You did WHAT with your knife?

Rick Marchand

Rick Marchand

Donkey on the Edge
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A recent thread in General got me thinking about knife abuse again. Not what constitutes it... I think we have beaten that subject enough. We are well aware that there are proper tools for any given task. We are also aware of the fact that $#!T happens and you are sometimes forced to make due. This is not a thread about knife tests, reviews or caveats... let's get past the politics and just have fun in this thread, okay?


I want to hear actual W&SS scenarios (staged or real) when you abused your knife and what the outcome was.

I also want to know whether you still stand behind your descision to take a knife out of its range of use.

Pics are always encouraged.




Rick
 
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During my last winter skills training session, I used my (newly made) knife to hack into the frozen ground to pry out a rock and use it for traditional flint and steel fire lighting. I used the spine of my knife to cast a spark into some fungus.

Do I regret it?.... I thought I would have at the time and it took me way out of my comfort zone to do it. (especially knowing that it was a mock survival situation)... but I don't. My hands were way to cold to start carving out a friction fire set, let alone making the cordage from scratch. I was still able to use my knife as a knife in the end.

Here is the blade I used on that trip...

IMG_0122-2.jpg

Rick
 
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I was using my old Buck Fieldmate (probably 15-16 years ago) to split a piece of firewood around 4" thick, maybe 18" long. The Fieldmate (for those who don't know) had green Kraton handle and a 6" blade similar to the Buck 184 Survival knife, Saw back with a scalloped tip section. Thick blade, close 3/16" I believe.

Anyway, I was halfway through the wood and the blade BROKE IN HALF exactly in the middle of blade. At the time, as a young teenager, it was by FAR the best knife I'd ever had. I was crushed. I couldn't believe my eyes. I tried to solder it back together, LOL.

I did learn some about construction, stick tangs, and 3/4 tangs on that knife. I figured since it was dead, I'd cut the handle off to see what it looked like in there. It was a narrow, 3/4 length tang. I was really surprised when I saw it.

What I took away from it? Well, it really killed me on the Buck brand. I've only had 5 others since that knife and just can't bring myself to buy another one. One was a big fixed blade with wood scales on a full tang (can't remember the model), one was a folder, a couple of Nighthawks, and I still have an Extract in one of my packs. I know that they are a quality brand, people love them, but I just can't do it.

What else did I take away from it? I'll NEVER own a knife with a saw back on it or any other cut or hole on the spine. I'm also not worried about breaking the handle off of any knife that's not full tang, oddly enough. As bad as I beat on that knife, the tang never broke.
 
I somehow managed to put a slight bend in my Short Ka-Bar. I think it was from trying to pry apart a partially split log, but I didn't notice it till later so I"m not entirly sure. I was a newb then, I'm a bit more careful about lateral stress now. :rolleyes:
 
Was banging a Tom Brown scout knife into a log to test it and accidentally hit it laterally and BENT it severely. Had to throw it away. I was angry with myself because I needlessly did it. I was NOT using it as intended, a cutting tool. I baton, but this was waaaaaay beyond necessary.
 
I have buttered bread with my Busses.:D



Seriously though. I have dug out firepits and (accidently) chopped metal with a couple of my Busses. That's when I learned about using steels and reprofiling. While digging out one firepit with my Busse Heavy Heart, I ran into rock after rock and actually cut through what appeared to be bedsprings buried in the ground. I pried with all my weight and it didn't even flex, and it dented and flattened the edge into a mishapen jag of ridges. It steeled straight and the edge convexed back nicely. I would do it again if I didn't have a shovel, or too many drinks.
I broke a Spyderco Native prying a windshield wiper off my car. I use my ZT350 for just about anything a blade can be used for @ work. I am a Maintenance Worker for a school district so that can be cutting gum out of carpet-to-jumping a breaker.:eek::D
 
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Rockywolf said:
Was banging a Tom Brown scout knife into a log to test it and accidentally hit it laterally and BENT it severely. Had to throw it away. I was angry with myself because I needlessly did it. I was NOT using it as intended, a cutting tool. I baton, but this was waaaaaay beyond necessary.
Click to expand...

It bent instead of broke... that is music to my ears(eyes). I would have bought another one in a heartbeat.


Rick
 
My fence had a bunch of those plastic ties connecting it and I had to cut them. With really thinking of it, I pressed the knife cutting them down but sending the edge right into the metal fence post. That rolled my edge along my buck 119.

I decided to play 'how tough is it?' with my scrapyard SOD. I had this gnarly, knotty from hell piece of locust and I batoning the crap out of the blade. I get the blade about 1/2 way through the log and it just stops. I get a bigger baton and start whacking and it ain't going through. Now, I'm thinking, crap. I can't get her out of there. I try tapping it out from the reverse direction and that isn't doing anything. So then I go and grab my RD 9, turn the log over and start batoning it from the other side. I get the RD-9 in there and now it gets stuck. So, now I have a $250 log and testament to stupidity. I get a really big baton....More Like a log. Flip the log over and begin wacking the SOD for all I got. At this point, I figure if one of them shatters well I'll at least get one out......The sod managed to work its way through and finish the split.

