What would you be doing?

G

Gossman Knives

Edged Toolmaker
Joined
Apr 9, 2004
Messages
9,410
Dr. Bill's recent thread on has anyone broken a custom knife got me thinking. This would be any knife, doesn't matter if it's custom, factory, mid tech, whatever. My question is, what would you be doing while out in the woods, mountains whereever you spend your time afield that could possibly cause your knife to fail? This is strickly in the wilderness, not in an urban enviroment.
Scott
 
Well, most likely would be trying to chop into some frozen wood if the blade was also extremely cold.

Maybe if I fell in a frozen lake and did the stab the knife into the ice and haul my heavy posterior out.

I have broken some cheap, nameless China knives simply whittling. The blade looked like they were cast pot metal (the break wasn't across any crystaline boundaries, and the metal looked "grainy"). Don't remember ever breaking a real knife.
 
Maybe digging in some sort of emergency? Prying one's way out of a vehicle?

I can't think of anything that I would do that would break a quality knife under normal circumstances; I've never done worse than ding or chip an edge.
 
Good question Scott. I can only remember breaking one knife (factory) and I was abusing it with the intent to see if it would fail. I've never had a failure with 'normal use'.

However, I can envision a scenario or two where a knife could fail in the wilderness. I've been in some really cold conditions where metal is definitely more brittle, say -20 to -30 Farenheit. I can see where if you were batonning through some frozen wood with a frozen knife it could be more prone to snapping. Same with chopping. Everything is much, much harder and more brittle at these temps.
 
Scott, we've both seen the results of a failed blade in a cold environment.
Had one bend while prying pitch wood. Flexed it back into shape.
I guess that's why it's best to backyard test before committing it to the timber.
 
The most stressful tasks i put my knife through in the woods are

-prying punkwood
-batonning
-drilling (tip stress)
-perhaps the odd pelvic bone while field dressing (though I have never taken large game while camping)

Rick
 
old axe books recommend warming the head with body heat, I wonder if doing the same, putting blade sheathed in your coat for 20 minutes would make a difference?
 
Yeah, I broke a GB Forest Axe head on a frozen piece of Ontario ironwood.

I know - should have known better. The wood was throwing sparks off my chainsaw :o
 
I was chopping on an old fence post and the foundation was a cement block covered in moss that I didn't notice until I hit it:eek: It wasn't too cold, but it put a decent notch in the blade...if it was a bad heat treat or any stress it could have been total failure. My son loves to dig apart downed logs looking for grubs (although he hasn't tried to eat them yet:D). I could imagine catching a knot, but the blade again would have to already have a bad stress point or bad heat treatment. Even digging in rocky soil shouldn't damage a quality blade so outside of a bad hit on a rock by mistake or a very frozen log, I can't think of too many situations that would damage a knife or axe in the outdoors.

ROCK6
 
Probably prying a fatwood stump apart for me, I do put a lot of stress on the blade doing this sometimes !
 
Cold environment chopping/batoning into a frozen log. Although I haven't ever broken a blade doing it, it is the only possible thing that could break a knife that I do. Doubt I will ever break one though.
 
Chopping FROZEN mesquite trees feels like what I think chopping Cement feels like

That stuff is HARD in the summer....and when it's cold out..harder

I have bent the egdes of several knives tested on that Tree.
 
I agree with Rick's list - but something would have to be hidden and wrong for this to cause the knife steel to fail.

For me I would have to have a serious survival situation. I am reminded about a guy who slipped off a ledge while hiking and used his blade to hack out hand holds to get himself back up.

I am sure my knife would not be right afterwards - but I wouldn't give a shit if I was alive to see it.

TF
 
My mentor's philosophy on knife use makes my butthole pucker. What ever you need done at the time, use your knife even if it wrecks it.... you may never even make it to the point when you can resharpen it if you don't use it NOW. It is hard to explain the reasoning behind it... but I agree, now..... and for me to agree to digging into the frozen, rocky ground with my newly made knife.... is a major jump outa my comfort zone.

Rick
 
Last edited:
Hey Scott, remember that maker's knife that we saw break during the PA winter trip? I'm thinking that maybe some of the breakages might occur with frozen knots like hemlock. That guy's knife should not have broke, but that might be one thing that people may not think about when out in the cold. Hell even in that Axmanship pdf they talk about warming axe heads by a fire before a very rigorous workout.
 
brians said:
Yeah, I broke a GB Forest Axe head on a frozen piece of Ontario ironwood.

I know - should have known better. The wood was throwing sparks off my chainsaw :o
Click to expand...

I broke the "beard" off of a GB mini chopping very hard dry Chestnut Oak.

But in the wilderness I can't think of anything I normally do that would break a knife.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top