my half bladed Kershaw and tell you what I think.


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346cb21822241cb5e4b2b0d8c40b68e6.jpg
fd9daa78f8bff58a00a608a9075bb2dd.jpg
this is 3cr ground to 10 degrees per side nothing close to what you need but that's what to expect


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S5 (as already mentioned) or S7. 5160 with the proper edge geometry. D2 and 52100 if the heat treat is done right and a bevel angle above 25 degrees (better make it 30, just to be sure).

You'll get one dead-soft nail cut with just about any knife that's had any heat treat done to it, but these four steels are (IMO) the best candidates to do the job repeatedly.

This is one of those cases where heat treat and edge geometry really do make the difference.
 
THis is what you're looking for

7-charge-tti.jpg


Alternatively; Mission or Busse, but both will get slightly deformed.
 
A small folding hacksaw, 3.5" or so, wouldn't be terribly difficult to produce. I could even offset the blade a little for near flush cut capability.
 
Cut a hacksaw blade to size they fit in a snap off retractable blade knife handle


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Cutting nails = 3v or INFI

Take a look here at Nathan the Machinist (paid vendor on here) cutting nails with his two types of HT and an INFI Busse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6imZ4Vo8iwA
-Nathan, if you would like for me to remove this link, shoot me a PM or say so in this thread.
 
Charlie Mike.
Strider SMF 3V
Click to expand...

a limited run of SMF's in the tough as nails CPM 3V steel!

the toughness of CPM 3V far exceeds all of the other common blade steels (by like a factor of 3
Click to expand...

less stain resistant
Click to expand...

I’m liking this all ready.
Killer Ti scales ! Oh yah !

That Charlie Mike !
You sure know your stuff dude.

Yup I was kind of afraid some of those others, Boker etc., were going to be wannabe all show not much go.
 
I'm making a nail chopper right now. Calling it the Boozefighter, 3/16" CPMS90V.

 
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