WANTED: Dead or Alive....

Spark

Spark

HPIC - Hatas gonna Hate
Staff member
Administrator
Super Mod
Moderator
Joined
Oct 2, 1998
Messages
15,117
Jerry Busse called us today to let us know that the first shipment of Busse Combat Basics have been shipped, and should be to us by next week. (About time!
biggrin.gif
)

So, it's time to have a head to head. A Battle Royale. A last man standing contest. The first annual BladeForums.com (General Production) Fighting / Utility / Combat Knife Test.

WANTED: Appropriate production contenders to go head to head against the Combat Basics. We will have the Busse's and a Cold Steel Trailmaster on hand.

WANTED: Tests to be performed. Give us your best ideas and we'll see what we can do with them.

Surviving knives will be disposed of (or buried) appropriately.

Spark

------------------
Kevin Jon Schlossberg
SysOp and Administrator for BladeForums.com

Insert witty quip here


[This message has been edited by Spark (edited 03 September 1999).]
 
I hear these things are pretty tough.
-Give one the good ole' CS treatment! It'd be hella funny to tape it and show the results to Lynn Thompson!!!
-Beat on the blade with a hammer (sides, not edge or spine)
-Make one take my Psych AP tests.
-Drop one in saltwater for a while.
-Use it to fell a redwood.
-Hammer a nail INTO (not WITH) the side. I bet the CS satin finish will be cone pretty quick.
-Drop a big block of cement (cinder blocks are too brittle. If it can be broken by hand, it shouldn't be used) on the tip of one from 30-60 ft.
-Boil 'im in oil! Boil 'im in oil! Squawk, Squawk! Sorry, got carried away there.

Howie

I need sleep. I need knives! Who needs sleep???

 
Spark,
Just a suggestion, decide what you want to test FOR, before you devise the test....that might help.

Will Fennell
 
Might as well NOT test a Mad Dog... His worshipful fan club wouldn't believe any results that didn't show complete domination.

------------------
Dances with lemmings


 
The tests have been laid out by me before hand. I will be conducting all tests. Anyone Man enough or DOG enough will send their knives to me to be tested LIVE! I will video tape the tests and anyone able to witness the tests are invited to attend. This means Jerry Busse, Lynn C. Thompson, Kevin (MAD DOG) Mclung or anyone else. I want to test as many knives as possible head to head until dead. I really don't care who wins and anyone in attendance can inspect the knives.

All I have right now is a Trailmaster I pulled from regular stock. This is a challenge to anyone who wishes to have their knife tested head to head.

As Tone Loc said "Let's Do It!".

The results will be posted right here and the actual tests will be featured in our premier on-line issue of our new magazine!

------------------
Best Regards,
Mike Turber
BladeForums Site Owner and Administrator
Do it! Do it right! Do it right NOW!
www.wowinc.com

 
I know it doesn't exactly fit in, but please, oh please throw a Timberline Specwar into the ring. It's time this "Knife-of-the-year" showed its true colors.

-Drew

[This message has been edited by Corduroy (edited 04 September 1999).]
 
I would like to see a test of the small knives. Maybe the small Busse Basic (I forgot which model #), vs. the Maddog Mongoose/Wombat and other small neck/slip sheath carry knives like Strider's neck knives.

Marco
 
I would also like to see a comparable Livesay knife tested. Perhaps the RTAK.

------------------
-Dennis-


 
Is this going to be another one of those free-hanging rope cutting tests, piercing steel plate, cutting 1,000,000 pieces of Hemp rope 'and still shaves,' prying an M1 tank out of the mud, bending the blade in a vice, and all the other things you usually don't do in the wilderness with a blade?

Or, will it be a test comprised of chopping, building shelters, comparing fine work ability such as trap triggers and fuzz sticks, bushwhacking, testing the handles with DEET, actually applying the blade to animal flesh, cleaning fish, and re-sharpening ease...you know...stuff that you will be required to do with a wilderness blade.

Just curious what you're testing here - Jeff


------------------
Randall's Adventure & Training
jeff@jungletraining.com

 
RTAK and a Mad Dog. I really want to state my personal opinion on mad Dog right now, but I'll be nice and refrain from flaming today. It would be nice to see some real world tests along with the usual bend it until it breaks type deal. Not that it wouldn't be fun to beat the living @*$# out of some quality cutlery, but I don't know how many people would spen 200+ to put a knife in a vise and bend it and other such unrealistic abuse. just my .02.

