SK-5 Bushman failed in latest "Joe-X" Destruction Test

coloradowildman

coloradowildman

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Let me start by saying that I have always loved the Cold Steel Bushman. I bought my first one two decades ago and it served me well. That first one was made in Taiwan however, not China. It seems like over the last 10 years, I've seen more and more feedback and reviews saying that their Bushman failed after being used as a spear, chopping branches, or while batoning. Even with the originals being made in Taiwan, I have seen way too many SK-5 knives fail prematurely, even from other manufacturers. Maybe this is why almost no one uses it except Cold Steel?

In theory, SK-5 should be a very tough steel. But at this point, there is a large body of evidence that demonstrates that it is brittle when subjected to stress. I say this in comparison to Cold Steel's AUS-8, AUS-10, Carbon V, 52100, O-1, 4116, 1055, 420 Stainless, and San Mai III. All of those have proven much tougher, or when they break, it's very predictable due to the extreme amount of stress being applied. A good example are the Cold Steel Recon Scouts in SK-5. Almost anytime I hear of one breaking, it's the SK-5 version. I almost never hear of one in Carbon V or O-1 breaking by comparison. Same goes with the Carbon V and AUS-8 SRK vs the SK-5 SRK.

I say all of this not because I have any reason to hate on SK-5 steel, but because a lot of people have spent their hard earned money on knives made of SK-5 and are expecting them to perform in survival, military and police situations. At this point, it might be a bit of false hope to rely on this steel when the going gets tough and I think Lynn (as an adviser) and GSM should consider pulling this steel and switching back to AUS-8 or AUS-10. I own several Cold Steel's in SK-5 and I no longer use them in my survival kits because of what I've seen over and over again.

Your thoughts? (Please, no flaming if you disagree. I am a Cold Steel superfan and this is a materials/QC discussion, not a mark against Cold Steel- thanks)

 
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Recon Scout SK-5 Failure-

Cold Steel Recon Tanto SK-5 - Notice how quickly the knife breaks in half compared to other test knives when wacked on the spine:

Chaos in SK-5 broke in half in a test that did not phase a Cold Steel Outdoorsman Lite in 4116:
 
Yeah. David Mary mentioned that one of the cheaper stainless steels is a bit stronger for that kind of silly knife action.

I don't know I don't understand the science.
 
not2sharp said:
It just demonstrates that no knife is idiot proof. Anything can be abused and broken.

n2s
Click to expand...
If I may, Condor Makara machete passed the “idiot proof” tests that Joe X performed. Only the handle broke into pieces (wood, not something tough like Micarta or G-10), but the machete was in one piece at the end.
 
😳

I own a china-made bushman and i abused that knife like no other. I'm surprised it held up so well. Had it for almost 10 years now and it's still going strong, thinned out the edge a bit and it cuts so good now...granted, i never used it as a spear.

wish the mini bushman was still available.

thanks for this great thread 👍
 
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SK5 is one of the Japanese tool steels, on a lower grade and cost than the Hitachi Yasugi White/Blue/Yellow/Silver/etc paper steels well known among culinary knife fans.
SK stands for Steel Kougu (literally "Tool Steel") and the higher the number the less carbon content. Considered equivalent to U.S. 1080 steel.
SK4 is frequently used on Japanese carbon steel kitchen knives.

The earliest appearance of SK5 in the US I believe is SOG's first knife the S1 Bowie which was made in Seki Japan 1986-2005/6. I have never heard of any issues with the SK5 steel, but in addition to most of that time period having no internet, the SK5 was made and HT in Japan. In 1990 SOG introduced the Tiger Shark and Tech using SK5.
In later years SK5 has been produced in many countries including China and India. So obviously the quality/HT could be different.

I am not familar with any Cold Steel product using SK5 during Japan manufacture. I could be wrong and would appreciate any info.
I know that Cold Steel OEM'd the Trail Master in China with SK5 for a short period but that turned out to be a failure and they switched to Taiwan.
The main question I have with all these "SK5 knife failures" is where are they made? Because if there is a pattern of failure with SK5 steel knives, it may be attributable to the HT rather than the steel type itself. Are these all Taiwan or China manufacture?
 
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hugofeynman said:
If I may, Condor Makara machete passed the “idiot proof” tests that Joe X performed. Only the handle broke into pieces (wood, not something tough like Micarta or G-10), but the machete was in one piece at the end.
Click to expand...
Other Idiot Joe prove you wrong
soon
 
KenHash said:
SK5 is one of the Japanese tool steels, on a lower grade and cost than the Hitachi Yasugi White/Blue/Yellow/Silver/etc paper steels well known among culinary knife fans.
SK stands for Steel Kougu (literally "Tool Steel") and the higher the number the less carbon content. Considered equivalent to U.S. 1080 steel.
SK4 is frequently used on Japanese carbon steel kitchen knives.

The earliest appearance of SK5 in the US I believe is SOG's first knife the S1 Bowie which was made in Seki Japan 1986-2005/6. I have never heard of any issues with the SK5 steel, but in addition to most of that time period having no internet, the SK5 was made and HT in Japan. In 1990 SOG introduced the Tiger Shark and Tech using SK5.
In later years SK5 has been produced in many countries including China and India. So obviously the quality/HT could be different.

I am not familar with any Cold Steel product using SK5 during Japan manufacture. I could be wrong and would appreciate any info.
I know that Cold Steel OEM'd the Trail Master in China with SK5 for a short period but that turned out to be a failure and they switched to Taiwan.
The main question I have with all these "SK5 knife failures" is where are they made? Because if there is a pattern of failure with SK5 steel knives, it may be attributable to the HT rather than the steel type itself. Are these all Taiwan or China manufacture?
Click to expand...

I always was under impression that
SK5 is an offspring of Carbon V
But I may be wrong
 
could be the sk5 knives cold steel makes are so cheap, compared to other steel same models.......more folks buy far more of them and do videos and beat on them harder...cause they're cheaper to replace..........

could be less to do with the sk5 steel..

there is no science in this theory of sk5 being so bad..........due to youtube breakages as the data....
 
Gramps said:
I only watched the Recon Tanto destruction test, but it seems to me that for a $35 knife it took quite a bit of abuse before it failed. It split that concrete brick before the tanto itself broke.
Click to expand...

The thickness and the tanto design definitely helped it perform great in the tip test, etc. But having watched a number of those Joe X destruction tests on other Cold Steel and Ontario knives, the SK-5 broke in half easily when wacked on its spine compared to other steels. That's the same thing I saw in NutnFancy's video of an SK-5 Chaos. In that same video, NutnFancy did the same spine wack test to a thinner 4116 Cold Steel Outdoorsman Lite and he literally could not break it. This is important because soldiers especially buy the SK-5 Recon Tanto and would rely on their Tanto to be able to pry and take hard abuse in an emergency. The fact that a knife with half the thickness (the older Outdoorsman Lite) can take more abuse than an SK-5 blade that is twice as thick is troubling to say the least.
 
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