That's gonna leave a mark!

TAH

TAH

Joined
Jul 3, 2001
Messages
6,135
Have you ever dropped a knife?? This is something I am always afraid I'm going to do. The more pricey the knife...the more clumsy I feel. Just wanted to hear from someone who has dropped one, what the damage was, and how you felt...'cause I know I'm gonna do it someday.
 
I do not know why, or how but the only knives that I have dropped belonged to me and they were small cheap ones in every case. It does not happen much when you have a dad an uncle that "stressed" total control of any tool that was in my hands at a very early age. The worst "blessing out" I "obtained" as a kid happened when I had a rifle pointed in an unsafe direction as a 4 or 5 year old. I will never forget the dissapointment on my dad's and uncle's faces as well as the lecture when I pulled that stunt, but the lesson stuck to never loose concentration when holding something that could do harm.

Even at that, about the only time I have ever been nervous around knives is when I pick up one that was made by or belongs to someone else :D.
 
I have dropped my DDR Madd Maxx. It was in the closed position and absolutely no damage was done. I inspected it very closely as I am sure you would have and it took the blow with nary a scratch.

As far as how I felt, very nervous until after the inspection, and then very relieved.

By the way, it was dropped on a concrete floor, so I am extremely happy with the outcome.
 
Luckily, I have not dropped any of my customs. In fact, I usually have such a deathgrip on my knives, there is NO chance of me dropping any knife. I have, however, had someone drop one of my knives :(
About 15 years ago, before I got into customs, I had several really nice stag handled Puma folders. Probably worth a lot of money now, if I still had them. But one day, my Brother in law came into my room and saw these knives, and picked one of them up. Next thing I know, he is looking at me with these sad, puppy dog eyes and saying "oops, sorry man". The dunderhead dropped it from chest height onto the carpeted floor, which had nothing but concrete underneath it. The blade was not broken, but the tip had bent over about 90 degrees. The guy never said another word, no offer to pay for the knife or anything. I think I ended up grinding that bent part off and using the knife, but it was worth a LOT more to a collector!
 
The only time I was winda worried about dropping a kinfe was a few months ago while playing with a Loveless at Couteaux Courty. I suddenly imagined that I drop it and it breaks and I have to sell my car to buy it :D
 
I dropped my Max Burnett cable damascus dagger the first day I had it. Lucky for me, it landed on my bare foot. :eek:

Everything was ok because it landed on the flat of the blade near the hilt and slid off my foot onto the soft carpet. I handle with a little more care now.

It's funny. I always handle other people's knives with much more care than my own. I guess if they belong to me, they can't be that good. ;)

Off to juggle some Scagels,

-Mike Burnett
 
I did a drop of 1 of my blades in front of a friend point first into concrete once. Blew a chunk of concrete out of the floor and the point lost it's "razor" edge but had no real damage. Scared me till I looked at it but impressed the H*ll out of him!:)
 
I bet some of you Bali flippers out there have dropped a knife or two.

;)
 
If a custom knife is a user, dropping it should not be a big deal. Tools will get dropped, scratched etc. One should not abuse a tool, but one should not baby it either. User customs are supposed to be substantially better than production knives so they should be able to take a drop or two.

Art knives or collection pieces are different. One should not handle them under circumstances where damaging them is a real possibility.
 
The closest that I've come to this situation was when I purchased a Rigney hunter from a dealer who is a good friend of mine. He went behind the counter, rang up the sale, and then threw the knife (in its pouch sheath) to me and purposely made it hit the concrete floor right at my feet. After I replaced my heart and other vital organs back into my chest cavity, I picked up the knife only to discover that he had switched the knife with an old screwdriver as a joke.

Moral is: I need to find new friends....
 
Worst drop damage for me was a ding on the bolster of my Whitewing pearl folder. Bailey's working on that repair now.

Last year at Blade, I bought a folder from Ralph Freer, and while we were getting a pouch, he dropped it. I found the pearl scale splitting under the surface a couple of hours later. Bummers all around - but he did make it all better!
 
Shortly after I started making knives I attended the Vegas Show. I was marveling at just what was possible in making knives. I stopped at Jim Martins table and asked to handle one of his fine interframes. I picked up the knife gingerly rather than firmly and proceded to drop the knife onto his table. It bounced all over the table with him and me both trying to capture the elusive thing. It finally came to rest of its own accord. Unbeleivably it missed every other knife on the table and was undamaged. That was a good thing for me since all of his stuff was well out of my price range.
 
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