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Thread: Hand Forged Knife Durability Test.

  1. #1
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    Hand Forged Knife Durability Test.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kciCovRn0is

    this is a demonstration of the knives that i help make. this video was intended for all the box of rocks people who got snotty and said "the price is too high" and who said "i can go down to Walmart and buy a knife like that for $15-$20". no. no, you cannot. I'll personally put this knife up against any China made Walmart knife any day of the week, and i guarantee that it will best that over priced Case knife...

    this is me mutilating an aluminum can and the knife still being sharp enough to be able to shave paper with it... do that with that China made Walmart knife and let me know how that goes.. you would be lucky if the edge on most commercial knifes held up to cardboard. i have seen commercial knives get dull just from rattling around in the scabbard. not these. these are several lifetime knives if taken care of.

  2. #2
    Boolit Master

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    How much do you charge? I am ready for the sticker shock.
    Ole Jack
    "'Necesity' is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of Tyrants: it is the creed of slaves."
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    being there is a week in the thing, $300..

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    Boolit Master D Crockett's Avatar
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    I wish you would post a picture of the knife reason being my computer will not let me go on youtube . in my life time I have seen some very well made knives in fact I carry a $300 hand made knife with me all the time. D Crockett

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    No offense, but I would be one of those with that mindset. I have asked, another knifemaker, how much to make a knife like this: https://www.amazon.com/Old-Timer-152.../dp/B000IE3ZKA and was given the same ballpark price. I won't say that there is any comparison or that the custom knife isn't worth it, I'm sure it is, but for guy's like me that only use their knives like that for skinning deer the $14 knife will do just fine.

    All that being said, I do like and want a hand made one. But it's not because the knife can take that abuse, because I'd never do that to a $300 knife, but just because. So if I was making these and selling them, I'd be marketing these more to people that want a quality, hand-made piece of craftsmanship and not trying to compete with chi-com knife makers who are not even in the same ballpark.
    "Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it."
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    here ya go Crockett....

    Click image for larger version. 

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  7. #7
    Boolit Master
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    Nice looking knife - You mention "forged", what alloy do you use? What heat treat procedure? Do you test any for Rc hardness? That is an interesting handle - how is it made? Do you use stabilized wood? OR - is that an integral forged steel handle?

  8. #8
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    I own one hand-made knife and I love it. I also love the Case "Mako" I bought in 1980 for $40.
    Mass production gets products that are 'good enough' into the hands of the general public at an affordable price.
    Warning: I know Judo. If you force me to prove it I'll shoot you.

  9. #9
    Boolit Master
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    I enjoy handmade and production knives. $300 isn’t a bad price for a hand forged knife if the steel, heat treat, and sheath are good. I prefer carbon steel, and really am not interested in all the super steels.

    Bark River makes good production knives. Randall is a must have for anybody who enjoys knives. However, it is truly a buyers market for nice, hand forged custom knives in the $300 range.

  10. #10
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    I have three knife maker buddies. All can make a pretty good blade. We have had some interesting talks on blades and the abuse one should be able to take yet stay sharp.

    Your aluminum can and paper cutting shows little if anything. Both can be cut with a some what dull blade with little hardness.

    Hack on a piece of dry oak, hemp rope or bamboo, then show me how it will shave.
    Rather than cut through the paper as you show, see if you can filet it.

    Lots of things can be done to test the durability of a blade.
    Hair and bone are fairly common things to be cut,mane are some of the toughest things on a blade.

    Have seen guys field dress a deer with their "sharp" knife. About a third the way through they are dull. $13 or $300 knives mean little if the alloy and temper is worthless.

    Not a knock on your hobby, constructive criticism.
    Jeff

  11. #11
    Boolit Master Drm50's Avatar
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    I'm not a collector I have only one factory hunting knife. One custom made, to my specs back in
    late 60s, and a KBar. I also have a couple I made from blades out of industrial equippment. I
    tried to make my own blades but could never get the temper right. That isn't easiest thing to
    accomplish without proper equippment. I think about 99% of the knives on the market are
    a shiney piece of metal on a fancy handle. Seems all the old brand names are now using cold
    blanked Stainless for blades. Several outfits are selling carbon steel knives for $150+, so in
    today's money $300 is reasonable for a custom. People that have never made anything don't
    realize the man hours that goes into a custom knife.

