Whittling test yields surprises

[cgmblade]

What follows is highly subjective. Your experience may vary.

I was bored last night and had a bunch of knives handy and a stick and decided to find out which of the knives cut/whittled best.The results were somewhat surprising so I decided to repeat the test today. What follows is the results of that second test which basically confirmed what I had witnessed the night before.

All of the knives in the test were sharpened by me on a Sharpmaker and all were basically equal in terms of sharpness except as noted. They could all push cut paper and shave arm hair.

This is a picture of the knives tested. Except I had forgotten the mini grip and the Salt 1 was in my pocket.

I tested the knives by whittling a stick approximately 20 strokes and then tested edge retention by cutting a piece of cord approx. 3/16" and shaving some arm hair.

This is the stick and rope before I started. The stick is approximately 1" thick and 14" long. I'm not sure what kind of wood it is.

The results showed that there was no necessary correlation between how much I paid for a knife and how well it cut.

There were too many variables for me to feel comfortable ranking the knives from best to worst. So I've grouped them into three groups of 'Really Good', 'Okay', and 'Not So Good'.

The 'Really Good' knives are:

The Kershaw Barrage 2445ST

The Kershaw may have been the best of all of them. It cut very well with either the serrated portion or plain portion of the blade. The knife weighs right at 4oz and feels very solid and comfortable in the hand. The edge digs into the wood and cuts even strips with minimum effort. It was still razor sharp and popped cut the cord afterwards. Unlike some of the other knives in the test I didn't do pull cuts with it, only push cuts, but based upon how it feels in the hand I think it would do well with pull cuts. At about $35 this Wal-Mart exclusive is a pretty darn good knife.

Another really good knife was the Spyderco Caly 3. It's thin, full-flat-grind blade easily cut long even pieces of wood with little effort. It did well in both push and pull cutting. It was very comfortable in the hand and was easy to control. It popped rope and shaved afterwards and showed absolutely no signs of edge loss.

Ka-Bar Dozier: Another very good knife I got for around $22. comfortable, strong, solid, and with a high hollow grind and a lot of belly. This knife can easily turn a big stick into a pile of shavings in no time with little effort. The Aus-8 blade was still razor sharp at the end of the test. I'm very impressed with this economical knife.

Spyderco Wayne Goddard: Bigger than the others, with a VG-10 partly serrated edge. It's handle shape makes it very comfortable for normal push cutting but It's not so good for pull cuts. The serrated portion of the blade cut smoothly into the wood like it was butter and produced clean strips. The plain edge portion also cut well but produced smaller shavings. No problems with edge retention. A good choice for someone going camping.

Spyderco Salt 1: The last of the 'really good' cutters. This knife surprised me. The Delica 3 style FRN handle was comfortable and the hollow ground H1 steel blade cut as well as any of the other knives in this test. The Salt 1 actually cut with less effort than the Pacific Salt. Maybe because it is smaller and my hand had better leverage. H1 has a reputation of being soft but it was still able to pop rope and shave after the test. A great knife.

I'll post the results of the other knives in the test below.

 

[cgmblade]

Spyderco Pacific Salt: Cut well. Fairly comfortable. Cut long even pieces. Cutting performance was about the same as the Salt 1 but somehow it didn't feel as good. I think that is simply because it is a larger knife and I had less control over the blade. It's about the same size and weight as the Goddard but it wasn't quite on par with the knives listed above. Still a great knife.

Spyderco Endura Gen 1 & 3: These knives both have full serrated blades and cut the wood with ease. The only drawback is that the aggressive spyderco serrations had a tendency to dig too deep into the stick unlike the smaller serrations on the Kershaw which cut cleaner, thinner strips of wood. The Gen 1 Endura has an Aus-8 blade and the Gen 3 has ATS-55. Both performed well with no noticeable edge loss.
Endura 1

Endura 3

Spyderco Delica 3: Love this little knife. Partially serrated VG-10 blade. I found the handles on the Salt 1 and Delica 3 to be more comfortable in this application that the handle of the Delica 4. Both the plain and serrated portions of the blade cut even clean strips of wood. I've noticed that the serrations on the Delica 3 appear to be shallower than those on either of the Enduras which means that it didn't dig too deep into the wood. There's no real difference between this knife and those I labeled above as being 'Really good'. If you want to whittle a stick the Delica 3 is up for the job. No edge loss.

