Wow--PM2 in 52100

on_the_edge

on_the_edge

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Jan 31, 2006
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I generally don't like to take too many chances with my knives, but I decided to push my PM2 in 52100 to the edge of my comfort zone (ok, well maybe a tad bit more) last night.

So I wanted to make a fire outside. I grabbed a chopper from a well known company with a forum here on BFC and headed for some seasoned mesquite in my backyard. After batoning some knarly, very hard wood to the appropriate larger sizes, I started in on a stick that was about 1.5" in diameter to get some wood shavings. It took me about 3 seconds before I realized that my beefy do-it-all chopper was going to be less than ideal; it just felt a little too big and thick. Being lazy and not wanting to go back into the house to get another knife, I immediately thought of my PM2 in 52100 in my pocket. o_O

Now I will be the first to say that I don't think PM2s are meant to make shavings of very hard wood. It's a folder with a pivot and is not nearly as strong as a fixed blade. Moreover, the blade is fairly thin even compared to a fixed blade designed for bushcraft. But, it is 52100 and is supposed to be very, very tough. I guess it was time to find out.

Any guesses as to what happened?

To be continued... maybe even with pics... :eek:;)
 
I would expect a folder to have no issues making wood shavings. I have done it quite a bit. Comfort has always been the only issue I have had.

I look forward to your follow up and pics! :) Thanks for sharing!
 
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I agree with the two above me. I use my folders to shave toothpicks into slightly thinner toothpicks to get between my teeth and it works great!

I know there's quite a bit of difference between toothpicks and a chunk of hardwood, but I suspect it did just fine, haha. At least I hope so for your knife's sake!
 
The pm2 has a nice big beefy pivot, bigger than most. If making hard wood shavings with a 52100 pm2 is the worst thing it sees, that's a sheltered life by my standards.
 
Hahaha, I've got to up my game with you folks. :D Yes, you are all correct. The PM2 took it like it was nothing. I wasn't too worried about the pivot, but I feel like there were some lateral stresses on the knife that had potential for a bad outcome and the knife came through like a champ! I kept checking the edge after every difficult stroke expecting to see a chunk of edge missing or deformed and to my surprise and great happiness, there was no such thing. In fact, when I was done, the knife still shaved arm hair, though it was not stellar at it. A few quick passes on the Sharpmaker and it was back to business as usual. :thumbsup:
 
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