That's absolutely not true though. A folding knife is designed for one thing, and one thing only. To save space, compared to a fixed blade. No sheath required. That's it, nothing more. If space/pocket-ability was no issue folding pocket knives would never exist.
So tell me how it makes sense, to overbuild a folding knife so that it can withstand abusive tests that the tool was never designed for in the first place? Why do I want a big heavy lock 8oz or heavier folder when I can buy a fixed blade that will be infinitely stronger, and lighter weight?
The CS AL weighs 4.5 oz. Let's not exaggerate, just to try and make a point. What I said holds true: You CAN make a folder that does everything a folder should, and that DOESN'T fold when you don't want it to.
Let's be honest, all these knives are tough.
Yeah, let's indeed be honest. They're all tough. Some are just a lot tougher than others, and fans of the 'others' have trouble accepting that. Had the roles been reversed, the fans would have been jumping with joy, extolling their brand.
There's honest for ya.
You have to sit on top of a log for minutes at a time specifically trying to make their mechanisms fail on order to get them to do so. In the real world, this really wouldn't happen.
Read back on how this test came about. Cold Steel claims the AL is a hard use folder, and someone decided to take them up on that. The knife passed.
Then someone else sponsored two other folders, to be subjected to the same tests. One failed miserably, and the other kinda survived, but not intact.
You know how they test cars? Drugs? Make-up? Shampoo? All those tests are not 100% realistic. They're still fairly representative of actual conditions IRL. Regardless, those tests will have to suffice. Do your own if you think they can be improved upon.
For instance: You can go out and put an iPhone in a blender. Will it blend? Eventually. But when it does, are you going to compare it to how well the HTC EVO or some other phone blends, and then decide to buy the phone based off that test? You'd probably say "only an idiot would do that." I think its the same thing here.
Your previous argument were just incorrect, this one is plain disingenuous. Ankerson's tests consisted of tasks that may well be required of a knife, apart from the spine whacks and overstrikes - but these simulate other aspects of knife use.
Blending a cellphone has zero relation to what that phone was designed for.
FYI I've gone back to slip joints, and this past weekend I used one incredibly hard. It took the punishment just fine. No missing fingers, nothing. But then again, I used the knife hard, as a knife, to make fire. I didn't stick it in a tree and use it as a diving board.
Good for you. You use knives differently from Ankerson. I'm sure Ankerson is fine with that. Why can't the reverse be said of you?
That's it.