I'm gone abroad and my wife decides to do a little deck repair. She can't find a hammer to pry out one of the boards. She sees me batoning all the time, although she doesn't get the wood on steel thing. So, she grabs my RD-9 and starts hammering into the deck board to be extracted point first. What does she decide to use to hammer the knife in? My, at the time, brand new Snow And Neely Axe customized from Brian Andrews. I get home and notice all these little score marks in the S&N pommel. The RD-9 didn't seem to show anything and I only know she used the RD-9 because she fessed up when I asked her what produced all the little dents in my axe head.

Then, there was that time when my flint rock lost all of its sharp edge. I thought I'd just knap a little piece off and continue striking. Thing is, I used my firesteel to try and break a chip off the rock. Didn't work.

DSC_0036-10.jpg
 
Rockywolf said:
Was banging a Tom Brown scout knife into a log to test it and accidentally hit it laterally and BENT it severely. Had to throw it away. I was angry with myself because I needlessly did it. I was NOT using it as intended, a cutting tool. I baton, but this was waaaaaay beyond necessary.
Click to expand...

Turn it around and hit it on the other side. :D


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Oh also, this might count: I cut wire fencing with my tomahawk.
Thin'ish rather rusty wire, but still.
 
Good idea for a thread, Rick.

I'd like to talk about some of the foolish things I did when I was young, but if word got out, KPS (Knife Protective Services) would be out here in a heartbeat confiscating my knives "for their protection." There'd be a custody battle in court that I would probably lose, people would shun me, and point and whisper when they saw me on the street.

I'd have to leave town in shame, and start all over in a new place, with a new name, always fearful that my past might catch up with me. No, it's better if I don't go into details.

Suffice it to say that, in my youth, I might have abused a knife or two, and let it go at that.

Oh, the shame.
 
When I was really young, made the very poor decision to baton some wooden plank with a 5" locking folder (heck if I can remember what make). The lock never was quite the same again, but it got the fire started and the group lacked any other fixed blades or axes. I would not have repeated the mistakes of youth...I could have collected plenty of fine small sticks if I was patient about it.

I was also doing some yardwork with my BK7 last year and was chopping some large saplings down that were growing out of our ivy bed. One of them seemed oddly resistant to being chopped through, so I started swinging harder. As it turns out, there was a heavy steel wire tomato cage buried in the ivy and the end of the blade was striking that every time I swung at the sapling. The ivy covering it was deadening the sound so I didn't realize what I was doing until there were some significant dents in the blade's edge. I sat down with sharpening stones and kept at it until I'd completely removed the damage. I would definitely not repeat the incident (knowingly).
 
Once when I was out in the weather with no place to go... really bad winter weather a mix of freezing rain and sleet, and I was younger and knew less. I found an old abandoned building back off of the road. There were no recent track at the gate or anywhere on the property, and the lock on the gate was so rusty I doubt it would have worked. I made my way to the building only to find another rusty lock on a door made of corrugated metal. Since the door was rusty I used my pilots knife to try and pry the hasp off but there were washers on the back side and the metal wasn't as weak as it appeared. Soooo...I found a stick and chiseled out the hasp using my knife to cut the metal. Once inside I used the knife to punch some holes in a metal five gallon bucket and used that for a makeshift stove burning planks from old shelving and some that were just laying around. It took a while with the factory stone on the sheath to restore the edge but given the same circumstances I'd definitely do it again.
 
A couple of years back, my Son, normally a fairly sane guy, was skinning a deer. His blade was dull, and he asked to borrow my Randall #11.
When I handed him the blade, the FIRST thing he did was start hacking at a bone.
I demanded my knife back, and told him to use his pocket knife to finish the job. When I examined the blade, he had rolled a section.
This is a skinner, not a chopper. It took me a lot of work to smooth the section out using a brass rod.
damagedrandall.jpg
 
Rockywolf said:
Was banging a Tom Brown scout knife into a log to test it and accidentally hit it laterally and BENT it severely. Had to throw it away. I was angry with myself because I needlessly did it. I was NOT using it as intended, a cutting tool. I baton, but this was waaaaaay beyond necessary.
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Lol, aren't those things like half an inch thick!!!(slight exaggeration)...
Surely if it bent out so easily you could have clamped it and bent it back tot true... I've never liked those knives anyway:p Read every single one of his books last year though!
 
Mannlicher said:
A couple of years back, my Son, normally a fairly sane guy, was skinning a deer. His blade was dull, and he asked to borrow my Randall #11.
When I handed him the blade, the FIRST thing he did was start hacking at a bone.
I demanded my knife back, and told him to use his pocket knife to finish the job. When I examined the blade, he had rolled a section.
This is a skinner, not a chopper. It took me a lot of work to smooth the section out using a brass rod.
damagedrandall.jpg
Click to expand...
Was he mad at you at the time??? That's not something you do to your ol' man!
 
When I was a kid I used my Kabar USMC knife, which never left my belt for everything. The edge was not perfect on it, but it held up. My grandad saw me prying with it once, and slapped me in the back of the head and gave me a speach. I haven't done that since. If I had to to survive I would though.
 
In January, Doug and I were collecting some dogwood for arrow shafts. I had a couple glancing blows that sent this guy into the frozen ground. No damage, though.

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