This turned me toward drop/spear points in 1985...

desmobob

desmobob

Joined
May 5, 2003
Messages
2,494
...and I still haven't gotten over it.



I don't remember how it happened way back then but I know it was unlikely I was abusing the knife (Schrade LB7 "Bear Paw"), at least on purpose.

I literally didn't buy another clip point knife until buying a Buck 110 --just because I felt I had to have one in the knife drawer if I was a "real" knife guy-- about 25 years later.

I bought my first user clip point, a Cold Steel Recon 1, recently and will put it in my EDC rotation. I look at a fine clip point blade and my mind says, "It's gonna break!"

I hope I can get over it.
 
Around the age of 11-12, before my parents bought me a Buck 110, I had a Buck 112 that I bought from a friend. I left the tip of the 112's blade stuck in a tree while on a camping trip. It ended up looking just like your knife.

I was a dumb kid, sticking the blade into the trees loose bark and popping pieces of bark off. I guess I stuck the blade in to deep and snap, my knife suddenly had a whole new look.

That was THE moment in my life that I learned "knife blades can break". Never made the same mistake again.

Lucky for me I lived in San Diego where Buck Knives was located. My dad took me there, and they replaced my broken blade with a new one, free of charge. They also gave it a good buffing (it was pretty rough when I bought it).

I ended up selling it to a friend after I received the 110. I like the 110 better.
 
yeah, snapped tips are a nasty after taste.
its hard to look at, kinda like a seeing
a gaping chipped tooth in a
wide beautiful smile.
but i do suppose broken tips are not
such a rare occurance with knives per say.
boys will be boys...
the look even inspired a peculiar
vintage sog knives blade tip design,
aptly termed as "sharktooth"... :-)
SOG-Jet-Edge-Seki-Japan-ATS-34-Folding-Pocket.jpg
 
When I was a reckless teen in the 80s, I broke the tip off of a Valor "440 stainless" butterfly knife. That was the only time I ever snapped a tip.
 
Stelth said:
..I broke the tip off of a ...butterfly knife....
Click to expand...
what a tragedy!
did that remotely appear like a tanto tip?
or was it more of a sheeps foot?
heck, it definately predates
warren osborne :-)
 
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More than a few 110 tips have taught a hard lesson.
Once when I even warned the guy to stop dropping his knife into the wood floor.
 
GIRLYmann said:
what a tragedy!
did that remotely appear like a tanto tip?
or was it more of a sheeps foot?
heck, it definately predates
warren osborne :)
Click to expand...
It was about an inch and a half off the tip...so it was a really ugly tanto.
 
jideta said:
More than a few 110 tips have taught a hard lesson.
Once when I even warned the guy to stop dropping his knife into the wood floor.
Click to expand...

Yep, it's all fun and games until SNAP.

Then it's "Awww crap!":(
 
I managed to break off the tip of a Buck Vanguard during hunting season so spear/drop points aren't immune. Was like the 3rd/4th deer with that knife and still have no idea how it happened. I presumed must have hit bone without knowing but shouldn't have broken off like that. Replaced it with a Cold Steel Carbon V Master Hunter.
A friend of mine threw a Buckmaster 184 at a tree and broke off the tip....lol
 
Well, after thirty-five years of being broken and ugly, I guess it's time to regrind the tip. I did replace the knife back in the day, and I have the other barely-used LB7 in my knife drawer. It's not a particularly attractive specimen and has one wooden scale considerably darker than the other. And the Buck 110 is still in the original box, having only been looked at and handled once every so often.

Maybe I'll work on the broken LB7 tomorrow. Grind the clip down to meet the new tip or grind the edge up?
 
desmobob said:
Well, after thirty-five years of being broken and ugly, I guess it's time to regrind the tip.
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Leave it be.
What will happen is that you'll take so much metal off the blade when you reprofile it that it won't all be concealed by the handle anymore & it will tear the crap out of your pockets & your fingers if/when you try to carry it.
I have a couple of clip points that have broken tips & a few more that have been sharpened so many times they won't close all the any anymore.
Drop points seem to withstand more sharpenings though IIRC.
 
sabre cat said:
And I like the 112 better. Less weight.

The extreme tip of my 112 is gone. If you didn’t know it, you would never notice it. But, it drives me nuts.

Just another reason to use a drop point blade.
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I have a 943 that I rarely carry, so it still looks as good as the day I bought it from the retailer. However a year ago, I inadvertently stuck the tip into a metal meat cooler wall trying to open a box of short loins. Broke the very sharpened tip off. You'd probably not notice it even if I told you and most people wouldn't see it even if I told them. I have dolled it up a bit resharpening it, but to me, it still looks like a freekin' tanto.

Probably why I prefer the 940.

edit to add:
iNh3KQE.jpg


See how horrible it looks.:rolleyes:
 
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Oh... you caught me on an error. I claimed I never bought another clip point for 25 years after I broke my Bear Paw. That's not true. I did buy a Benchmade 943. It's a clip point by definition, but it doesn't have that deep, curved clip that shouts "fragile!" to me.

I carried my 943 for a long time (and still do occasionally) with no tip incidents.
 
I’ve never broken a clip point myself, and it’s my preferred blade for edc. Buck will reblade a 110 or 112 for $10.

For all of you with regrets about abusing and breaking a blade. Guy Clark wrote a song about breaking the tip off of his fathers ww2 Randall knife. Imagine that feeling.
 
I ve never broken a blade tip. Even when dropping a knife on a concrete floor. Just lucky I guess.
 
I just finished my repair grind. I ground the top of the clip down to meet the new tip of the edge. I roughed it out on the bench grinder and finished it with a file and the diamond stones from my Lansky kit.







:cool:

I don't quite have a needle-sharp point. Maybe after the next sharpening...

It's plenty pointy now though, and I'm pleased with how it came out.
 
Stelth said:
Nice work!
Click to expand...

Thank you, sir! Usually anything that I get too close to the grinder ends up looking like it was dragged behind the car for a hundred miles. I went very, very slow and easy with the knife and left plenty of material to take off with hand tools (which was tedious).

I'm happy to put the knife back in service. It even looks a little less fragile now!
 
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