Spyderco Native: I was disappointed in how this knife did last night, but today in the second test it did fine. It could have something to do with the type of wood being used. Anyway, the Native is comfortable in the hand for push cutting but not nearly as good as the Caly 3 for pull cuts. This knife will get the job done but it was outperformed by some of the other knives in the test.
I can't find the picture I took with the shavings so you're going to have to settle for this:

Victorinox One hand Trekker & Cadet: The One hand Trekker was okay and it'll get the job done but the little Cadet did an exceptional job. It wasn't as comfortable as other knives in the test but it cut very well.

Trekker:

Cadet:

I'll make a new post below for the 'Not So Good' knives. Thanks for reading along.

 

[cgmblade]

I forgot to take the mini grip outside with me when I did the second test today so it's not really fair to rate it. Last night it performed okay. If I had to rate it I'd say it was near the bottom of the 'okay' knives listed above. There was no edge loss but the blade just didn't seem to want to bite into the wood. So it produced mainly thin small shavings.

Benchmade 530: No real surprises here. This knife is very lightweight with a fairly long, thin blade. I'm sure it'd really excel at thrust cuts. This isn't a knife I'd choose for whittling.

Spyderco Delica 4: Big disappointment. I'll admit that I've never really been happy with the edge on this knife. I've never been able to get it as sharp as I thought it should be.It'll push cut paper and shave arm hair but it just wouldn't bite into that stick. I love the knife and I edc it more than any other but it didn't do well on this test. It took a lot of effort to get any shavings. Maybe it has something to do with the saber grind. Not a good choice for whittling.

Benchmade Ritter (RSK) Griptilian: You would think that with a high flat grind and s30v steel that it would eat wood but it really didn't do any better than the Benchmade 530. It would still pop cut the rope and shave arm hair after the test and the handle was comfortable but it did a poor job of whittling.

Well that's it from me. Feel free to share your own thoughts, opinions, and experiences.

 

[cgmblade]

This is what was left of the stick and rope after the test.

 

[clearytja]

Great Review. The two main things I cut are wood and cardboard so I think your test was fantastic! It reminds me of a consumer's report @ wine. There was no correlation between price and taste...as long as the bottles were between $8.00 and $25.00. Type of steel, shape of the blade and handle design are not the only factors. Sometimes there is that undefinable-ness to a blade that makes it great...(or not so great).
Thanks,
T

 

[cgmblade]

Appreciate the comment.

 

[hwpaintballer]

Great pics and thanks for the review :thumbup:. If you don't mind me asking, seeing as there is a large variety in steels, which one of the knives listed above do you think is the easiest to sharpen?

 

[cgmblade]

which one of the knives listed above do you think is the easiest to sharpen?

Good question. I'm not an expert on the subject but I'll be glad to share what little I know. In general softer steels are easier to sharpen but don't hold an edge as long as harder steels which are harder to sharpen.

In my personal experience I would say that H1 and AUS-8 are easy to sharpen and hold a pretty good edge but not as good as some other steels. The H1 in particular has a tendency to roll. You can hold it up to a light and see the edge rolled over in places, but a few passes on the Sharpmaker and it's prefect again. I understand that H1 is work hardened so the more I use it the harder it should get. I like AUS-8 as a good compromise between ease of sharpening and edge retention.

s30v is harder to sharpen but holds an edge a long time. In the test above both the Native and Ritter are s30v. both are very sharp but different. The blade of the Ritter is thinner and seems more brittle (though I've not chipped it). The Native never seems to lose its edge but in the test above neither of these knives did really well.

I've had mixed results with VG-10. In general I like it but for some reason I can't get an edge I really like on the Delica 4. It will push cut paper and shave arm hair but it still doesn't feel as sharp as some of my other knives and it was one of the worst performers on this test. The Goddard and Delica 3 are also VG-10 and take a good edge and hold an edge well.

I don't have any experience with ATS-55 other than the Endura 3 above and because it is a serrated edge it is harder for me to judge. It seems sharp and seems to hold an edge well and it certainly cut that stick as well as the AUS-8 Endura did.

