Small Knife Test Summary Results

M

msiley

Joined
Aug 19, 2006
Messages
542
There are a lot of details in this test but
here is the summary. I think I'm going to put up
a web page somewhere with the details and pics at a later date.

All knives were sharpened at 15 degrees until hair popping sharp
on the Sharpmaker. All knives had been used as EDC at some point
so we aren't testing the MFGs NIB sharpness but my sharpness...
which for many of these is better then the MFGs.

-Knives Tested-
Buck 501 - 420HC
Queen Canoe - 1095
Case Medium Stockman - CV
Spyderco Delica 4 - VG-10
Benchmade Mini-Grip - 154CM
Vic Soldier - INOX

-Tests Conducted-
50 Rope Cuts
20 Soft wood cuts (mainly for blade geometry efficiency in wood)
100 Tempered Hard Wood cuts (Axe Handle)
20 Strips of Cloth cuts (just curious not really hard)
12x thin cardboard - ~12 inch strips
10x thick cardboard - ~24 inch strips

-Edge Retention Rankings-
1. Delica and Mini-Grip
2. Buck 501 (just slightly ahead of #3)
3. Queen and Case
4. Vic Soldier

Notes:
There are 2 ~0.5 mm chips in the Queen Canoe in 1095.
There is a ~2-3mm chip in the Case Stockman in CV.

The Delica and Mini-Grip shave but crazy popping like before.
The Buck 501 does shave but harder then above.
Queen and Case are just slightly below the 501.
Vic Soldier might get a lucky hair once in awhile.

Geometry for cutting:
Best knife for soft or hard wood is the Queen Canoe.
It rocked in this category. Cuts nice long and deep consistently.
The reason is that it's flat and thin. It bites into the wood well.
Worst in soft and hard wood Delica and Mini Grip... thickness mainly.

All did about the same with the Poly Rope.

Best in cardboard it was close but the Buck 501 was rather efficient.
followed closely by the Vic Soldier.
Worst in cardboard was the Delica. The Hole kept getting in a bind.

Most handle comfort awarded to Vic Soldier. Everythings rounded off and
smooth.
followed by Case Stockman and then Buck 501.
Queen Canoe would be better if the small blade's spine wasn't so sharp.
Worst handle comfort awarded to Delica. The texturized FRN dug
into my hand during heavy cuts and so did the thumb ramp.

Misc Notes:
- Case Stockman has a really thin and narrow main blade.
At times I thought it would snap off. Also, it has a
weak spring that would close on you if you weren't careful
when pulling out of wood.
- All knives had no noticable issues afterwords... no bladeplay etc.
- Vic Soldier had the strongest springs of the slipjoints. The
Queen was no slouch but the Vic felt 2x as strong.

This is my first test so please let me know if you
have better ideas and any questions.

Thanks!

link to more info http://www.matrixwebdev.com/knife_test.html
 
Neat review. Those Vic Alox models are great knives. I'm always amazed at the strength of the backspring.

I bet your hand was tired after all that cutting.

Thanks,
:)
 
I have callouses on top of callouses :-) Ok... not that bad...
but after awhile I had to wear gloves. Axe Handles are really
hard to cut. After 600 cuts into it, it really doesn't look like
I've done much cutting to it. :-)
 
Nice work, how did you judge edge retention? If you put these on a webpage you might considering using a table to summarize them as it makes for ease of overview and visual inspection.

-Cliff
 
Cliff,

I have tables in Excel... just haven't had time to put them up in HTML.
Maybe this weekend.

I judged edge retention by the ability of shaving hair off my leg. :-)
Now I have patches of missing hair... lots of them... good thing it's winter.
I also would cut through paper to see if the edge was still smooth
the entire length. That's how I first noticed the chipping in the
carbon blades, which really surprised me.

What also surprised me was the retention in the 420HC Buck 501.
Everyone talks so poorly about it. It did fine.
The non knife knut wouldn't know the difference plus
the entire way through the 501 cut better just because of geometry.
It trounced the Delica and Mini-Grip esp. in the wood and cardboard.

Any ideas about the carbon steels chipping?
 
msiley said:
What also surprised me was the retention in the 420HC Buck 501.
Everyone talks so poorly about it.
Click to expand...

The difference between theory and experiement is that in theory there is no difference.

... plus
the entire way through the 501 cut better just because of geometry.
Click to expand...

Yeah, for anything geometry dependent (i.e., wedging is significant) then shape overwhelms edge retention significantly.

Any ideas about the carbon steels chipping?
Click to expand...

If they are not heavily used it may be burnt edges, these steels have no temper resistance and thus get overheated almost immediately when ground so the factory edge can easily be prone to chipping.

It seems like they were also used for deep cutting in wood which may have lead to more twisting and strains than the other knives. The thin blades may also have let them flex more and thus overloaded the edges.

If you could check it under magnification it would be interesting to see exactly what happened, was it a direct fracture, deformation, or just a high wear patch.

If you need webhosting space for reviews, I host them on my website.

-Cliff
 
Nice Review!

Do you think your EDC preferences have changed because of the results? Will you carry some knives more frequently because you found they excel in performing the actual everyday tasks, even though the edge retension might not be as good?
 
knarfeng,

Yes it has. My expectations on 420HC and INOX were that
they would dull fast. I thought the carbon steel knives
would be closer to the VG-10 and 154CM blades.

I knew blade geometry was important but there was
a considerable difference. The 420HC
blade could still shave a bit after the tests. So maybe the higher
end steels would eventually win but it takes a lot to get there.
More then I'd ever need for EDC.

A good analogy for edge retention and blade geometry is
like HP and tires for cars. Who cares if you
have 500 HP if you have crappy tires.... you'll lose the race.
I'd rather have 200 HP but awesome tires if given the choice
between the two.

The marginal utility of edge retention decreases
as blade steel price increases (generally... mostly for stainless).
This may be too broad a generalization but fits the current situation.

Plus I want to optimize cutting ability not just edge retention.
Who cares about edge retention if the knife doesn't cut well.
I don't want a sharpened pry bar, I want a knife.

So at this point... between the knives I'm thinking more in terms
of usability. I like the Delica and Mini-Grip but for hard cutting
my hand will give out quickly. I like the Case Stockman but
the spring is rather weak, that could be dangerous.
The SAK was good... steel is a bit soft but not too shabby
(previosly I had damaged the edge when cutting Cat-5 cable).
Also, if my hand started to sweat a bit the Alox handles, although
comfortable, would start to get slippery.

For me it's down to the Queen Canoe and Buck 501 for EDC.
Both were excellent cutters, both were reasonably comfortable,
both held an edge long enough for my tastes. The Queen was
about $60 and the Buck 501 was around $30. It's hard
to beat the price/performance of the Buck... and it's a quality knife.

*Pics coming tomorrow*
 
THANK YOU!!
Outstanding report! Loved the detail of the observations.

Hope the hair grows back fast so you can test more :D
 
Thx Cliff...

I tried to take some pics of the chipped blades but
my camera just couldn't do it. :-(

I notice you measure sharpness by cutting thread.
How do you measure the force? I'd like
to do the same thing. The whole shaving thing is
getting old.

Also, I ordered some diamond rods for my sharpmaker
I'm going to re-profile one of the carbon knives.
I think thinning out the edge will make a difference.

I don't think I'll be testing 6 knives at a time again.
Takes way too long.
 
UPDATE:
I reprofiled the edge of the Queen 1095 Canoe. I thinned
out the edge a bit to ~13-14 degrees and then put a 15' final edge on it.

This knife would be a very nice for carving wood.
It bites into wood and maked deep controlled cuts.
No chipping ... yet.
 
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