What do you learn from destruction tests?

Shotgun

Shotgun

Joined
Feb 3, 2006
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Just wondering what kind of real world conclusions you can draw from the destruction tests on youtube. I've watched some and some of the things I can see as beneficial. For instance the test where a knife is placed between two blocks of wood and then the tester stands on them to see if it'll take the weight. This could be a real world use and I think Kochanski even recomends a knife that can do this. The problem is that this test, which I find useful, is following other tests like beating it through a 2X4 with a hammer or chopping through a cinder block. Tests I find useless and renders the test I want to see useless because the knife has already been pre-stressed from abuse. Is there actually something that can be learned from these tests and if so, what?
 
I watch them from time to time just to see what the knife can take, and shows proof how much tougher steel X is to steel Y. I never damaged a knife besides common things like chipping or rolling or the tip snapped off, but it is an interesting way to review a knife.
 
I think its like crash-testing a car. No body would purposefully do this, but its to understand the extreme limits of its construction and the quality of its components. Obviously, these "torture" tests are usually performed on blades that people would use for extreme purposes. Maybe a soldier awaiting deployment wants to know if he can smash through a wall or a car door with his chopper... It isn't that relevant for most of us users, no not at all.

If I was being sent overseas I'd probably want a breaching tool, and it would something designed to do that. At the same time I like knowing if my knife is properly heat treated, a test I can do myself by putting it through its paces, and finding a weakness if there is one before I'm in a situation where I'm relying on that tool...

I'm betting most people who watch these tests use them to bolster their confidence in their "battle knife," and relegate it to the safequeen pile...
 
matt1987 said:
I watch them from time to time just to see what the knife can take, and shows proof how much tougher steel X is to steel Y.
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Can you make a direct correlation between steels when they're not the same knife? Not even taking into account variances in HT, the amount of steel a knife has would be different from knife to knife. For instance take the ESEE 4 and the fallkniven F1. They're both 3/16" thick but they have drastically different geometries so even if they were made of the same steel with the same HT, wouldn't you expect them to behave differently according to that factor alone?
 
Most of the tests I see no value beyond the entertainment (some idiot destroying his perfectly good knife:rolleyes:)

I do watch and find value in the edge retention demos (real life cutting) some sharpening "tests" also.

How to stand on a knife, unless you are very very short and need to cross a small stream someday - I dunno.
 
rubiconss said:
Most of the tests I see no value beyond the entertainment (some idiot destroying his perfectly good knife:rolleyes:)

I do watch and find value in the edge retention demos (real life cutting) some sharpening "tests" also.

How to stand on a knife, unless you are very very short and need to cross a small stream someday - I dunno.
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Yeah, I agree it's definitely a "what if" scenario and most likely not a factor but I have heard stories of guys using their knives as pitons(sp?) to get out of steep river banks/ravines.
 
I've watched a few of a particular guy's (noss) videos. I'm not learning anything but its like watching a horror movie. I empathize with the knife. You've got some guy dressed up like an executioner who is very calmly and methodically doing very shameful things to knives. He gets done doing something awful to it, then he turns around and there is a 2X4 in a vise. It is like watching a car crash. I can't look away. You know what is going to happen but you're powerless to do anything about it. Its like the dream where you are running in steel toed boots and the bad guys are gaining. I think he should put scary music in the background.
 
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His stuff, not mine .You take them with a grain of salt or two,there's alot more important shit that concerns me ,like making thousands(at least) of knives and using up all the resources,raw materials,man-power to make a pos
 
I think you can gain some very general insight as to what kind of forces a knife can endure, but there are too many variables at work for it to be tremendously valuable to me. I'll admit I find them pretty interesting, but some good science added to the testing would make it something I actually paid attention to. As is, I think they function as sort of a mental panacea, reassuring me that a well built knife can take quite a lot of abuse if I had to, for some reason, use it that way.
 
You learn things that you hadn't taught of be4.

The way a blade can chip or bend, I had never seen a blade do those things be4 and it helps you think of what you can do to it, if yours does. For example now I know that if I really need to I can pry with most knives but then I'll have to take a file to the broken tip and so on. Be4 I would have guessed prying would bend most steels and so on.

It's like when you're a kid and you break and bend things just to see what happens, you're learning what's possible and what to expect, most kids get punished for such behavior by ignorant adults and then when they become adults affect the same superior attitude as the people who punished them.

I personally learned that to break a knife you have to:
-have it wedged or stuck in hard material because the force of pressure will make the blade slip be4 you can brake most steels.
-chipping in metal is quite small and can be easily removed with sandpaper and some files.
-bending is to be avoided because you're usually stuck with it and large parts bend, not small ones.
-the amount of force required to break/bend most steels would only be used in emergency situations to save lives
-the only factor a modern undesirable steel in large blades is excessive chipping when hard used such as cutting plastic cables and such. (small chipping is ok)
-blade thinness or thickness is important
-processing large wood is to be done with a saw and your knife is for processing animals and other food. (The risk of bending or breaking under impact is not worth it)
 
Shotgun said:
Can you make a direct correlation between steels when they're not the same knife? Not even taking into account variances in HT, the amount of steel a knife has would be different from knife to knife. For instance take the ESEE 4 and the fallkniven F1. They're both 3/16" thick but they have drastically different geometries so even if they were made of the same steel with the same HT, wouldn't you expect them to behave differently according to that factor alone?
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I agree. The only way for a fair destruction test would be to take the same knife, one with X steel and one with Y steel. For example, take a Bravo 1 in A2, and one in 3V, and see if it stands up to be a "tougher" steel. I think having a set up like this is a bit more productive and conclusive than how the tests are now, where he just takes a random knife and beats the snot out of it.
 
I suppose one can estimate the degree of quality of the product, whether there was some cutting of corners during manufacture, the philosophy of the company (overbuilt vs. bare minimum), etc.

I have a much easier initial (that predates other considerations) test: if it doesn't specify Japan, USA, Sweden, or Germany as the place of manufacture, I am not interested.

As far as destroying a perfectly good knife, one could argue the same thing when testing cars. We don't know unless we test.
 
SkinnyJoe said:
As far as destroying a perfectly good knife, one could argue the same thing when testing cars. We don't know unless we test.
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Crash tests are conducted scientifically by the actual manufacturers in controlled environments. Not by some random dude in his garage with a bench-vice and a 5lb hammer.
 
I learned that there is a $20 knife out there that will take almost as much abused as a Busse.

I learned that there is a very expensive knife out there made in Idaho by a very exclusive manufacturer that will not take very much abuse at all.

I learned that there are some knives that cannot be beaten and abused to the point where they will break.

I learned that some people do not have a stomach for seeing this kind of testing done and they seem to be very vocal in opposition.

I do not know that hockey-mask fellow and have no recollection of his presence on this board, so I may have missed something there.

best regards -

mqqn
 
I learned that a determined individual with a sledge hammer can break any knife he wants if he puts his mind to it. :thumbup:
 
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