I have two knives with 154cm. It seems to hold an edge okay. The mini grip has a very thin blade and seems harder than the H1 or AUS-8 but neither the mini grip or the BM 530 did very good on this test. I'm not sure I've got the right edge geometry on the BM 530. I'm going to have to keep working on it.

The Kershaw has Sandvik 14C28N steel which I know next to nothing about. I believe it is a proprietary steel developed by Sandvik for Kershaw and that it is somewhere between AUS-6 and AUS-8. I don't know if it is because of the steel, blade shape, or grind but the Barrage has never rolled or chipped or lost its edge and just a few passes on the Sharpmaker turns it razor sharp.

I'm still learning and don't really have a favorite steel but I wouldn't turn up my nose at older steels like AUS-8 just because something newer has come out.

 

[hwpaintballer]

Thanks for the quick reply :thumbup:, most of my sharpening experiences have only been with 13C26, 14C28N, SG2, CPM-D2, VG-10, 1095, and random Chinese surprise steel.

 

[PG5768]

Very nice review, cgmblade. Glad to see that the Barrage did so well. I recently gave mine (a prize from Thomas W.) to a rookie knifenut at work. He could definitely see the quality compared to his previous knives. Hopefully this will be his "gateway" knife.

 

[cj65]

That was a great review, and interesting. You seem credible, and appear to remain objective. Thanks for a good read.

 

[cgmblade]

Very nice review, cgmblade. Glad to see that the Barrage did so well. I recently gave mine (a prize from Thomas W.) to a rookie knifenut at work. He could definitely see the quality compared to his previous knives. Hopefully this will be his "gateway" knife.

I actually found this forum looking for info on the Barrage after I had already purchased the knife. I saw the knife at Walmart, liked it and bought it but I guess I'm a little prejudiced against the retailer and began questioning the quality of the knife. A google search led me to this forum (the Kershaw section actually I believe) and I read several reviews including yours, iirc, and Jill jackson. I was reassured by what I read.

The Barrage is heavier than I prefer for edc so I haven't used it that much but it did really well on this particular test.

Thanks for the comment.

 

[cgmblade]

That was a great review, and interesting. You seem credible, and appear to remain objective. Thanks for a good read.

Thanks, it's nice to be considered credible and objective. I try.

 

[stoffi]

I don't understand why you used serrated blades in a whittling review.

 

[clearytja]

Why not? I think serrated knives get this bad rap that they don't deserve. Considering that many taci-cool knives are part serrated I think it was fitting to include them. If they are sharp they can cut many things quite well and in some instances better than a plain edge blade.
T

 

[cgmblade]

I don't understand why you used serrated blades in a whittling review.

Right at the beginning of the post there is the line that says: 'I was bored and had a bunch of knives handy.'

It just so happens that some of those knives were serrated. They actually did very well in the test. If you will look at the pictures of the knives with the shavings you can see that the serrated knives tended to cut larger pieces of wood.

If I needed to whittle a stick again I wouldn't choose one of the Enduras because those two knives tended to cut too deep into the wood. They cut a lot of wood but it wasn't as controllable as some of the other knives.

On the other hand the the other knives in the test w/ partially serrated blades tended to cut nice long pieces of wood without going too deep. The Kershaw in particular was very impressive.

I'm sure that there are several factors that contributed to how well the Kershaw cut. At 4oz it can't really be called heavy, but it was the heaviest knife in this test except for the Trekker (4.5oz). And that may have contributed to the low perceived effort required to slice the stick. It would even sloce through knots and bad places on the wood that some other knives got stuck in.

Perceived effort is very subjective. I didn't have any gauges measuring how much force I was applying. The added heft and solid feel of the Kershaw may have tricked me into thinking I was using less force than I really was. But for whatever reason this knife performed very well on this test and the serrated portion of the blade worked great.

I've never been a huge Kershaw fan. I only own two Kershaws: The Barrage which I used in this test and a small rubber handled lockback pocket knife I bought in the late 80's. By contrast, I own a couple dozen Spydercos. So I'm not blowing smoke up your nether regions when I report how well this Barrage did turning a big stick into a pile of shavings.

There were other knives in this test that cut as well or almost as well as the Kershaw.