  12. #12
    Boolit Master
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    I believe that nowadays people expect to much a knife. They want the knife to be an axe, wedge, prybar, etc.

  13. #13
    Boolit Master D Crockett's Avatar
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    Mauser 98k yes sir that is one pretty knife you have there D Crockett

  14. #14
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    I'm curious...rather than using nonstandard tests and materials to demonstrate the knife quality, why not use the American Bladesmith Society testing proceedure?
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fWNh6UvE8lA
    Do you use any drawing procedure? How about hardness testing?
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    Quote Originally Posted by Love Life View Post
    I believe that nowadays people expect to much a knife. They want the knife to be an axe, wedge, prybar, etc.
    Exactly.. They also think that a knife should be no more than twenty dollars no matter what. I'm like if they want a twenty dollar knife then go and get one from Walmart.

    But the metal is an old combination wrench. It is forged , profiled, heat treated in a computer controlled furnace,then hand polished and sharpened. The quench is an oil quench. But as for how hard the blade is. You need a silicon carbide rock to sharpen them. Natural stones and aluminum oxide stones you will shave the rock. And as to the deer.. A couple of guys who have some of these knives have dressed out several deer and have yet to have to sharpen them.. But to to guy saying that "cutting an aluminum can and then shaving paper is no test", you do it then. Get your best knife,cut the can to shreds, and then show me it shaving the paper.

  16. #16
    Boolit Master
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    I don't know if I make a knife that would suit everyone but they suit me just fine. I never make one to sell but give them away to people that are a little special that I know will use and appreciate a good knife.
    A coworker hunting buddy has one and another coworker asked when I was going to make his. I replied it would be easier if I just gave him $200 and him just buy one.
    Unless you've done some you don't realize how much work goes into one when it's all done by hand.
    I do plan on getting a belt sander which would take a lot of the file work out.

    PS. I like your blade style. It's very close to what I do. Seems the drop point blades are all the rage now but give me an old style skinner anytime.
    Happy heatin and beatin,
    Woody
    Last edited by Wolfer; 05-07-2018 at 08:20 PM.
    Some people live and learn but I mostly just live

  17. #17
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    You said you 'help' make these knives. What's the part of the process you perform?
    Nozombies.com Practical Zombie Survival

    Collecting .32 molds. Please let me know if you have one you don't need, cause I might "need" it!

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    i run the heat treating oven,put on the edge, and sharpen.. i got OCD, and it makes for great for putting on the edge and sharpening...
    Last edited by Mauser 98K; 05-09-2018 at 02:54 AM.

  19. #19
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    I restored an 1840s English straight razor which I'm sure is in nothing very different from 1095 steel, but works about as well as anything you can buy nowadays. But I would about as soon whip my dog as let it touch cardboard, and I have heard of others breaking like glass when dropped a couple of feet onto a washbasin surround. The trouble is, a knife can be too hard and pass some very demanding tests, or too soft and pass other demanding tests, and yet both can be inferior to others for more usual purposes.

    I'm not sure it wasn't different parts of the blade, much of the time, that were cutting aluminium and cutting paper. I don't doubt that your knife would take a lot less harm than a cheap one from the test you showed us, but I'm not sure that I would prefer actual or potential slight dulling of a $300 knife to considerable bluntening of a $20 one. When you consider what proportion of the price some guaranteed blade steel would be, I would wan to know some pretty compelling advantage of the old combination wrench.

    Here is one I made in 1983, and I still get to visit it from time to time. It has lived in a chrome leather lined rigid scabbard for the last 35 years, and the thirteen inch blade in 01 steel will still shave slivers along the length of a tight-stretched hair. But I wouldn't expect that if it had been contacting anything hard.

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  20. #20
    Boolit Master
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    Scotland, that is one nice looking dagger! The skill it takes to get both bevels even with the grind line centered and come out exactly at the point is considerable. I've done one dagger, much smaller than that, forged from an old file. I'm impressed with your skills - do you still make knives?

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BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
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