TOUGHEST FIXED BLADE ON THE BLOCK

Cobalt; I live in California. Fixed blades are, as I understand it, legal if carried openly. I usually have a chamois shirt on, which partially covers the knife, but have never had any problems.

Of course, the Law Enforcement community tends to view sharp objects in the hands of physicians differently than in other hands.

You know, if you live in No. CA, Ralf lives in Sausalito, and I am not too far away from him, on the other side of the foot hills in the SF area. Ralf has lots of Stellite, and I am getting more and more cobalt alloys; perhaps we could get together? Walt

Walt
 
Walt, a sharp object in the hands of a physician. Sounds dangerous to me. What do you tell the cops? , "it's ok officers, I know exactly were to cause the most pain and the least amount of damage", lol. I actually live in southern Cal., near Barstow. Are you going to the Vegas show? Sounds like we may be able to have a stellite fest. I go for meetings to S.F. every 2 months or so.
 
I visited the HI site and couldn't believe what I saw. Marcus, DC, Will and Bald1, I'm ordering two this morning(I always try to buy two). I'll probably get the CS one also since I have never owned a knife of this design. I can't believe I never thought of these knives before. I always thought they were just machete's. Well, see how this board pays off, Ignorance abolished! In fact it's 5AM and I can't wait till they open to call them. It's times like this that I wish they were back east.
 
I refer to my Greco Persian as my "miniature crash axe".
I think it would cut and pry me out of a helicopter if I could still do my part.

Much of its strength comes from its shortness, as Walt observed about his pATAK.

I don't know how A2 holds up as a pry bar in longer lengths, except that Chris Reeve uses it in his longer, made-for-abuse knives and Phill Hartsfield uses it for swords.

With all respect, the claims of some knife makers for hardness seem incompatible with their concurrent claims for pry bar type toughness.

I understand the concept of differential heat treatment, at least enough to throw the phrase around, but I remain skeptical.

After all, Randall could make his knives harder.
If it only took a few more man hours to differentially heat treat a Randall knife, and thereby increase hardness without sacrificing toughness, Randall could pass the costs on to the customer and the customer would pay it.
The customer already pays for the forging process, and gladly.

Sometimes I wonder if the Emporer really has any clothes.
 
I have tested Cold Steels 3/16 AUS-8A tanto and was not impressed with its toughness in regard to lateral blade strength or edge durability. I have tested the toughness of its AUS-8A in regards to its ability to hold a serration pattern and its performace was poor (then again its serration pattern is very fragile). I have not handled the Carbon V knives but based their warrenty I would not depend on them.

I have handled a Mad Dog and was not impressed by its toughness with respect to lateral blade strength (but that instance was as it appears a fluke, I will repeat the test in the near future). I was very impressed with the toughness of the handle which outclassed everything I have ever seen.

I have tested the HI 20" Ang Khola khukuri which is over 5/8" thick and was not wanting in blade toughness. The warrenty policy is the clearest and strongest I have ever seen and the seller made no efforts to dodge questions about the expected performance (which is rare). It is zone tempered high caarbon steel and held up under fiarly significant stress well. The steel also resists chipping at the edge and only suffered minimal impaction under very hard chopping (metals). The only concern are the handles can be wood/horn/bone, all which are can be broken under impacts to the butt. Same goes for its smaller brother the 15" Ang Khola khukuri. Note it has been mentioned that you can however get a stainless steel handle if you want a more durable one.

I will have a Busse and a Brend in the near future and will be beating the crap out of them to search for a fault shortly after.

-Cliff
 
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