wow....my military tip broke off...

"So after a certain amount of time, Wood turns buttery soft?"
I wouldn't say it is buttery but it sure was tired after 90 years of Pittsburgh weather. Do I believe it was hard enough to break my knife? Probably not. I was not twisting the blade but rather shaving a notch between frames with the tip, that shouldn't have broken the knife. I did get into the house with the knife though, sometimes you have to make do with what you've got.
 
I bet if S30V hadn't been so hyped up about being tough from the get go, people wouldn't be so surprised when their thin blades break. They would treat it as any other steel and simply assume they just over stressed the blade and thats all. This steel has a cursed reputation now, at least from what I can see.
 
We need a picture. How much of the tip is gone, how far was the tip inserted? I am not quite picturing this: If you put the tip of a knife into the slot of a normal screw, it should break at the top of the slot, which means about 1 mm max of the tip is gone....big deal. The material of the screw matters little. If you insert the edge into the screw you leverage the entire blade and it could break anywhere. If the other blades didn't break it was pure luck or because you applied less force because you knew what could happen. You can break a any knife on a wood screw, no problem, that way. The steel of the blade matters little.
 
R.H.Clark said:
I'm not going to be so hard on you.Same thing could have happened to me.I've got a D2 Military on the way and I'm already dissapointed yours broke.

Yes I know knives aren't screwdrivers and all that but for an EDC a blade should be able to loosen a small plastic screw without breaking.I mean I've got fillet knives that are plenty thin and pointy that would do the job.

I know you serious knife guys would never use a knife like a screwdriver but lighten up on the guy.I'm sure he is not the first and won't be the last to use an EDC a little rough.
Click to expand...

Thanks... i'm getting a little heat here (long time lurker, new poster, so i guess i have to pay my dues here).
 
Sal Glesser said:
Hi Oneformula.

Sorry the tip broke. I would suggest sending it in to Spyderco for a "look-see". It's always possibe the problem was in the knife. They can also regrind the tip.

It's hard for me to imagine that the tip would break on a plastic screw with no marks on the screw. There is usually more going on that would cause a tip tip break.

But in the end, we can look at the blade, Rc, measure, check the hinge, etc and determine the problem better than anyone on any forum can from a verbal description.

sal
Click to expand...

thanks- to be honest, the damage is very slight. i got a little emotional about my brand new baby no longer being pristine! i can live with the very small bit missing- thanks for the offer, though.

i'll post a pic later.
 
my.php
[/URL][/IMG]
 
oneformula said:
Thanks... i'm getting a little heat here (long time lurker, new poster, so i guess i have to pay my dues here).
Click to expand...

oneformula said:
thanks- to be honest, the damage is very slight. i got a little emotional about my brand new baby no longer being pristine! i can live with the very small bit missing- thanks for the offer, though.

i'll post a pic later.
Click to expand...

I don't think anyone singles out new posters and jumps on them for sport. :) It is a hot button issue.

When I bought my first big expensive Spyderco G-2 steeled Police, I was college student poor. While out target shooting, the wood grips on my favorite revolver became loose. I didn't have a screw driver so I used the tip of my Police. It has a fine tip. I bunged up the screw and the tip of my Police and was horrified. :( My fault though for forgetting to pack some proper tools.

I can't see your pic, but my work computer is acting weird. If it is still bothering you, be sure to follow Sal's advice.

=====

In related news, one can see several tip broken stories if one performs a search. Is it the steel in all those stories? The steel isn't always S30V. Spyderco's niche has always been "cutters" rather than "prybars". Their flagship models the Endura and Delica used to have a very fine point. People broke them to often using them as they were not designed. Spyderco changed the design to better absorb this abuse to those two models.

Also remember that reading a few individuals breaking points on the internet, doesn't equate to a national epidemic. Sure attention should be paid to the issue, but in general individual results are not statistically significant.
 
oneformula said:
my.php
[/URL][/IMG]
Click to expand...
I feel your pain. It's never happened to me, knock on 90 year old wood from Pittsburgh, but it would bug me. I don't think you'll get a better offer from Sal, maybe they can test it. If not, they can regrind it. Best wishes:thumbup:
 
I fixed my broken tip by using some advice given to me by a forum member, MORIMOTOM, and it worked great. I reshaped the tip using a brown Sharpmaker rod as a file, and then resharpened the blade. By hand, you can eyeball a nice blending radius and you probly won't even notice it was broken in the first place. With a blade as thin as yours, filing should be quick and easy. Of course, if Mr. Glesser offers to fix the blade, granted you would have to wait to get it back, but immagine how good of a job they would do.
 
Ah, that's what I thought. Yes, that far up the tip of the Mili is quite thin and the edge is ground more accute than is common on other brands (15 deg, while 20+ deg per side is pretty standart on other brands) and you see it broke right up to the end of the edge bevel. But do not worry, it is not difficult to regrind the tip so that it is virtually impossible to tell that there has ever been a damage. Since Mr. Glesser already offered to do so, I would take him up on it.
 
