Mike:
Lateral strength many times is the source of blade failure in exigent circumstances. Consider the worst possible event, you are in a wreck and have only the knife you carry as a survival tool. You need to pry a door open or dig through part of a wall such as some Trade Center survivors had to, and the knife breaks like a piece of glass. Someone may find the broken blade and wonder, but you may not be there to tell about it.
I wrote a story called chopper down for American Handgunner, a crippled transport chopper, immediately followed by three rescue choppers is trying to make it to an aircraft carrier, it almost makes it, then tumbles off the deck, hits the water upside down and sinks like a rock. Only one rescue officer makes it into the chopper, crew is tangled in cargo nets, etc. He cuts two loose, blade breaks on the third and the rest of the crew drowns.
Chris and I over the past 5 years have tested many 'tactical' folders. All but one broke before any measurable torque.
The maker can state that we abused the knife, and that we did. Still we know what the knives tested could take and this is something the maker and client should know, when this variable is understood you have an honest knife.
When we test knives to destruction we need to use every method of evaluation we can in order to achieve the greatest knowledge from the test.
Many times survival is a matter of odds and or luck, the more we know about the tools we carry the greater our chances for survival.
There is no shame in making a knife with little lateral strength, a great many knives are made that way. When they break or bend very easily the claim is that we abused the knife. When your survival absolutely depends on the only tool you have, when adrenaline is flowing it is very easy to apply a lot more force than you realize. If you and the maker did not plan for this situation, your luck may have just run out.
Many times simple events come together to place us in a bad situation, the better we are prepared the greater our chances of living to tell about it.
Mike - Please just call me Ed.
Ryan:
Asking other makers about one maker may or may not provide accurate knowledge. Still I would not ignore any informatin available, but when we ask the right questions of the maker, he is on the spot and if he guarantees his work we can test to the limit to verify his commitment. I believe it all comes down to your choice of who you can trust.
Thanks for the questions gentlemen.
