Why 50-54 HRC on Aircrew Egress Knife?

No, 1095 is generally run higher than that for a knife (56-60) It appears they are just putting toughness as their prime concern. BTW, my guess is your post might be on it's way to a different section of the forums as this isn't a traditional knife.
 
It is a knife meant to be used to cut your way out of aluminum and steel body fuselages as well as plastic canopies during emergencies. Toughness is very important.

Then as a survival knife, it needs to be easily resharpened.

Blade hardness really isn't as big of a deal as we knife nuts think it to be. I have a survival book about a man who survived 133 days on a wood raft at sea, he used the edge of a tin can for his knife...
 
Toughness, and ease of sharpening (presumably someplace in the middle of nowhere, where a 'normal' sharpening tool may not be available). Might have to sharpen the thing on a rock or whatever, and it'd be a simpler job at lower RC.

I have an old Case 6265 SAB Folding Hunter in carbon steel, about 1965-66 vintage, in Case's carbon steel used then (not sure if it was CV). Many older knives weren't hardened to high RC numbers; some have been tested in the mid-high 40s. I saw some hints of that when sharpening my knife. It took an extremely fine, wicked edge very quickly, and felt virtually buttery-soft on a diamond hone. Even so, I used that knife a while later to shred a Priority Mail box I had laying nearby. Cut it up into strips about 1/2" to 3/4" in width, until I had nothing left but a pile of them on the floor. After all that, that blade still was tree-topping hairs from my forearm. That sort of re-calibrated my view of so-called 'soft' steel. If the carbon content of the steel is decently high (maybe 0.80 or better, as with many/most carbon-bladed knives), even the 'soft' ones seem to hold an edge better than I would've expected previously. More so, if the edge geometry is very good (my knife's blade is gently convexed at the edge).
 
Since this isn't a traditional knife question, I'm going to move this to the General Knife Discussion Forum.
 
(possibly off topic)I used to be the guy that packed all the Survival kits on the C-141, C-5, C-17, F-15E and F-16. Those survival knives are not meant to cut through a fuselage as they are in a kit in the ejection seat (right underneath your butt) of Fighter aircraft and the survival gear attached to the 20man life rafts (you are not getting to them with ease). Through the AF survival school you are instructed to do everything to that knife that would make knife people cry lol. Cutting out of a fuselage was not one of the things we were instructed on. We batonned/ pried and stab things for the heck off it. They usually come with a stone to field sharpen with. I think it was a 200grit stone...
 
I flew various incarnations of the C-130 for 30 years and we were taught to use our Ontario pilot's knives to pry out windows/windscreen. Those windows are acrylic plastic, so glass breakers are useless, but you can stab a knife through them and pry them out of the frames if you're motivated enough. I usually made sure we had a crash axe (or three) on board since they are much more effective tools for that endeavor.

It was certainly possible to punch a knife through the thin aluminum skin in many places, but it would still take quite a while to open up a hole big enough to crawl out. Any situation that required such a hole would probably leave the crew unable to do so anyway. :)
 
Where did you guys have your kits in the C-130? I never took care of those aircraft but I got a few rides :)

SpookyDriver said:
I flew various incarnations of the C-130 for 30 years and we were taught to use our Ontario pilot's knives to pry out windows/windscreen. Those windows are acrylic plastic, so glass breakers are useless, but you can stab a knife through them and pry them out of the frames if you're motivated enough. I usually made sure we had a crash axe (or three) on board since they are much more effective tools for that endeavor.

It was certainly possible to punch a knife through the thin aluminum skin in many places, but it would still take quite a while to open up a hole big enough to crawl out. Any situation that required such a hole would probably leave the crew unable to do so anyway. :)
Click to expand...
 
capid1 said:
Where did you guys have your kits in the C-130? I never took care of those aircraft but I got a few rides :)
Click to expand...

The crew kits/rafts were on top of the wings port and starboard. Most of the cockpit crew had small kits in the seatbags or under the cushions, depending on the model. Plus all the drop kits/rafts we carried in the back for rescue ops.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top