I think Sal summed it up perfectly. He'd probably like to have a look at it. You'll likely get a nice new blade, or an excellent repair, and it probably won't take too long.
 
36390.jpg


If that is a model of the knife, yea I have to echo the others.
The tip is not going to withstand much torque, regardless of the material it is being asked to pry/twist.
Blade Material is largely irrelevant; the blade shape, and thickness is more the issue.
 
That would be twisting NOT prying. Was this a philips head or a slot or other? I've never seen a plastic screw on an outlet cover. Some look like plastic but they are steel with white paint. Either way you are at fault. I've broken some tips but not any in the last 20 years (so I'm definitly way past due). I've taken bottle caps off with my EZ-OUT JR for many years with no issues. Note. It is kept with a convex edge. Do NOT try that with your military or any other knife with a thinner grind near the edge or you will likely see chipping or denting. That includes ZDP-189 and VG10. Ask me how I know this. Live/learn/die.
 
vwb563 said:
you know, in some ways thats why i had rather have aus6 or something similar as opposed to some of these newer "super" steels like s30v or zdp189. ive read so many articles on here about the tips of knives breaking off and edges chipping that it makes me refrain from buying any of these types of steels. now i know you are not supposed to pry or use a knife tip as a screwdriver but sometimes situations demand that we use the tools that we have with us and this may have to be our knives. at least with aus6 or aus8 you probably would bend the tip way before it would beak off. and most of the time these tips can be bent back to true if done properly. i had rather bend a bent tip back than try to reshape a broken off tip.,,,VWB.
Click to expand...

I agree on the toughness of AUS 8 you can get away with more things with this steel. I think it has something to do with more "flexability" caractaristics in the steel composition. The downside is edge retention compared to the new steels . However they are easier to resharpning. The most problems with sharpening is getting rid off burrs without loosing the sharpness.:confused:
Specially on the newer harder steels. I have trouble sometimes thinking i have a keen edge and after a couple of days it is gone as i was cuttin with a burr.

I'm hopin SAL will come up with the perfect steel someday. Well we keep dreaming and comparing :)
It is not only the steel but also the design that atracts me on spydies. Can't wait for the spydie/willkins leafstorm to come out. ;)
 
Spydercos are great knives but i though you should know they have these things now called "SAK's" and other things called "multitools" if you need to turn screws.
Sorry if that sounds sarcastic its just it saddens me to see yet another knife tip sacrificed to the screw god!lol!
You can get a basic SAK for under 20$ to carry with your Spyderco. if you buy used you can get them even cheaper, try ebay. A one layer Vic Waiter or a Two layer Recruit/Tourist/Spartan are thin and light and you will forget they are there until you need them.
 
You do have my sympathy though. I broke a tiny bit of the tip off my old Spyderco mini dyad years ago. however a little work with my sharpening stones and it was back to almost normal. After that i always made sure i buddied up my Spyderco with my old Vic Recruit for screwing/prying tasks.
Sadly my Dyad disappeared in my last house move.
 
If you've never broken the tip off one of your knives, you're not using them!

Ever notice how once the tip has been broken off it works better as a screwdriver?

Ok... how 'bout this? How many have found that once you break off the tip of your knife by doing something stupid, and then regrind the tip and sharpen it... the tip becomes stronger! Yeah, the blade is a little shorter... but it is stronger!

Yeah, i'm bad... not funny... but it's all true! Really!
 
I think it's all about the karma thing.



The knife broke the screw loose,..............


.......and the screw broke the tip loose. :p


Sorry,.......i apologize for even having thought that. :o


BTW,.....cutting the last inch off my "Baby" ZT 0200 really beefed up my tip! I bet i could pierce a 55 gallon drum now and not leave a mark!

Send me your knife and i can shorten it up for ya! :D
 
Hey, how do you think the tanto style blade tip was invented???

Some guy kept breaking off the tip of his knife and finally said; "Screw this! I'm gonna grind a tip that will punch through STEEL ARMOUR without breaking!"

:D

Ok... sorry... i'll shut up.....;)
 
I am not posting much lately (I am at work) but after reading all the posts on the three pages and finally having a look at the picture of the broken tip... I can't help it, I have a smile on my face. When you said you snapped your tip I was thinking about half inch or so... maybe even more. That is not even 2mm.

I now it does't look brand new now... and that you will probably have to reshape the blade but... I don't think that broken tip is much of a deal. Take a stone and reshape it. I am from Spain, and trust me, if that happened to me I won't even think about sending it back to Spyderco... just for the shipping costs.

Knives are tools... and tools get used, damaged and ultimately replaced... no problem. I tend to think about knives as wearable tools.
Mikel
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top