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- Aug 30, 2007
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I forgot to post these when I did this. This was the first Tango of the "prototype batch". I decided to find out how good my heat treat was on 1095 and how well the edge would hold up.
The handle scales I put on this were actually two pieces I cut from a paint stick and superglued to the tang and wrapped with some duct tape. I know... FANCY PANTS! It sounds like a crappy handle, but it acutally performed well enough that I honestly started counting how many paint sticks we had in the shop.
The first test was chopping some seasoned Hickory that Andy had around the porch. He also has what is basically sand under his porch where I found this stick so I was chopping the sand stuck to the outside too. This stuff was hard as a rock.
Checking the edge, no damage what so ever. Still sharp as h - e - double hockey sticks and holding up nicely.
So I did it a few more times.
Then, just for good measure, I batonned it completely across the grain through the stick. That stick was about 2.5" thick
Upon inspection, no damage to the edge at all. Still sharp and still holding up nicely. No rolling, chipping, nothing.
Now time for some splitting. That piece had a bit of a knot about halfway down. You can see that the Tango flexes slightly as it goes through it. I just kept smacking it with the baton till it made it through.
Needless to say, there was no damage of any kind. The blade had a few more beauty marks than before, but that was just the wood crapping all over itself out of fear. The next thing I wanted to test was the tip strength. Now before I go here, let me just say this, TESTING TIP STENGTH ON A KNIFE THIS WAY IS STUPID! If I was being realistic, I would have been jabbing it into the wood pretty shallow and pulling out small pieces. Well I was slamming the knife into the wood and then smacking the butt of the knife a few times with the baton and then snatching it sideways to pop chunks out. I say again, TESTING A KNIFE THIS WAY IS NOT SMART! However, it did show me a lot about the tip strength and it was worth doing it this one time. The tip on this knife would easily stand up to decades of NORMAL SERVICE. As I knew it would, it eventually snapped.
Now, time for it's execution. Time to see how much force could be applied. The first time, I flexed it a good bit, then let go of it and it returned right back to 0 degrees. The second time, I just kept pulling until it snapped. Now you can't see how hard I was pulling, but I was putting some serious force on this thing to get it to bend. Again, DO NOT DO THIS! IT IS STUPID! When it finally did snap, it had so much spring energy built up from how hard I was pulling on it that it broke in two places. Andy and I both stood there for a while talking about how hard it was to break. Both of us were pretty happy about the heat treat.
Before anyone decides to tell me how it was a totally worthless test, proved absolutely nothing other than I know how to break a knife, was a waste of a perfectly good knife, please allow me to explain why I did this.
One, it was extremely fun and very emotionally rewarding.
Two, it did actually show me a lot about the heat treat. When you break steel, that is when you can get a good look at the grain, how tight it is, etc.
Three, I break my knives so you don't have to. I do tests that give me confidence in selling my knives. I want to make sure that I don't have any stress risers, weak points, etc. That way I know that you haven't wasted your money and I'm not wasting my time.
Now please don't do any of this crap. Keep using your knives as they're meant to be used. Thanks for checking out this thread and thanks big time for supposting Fletcher Knives!
The handle scales I put on this were actually two pieces I cut from a paint stick and superglued to the tang and wrapped with some duct tape. I know... FANCY PANTS! It sounds like a crappy handle, but it acutally performed well enough that I honestly started counting how many paint sticks we had in the shop.
The first test was chopping some seasoned Hickory that Andy had around the porch. He also has what is basically sand under his porch where I found this stick so I was chopping the sand stuck to the outside too. This stuff was hard as a rock.
Checking the edge, no damage what so ever. Still sharp as h - e - double hockey sticks and holding up nicely.
So I did it a few more times.
Then, just for good measure, I batonned it completely across the grain through the stick. That stick was about 2.5" thick
Upon inspection, no damage to the edge at all. Still sharp and still holding up nicely. No rolling, chipping, nothing.
Now time for some splitting. That piece had a bit of a knot about halfway down. You can see that the Tango flexes slightly as it goes through it. I just kept smacking it with the baton till it made it through.
Needless to say, there was no damage of any kind. The blade had a few more beauty marks than before, but that was just the wood crapping all over itself out of fear. The next thing I wanted to test was the tip strength. Now before I go here, let me just say this, TESTING TIP STENGTH ON A KNIFE THIS WAY IS STUPID! If I was being realistic, I would have been jabbing it into the wood pretty shallow and pulling out small pieces. Well I was slamming the knife into the wood and then smacking the butt of the knife a few times with the baton and then snatching it sideways to pop chunks out. I say again, TESTING A KNIFE THIS WAY IS NOT SMART! However, it did show me a lot about the tip strength and it was worth doing it this one time. The tip on this knife would easily stand up to decades of NORMAL SERVICE. As I knew it would, it eventually snapped.
Now, time for it's execution. Time to see how much force could be applied. The first time, I flexed it a good bit, then let go of it and it returned right back to 0 degrees. The second time, I just kept pulling until it snapped. Now you can't see how hard I was pulling, but I was putting some serious force on this thing to get it to bend. Again, DO NOT DO THIS! IT IS STUPID! When it finally did snap, it had so much spring energy built up from how hard I was pulling on it that it broke in two places. Andy and I both stood there for a while talking about how hard it was to break. Both of us were pretty happy about the heat treat.
Before anyone decides to tell me how it was a totally worthless test, proved absolutely nothing other than I know how to break a knife, was a waste of a perfectly good knife, please allow me to explain why I did this.
One, it was extremely fun and very emotionally rewarding.
Two, it did actually show me a lot about the heat treat. When you break steel, that is when you can get a good look at the grain, how tight it is, etc.
Three, I break my knives so you don't have to. I do tests that give me confidence in selling my knives. I want to make sure that I don't have any stress risers, weak points, etc. That way I know that you haven't wasted your money and I'm not wasting my time.
Now please don't do any of this crap. Keep using your knives as they're meant to be used. Thanks for checking out this thread and thanks big time for supposting Fletcher Knives!
