I have a 10" spec plus Tanto that I recently used to help bring down a fairly large Catauba tree (I have no idea how to spell the name of the tree!) Anyway, My Church is doing some new landscaping and building additions and we needed to remove a tree that was on it's way to being fully dead due to carpenter ants anyway.
The diameter of the tree was about the same as a large truck tire. We used chainsaws to get a good cut into the trunk, but due to the short length of the chainsws and the width of the trunk, the chainsaw would bind up.
My Spec plus tanto to the rescue! I used it to hack and pry out the chips in our cuts in order to clear space for the blade. The edge helds up great, even though the wood was VERY HARD.
Here's the best part... I used a HAMMER to HAMMER the edge and/or point into the wood and then torqued on the blade to pop the chips out. I did not hold back at all with the hammer. Except for some pretty good dings on the back of the blade and chips out of the finish, the edge and point still held up just fine. The handle was damaged at the butt of the knife due to the hammer striking it when driving the point into the wood. But the handle remained functional even with the damage.
After we finally got the tree down, I used the knife to clear some of the smaller branches and guess what?! The edge was still in serviceable shape!
I don't get a chance to use a knife as hard as I'd like to very often, but I think that this was about as tough a test as you can put a knife through in actual practical use. I put extremely hard force on the blade and it sprang back to true every time, the edge remained in good shape, and the knife in no way shape or form failed to do what I asked of it.
With all of the recent garbage regarding what is and isn't abuse on this and other forums lately regarding a certain high dollar knife maker, I just though I'd share my experience with an inexpensive, beater of a knife that absolutely inpressed me with it's performance.
If I had one complaint, it would be that I experienced fairly heavy vibration through the handle when doing full strength chopping.
But it wasn't anything that interfered with my ability to use the knife as hard as I could.
And there you have it,
Chris Canis
------------------
"Tolerance is the vice of those who have no convictions of their own"
The diameter of the tree was about the same as a large truck tire. We used chainsaws to get a good cut into the trunk, but due to the short length of the chainsws and the width of the trunk, the chainsaw would bind up.
My Spec plus tanto to the rescue! I used it to hack and pry out the chips in our cuts in order to clear space for the blade. The edge helds up great, even though the wood was VERY HARD.
Here's the best part... I used a HAMMER to HAMMER the edge and/or point into the wood and then torqued on the blade to pop the chips out. I did not hold back at all with the hammer. Except for some pretty good dings on the back of the blade and chips out of the finish, the edge and point still held up just fine. The handle was damaged at the butt of the knife due to the hammer striking it when driving the point into the wood. But the handle remained functional even with the damage.
After we finally got the tree down, I used the knife to clear some of the smaller branches and guess what?! The edge was still in serviceable shape!
I don't get a chance to use a knife as hard as I'd like to very often, but I think that this was about as tough a test as you can put a knife through in actual practical use. I put extremely hard force on the blade and it sprang back to true every time, the edge remained in good shape, and the knife in no way shape or form failed to do what I asked of it.
With all of the recent garbage regarding what is and isn't abuse on this and other forums lately regarding a certain high dollar knife maker, I just though I'd share my experience with an inexpensive, beater of a knife that absolutely inpressed me with it's performance.
If I had one complaint, it would be that I experienced fairly heavy vibration through the handle when doing full strength chopping.
But it wasn't anything that interfered with my ability to use the knife as hard as I could.
And there you have it,
Chris Canis
------------------
"Tolerance is the vice of those who have no convictions of their own"