P.S. I can't wait to read about this thing! Its gonna be awesome!

------------------
Just because I talk to myself doesn't mean I'm crazy. What's wrong with getting a second opinion?
 
Is this test just for straight blades? Because Cold Steel has a rather interestingly impractical tri-folder folding knife which they claim, in their latest ads, to have the strongest lock of ANY folder in existance.

I'd like to see that POS pitted against the REKAT Carnavour...
wink.gif


------------------
I need a bigger bucket.
 
May I suggest also testing some mid-low priced blades like an issue Ka-Bar and some of the Ontario stuff.

The idea is to see if a $300 blade truly outperforms a $50 blade by 300%, to justify the extra cost.

In fairness, I will request the lower cost blades be sharpened properly, and not tested with the usual 75 degree edge most of them come with. So many of these knives are good quality steel that suffer from improper edging. -Brian
 
I'll second what Jeff Randall said. Test them for things they actually need to do for you in the woods. Chop wood, skin critters, make snares, make shelters.

Then see how hard they are to sharpen! This is crucial if you're out there for a long time, away from your power strops, water-lubed wheels, lansky tool kits, etc.

I wonder sometimes whether good old 1095 followed by an easy re-sharpening makes more practical, back-woods sense than these new wonder-steels that take all afternoon to re-sharpen.

Just my 2 cents.

------------------
I don't want my children fed or clothed by the state, but I would prefer THAT to their being educated by the state.
 
The FALLKNIVEN A1. After taking some brutal hits from testers Cliff Stamp and Fred Perrin, and coming through with flying colors,particularly for a reasonably priced factory blade, I believe its inclusion would be very interesting in the long awaited Bladeforums tests.
I generally agree with Mike Turber that factory blades should be tested against factory blades and customs directly against customs in the interest of fairness,but perhaps the winner of each respective group could then be tested against each other. If however, every blade is now going to be tested (both customs and factory) in one contest, I still find that even more interesting. Additionally, Cold Steel directly challenged Jerry's custom Battle Mistress. Perhaps a little head to head sideshow could be arranged. Looking forward to the shootout......errr, slice-off.

Stay safe and all the best, Phil <-----<<






[This message has been edited by Phil Squire (edited 04 September 1999).]
 
I agree that some comments on comparative sharpening of the knives tested would be good. These comments would be largely personal impressions, but I think we can trust Mike to tell it straight, and some useful info might be gleaned.

Ergonomics might also be considered, though this is highly subjective, too. Best way to do this might be to get input from severeal folks. First, have them hold and manipulate the knife and comment on it. Then have them chop through a hardwood 4"x4" and see if that changes their impressions any. Say where hot spots were, whether there was much vibration, how they felt about the balance, etc.

Getting to more serious performance, I think a "how many cuts" manilla rope test is always a decent standard for edge retention.

Chopping might be tested by timing how long it takes to get through various substances, from piles of thin branches to the aforementioned 4"x4" or a small log. This would require that the testers be equally fit and rested for each knife.

Jam each knife into piece of pine and snap sidewise to see how tough the tip is (yeah, that's a CS trick). Balance this against penetration tests (done earlier) using a set amount of force against various mediums from a soft melon to a thick book or cardboard stack.

This is just a start. At the end of the day, I think each knife should be placed in a vice with an equal length of blade exposed and snapped. Try to find some way to measure the force applied, as well as the angle reached. This is far in excess of what I feel a user might reasonably do, but this is an abusive test and it will show which is strongest, a property that still matters in smaller ways during reasonable use.

I'd also like to see one or two of the TOPS knives thrown into the mix.

-Drew
 
I would like to second the notion that a Ka Bar be included in the tests. Specifically the Next Generation Ka Bars.
 
Hey Cliff,where are you?
wink.gif
You should definately get him in on this! He`s done some of the best knife tests I`ve ever read. Throw a couple HI and GH khukuris in the tests for sure. Marcus

[This message has been edited by Marcus (edited 04 September 1999).]
 
I completely agree with Jeff.

Send the knives to Cliff. I'm sure we would see good testing from him.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top