The Caly 3 in particular did great. It was very comfortable in my hand and performed well in both push and pull cuts. The blade didn't roll or chip and it remained razor sharp after the test. BUT, the Caly 3 cost me over $100. I would feel real bad if I damaged the knife. By contrast, the Barrage cost only $35. So if I tore it up I wouldn't feel as bad. It's a great beater knife that I'm not afraid to use hard. It is also sturdy enough that I had a lot of confidence using the knife in this test.

The Dozier was another low cost knife that did very well. The Dozier performed flawlessly in this test. The only things I would change about the knife is the pocker clip is a little tight and I wish it had thumb studs on both sides. But for $22 it's a great knife. It also felt very solid in the hand and I felt confident using it.

The Delica 3 cut as well as any knife but at under 2oz it felt like it flexed a very little under the pressure. This test was very subjective. It's all about how the knives felt to me. The perceived level of effort required and how much confidence the knife inspired in me. I love the Delica 3, it's the knife I carry when I go running, and if I had to whittle a stick with it it's certainly up for the job. But if I could choose I would pick the Kershaw.

Most of the knives in this test did just fine. And any of the 'Really Good' or 'Okay' knives would be a good choice for whittling. What really surprised me was how poorly a few knives did.

With the Delica 3 performing so well I was really disappointed in how poorly the Delica 4 did. After posting the results of the test here I spent quite a bit of time sharpening the Delica 4. It is now as sharp as any knife I own, but it still won't whittle a stick. The edge of the blade wants to skip along the surface. It has to have something to do with the saber grind. I have to use a lot of pressure to get it to produce any shavings and the shavings tend to be small. It's not fun whittling with this knife. Although it remains my favorite edc knife.

The biggest disappointment was the Ritter Griptilian. I thought this knife was suppose to be a survival knife. Isn't making a fire stick one of the main uses of a small survival knife?

The knife can easily pop rope or shave arm hair even after the test but the blade wouldn't bite into the wood. Look at the picture of the Ritter above and notice the little shavings sitting on top of the blade. That's typical of what the Ritter produced. Now compare that to the nice even strips of wood produced by the knives that did better in the test. Right now if I was lost in the woods I would much rather have the Goddard with me than the Ritter. If anyone else with a Ritter Grip has experienced different results please let me know.

 

[orthogonal1]

Being flat or hollow grind isn't the issue, it is edge thickness.

Is the Ritter with the factory edge angle?

As I sharpen most of my knives the edge angle gets more acute. More acute edges "whittle" better.

I usually carry M2 versions, a fine grain steel, and never had any issues "whittling".

 

[cgmblade]

Is the Ritter with the factory edge angle?

I haven't re-profiled the edge. I've done some light touch-up on the Sharpmaker but it hasn't seemed to need any major maintenance.

It gives every indication of being very sharp. Like I said above; it pop cut the cord easily and shaves as well as any other knife. It also push cuts paper very well and will catch at just a slight angle on a fingernail. I've tried it on other pieces of wood including an old 2x4 with the same results. On the edge of the 2x4 it just skipped along. Then I tried the Kershaw and it bite into the wood and produced a nice long strip.

 

[stoffi]

@ Clerytja and cgmblade:

I understand the premise for this review (cgmblade had some knives layin' around), but I don't see any more relevance in using these serrated blades than a couple of kitchen knives, or a bread knife for that matter; when it come to testing the carving abilities on wood. Serrations have a different purpose and it's not carving. Serrations are primarily meant for cutting rope, cord, nets, and for gripping onto any other fabric etc. whilst cutting.

Since cgmblade mentions how he is pop-cutting cord, I can only assume that he is doing it with the plain edge and not the serrations, so the one instance where the serrations would come to play in it's element isn't accounted for, or at least not very clearly.

For sure, one can cut stuff with anything that's sharp; but, taking these serrated blades into a carving competition is not giving them justice.

If you want a good carving blade, look at a scandi grind. Nothing carves wood like a blade with such a grind.

In addition, I wouldn't recommend extended carving with serrated blades, as the tips of the serrations tend to break or wear off.

I'm not trying to rain on cgmblades' parade or anything — I'm just saying that I don't understand what the serrated blades are doing in a review which mainly seems to concern woodcarving.

 

[cgmblade]

@ Clerytja and cgmblade:

I'm not trying to rain on cgmblades' parade or anything — I'm just saying that I don't understand what the serrated blades are doing in a review which mainly seems to concern woodcarving.

I don't mind a little rain.