A terrible mistake.

[TomBartlett]

I broke my knife yesterday. I broke it doing something I knew I shouldn't have been doing. I was batoning a dry and knotty piece of pine when I decided it was a bit too much for the knife. So I while trying to pry the knife loose I was putting a fair amount of lateral pressure on it. Too much in fact. With a sharp 'crack' my gorgeous O1 steel blade was suddenly 3 1/2 inches shorter than it was moments ago. The worst thing about it is that while I was flexing the blade I knew that I shouldn't have been. Somehow I was convinced that it would be fine to do it just this once. Turned out it wasn't fine. Now I find myself without a knife. (More accurately, two not very user-friendly knives). Since nothing is true unless pictures were taken, here's the evidence. For those of you who suffer a heart condition, or a currently pregnant, look away now.

Not sure what to do about it all at the moment

 

[resnikov]

Sorry for your loss.

It was a nice looking knife.

 

[Whittler Kev]

Oh bother as Pooh says.
Nice crystalline steel shot there. Could try Tig welding it and then only use the end away from the handle as you probably will never get it to sharpen properly where the break is, or......back to the drawing board.
Did you make the blade?

 

[Barn Owl]

Horrible thing to happen.

 

[TomBartlett]

Nope, it was/is a Ben Orford knife.

 

[JAG009]

What a bummer !!

Hope you get a new one soon


Jason

 

[Wayne]

Ouch. At least you were not injured. Blades can be replaced. How much lateral pressure were you exerting? I am surprised it broke. I can't see the grain structure properly from the photo and its been a long time since I did metallurgy at uni.

 

[TomBartlett]

A little too much pressure evidently! I knew it wasn't a direction in which the knife should be pushed but I was a little surprised when it went. I'm very glad I am unscathed, physically at least.

 

[Retired Member southey]

Can you get yourself another knife where you are at the mo?

 

[Timbo]

oh man thats heartbreaking, I nearly cracked when I broke the tip on my SAK Champ

 

[DaveWL]

Ouch.

Still - everything we do teaches us something. Problem is sometimes it can be quite an expensive lesson ....

Bad luck matey.

 

[blacktimberwolf]

A lesson for us all.

 

[decorum]

Nope, it was/is a Ben Orford knife.

Have you dropped him a line to let him know?
Although the damage occurred through misuse he might like to know the variables that led to the failure.

 

[rmbriar]

aw man that's a real shame, a nice looking knife

 

[Martyn]

A little too much pressure evidently! I knew it wasn't a direction in which the knife should be pushed but I was a little surprised when it went. I'm very glad I am unscathed, physically at least.

Shouldn't let go that easily. Heat treatment is a balance between hardening for a durable edge and tempering for some toughness. Evidently you had a nice hard blade, but maybe a little under-tempered? Difficult to say really. Only you know how much effort you were putting on it (they will all let go at some point), but if it was brittle enough to surprise you with little or no bend, maybe drop a line to the maker and discuss it with him? I'm sure he'd want to know.

This is an Enzo trapper....

[video=youtube;4bEGx4_wd7k]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bEGx4_wd7k[/video]

Anything will go eventually, but there should be a reasonable amount of toughness. The scales pop and the blade bends before it lets go - good h/t.

 

[TomBartlett]

Yeah, I haven't told Mr. Orford yet. A little embarrassed to tell him I broke one of his knives to be honest. No chance of getting myself a new knife here, but I'll be returning to the UK at the end of the month, so I'll see what happens then.

 

[Nonsuch]

I really don't think it should break like that and I think Mr Orford should be made aware. He wouldn't want this thread out there about one of his knives without proposing some kind of remedy, I am sure. it wasn't like you had hammered it into a tree and were jumping up and down on it.

 

[crowded-solitude]

Ouch! gotta hurt

 

[Martyn]

Yeah, I haven't told Mr. Orford yet. A little embarrassed to tell him I broke one of his knives to be honest. No chance of getting myself a new knife here, but I'll be returning to the UK at the end of the month, so I'll see what happens then.

Like I said, only you know how much effort you were putting into the blade, but I would said it's reasonable to expect performance like the trapper above from any carbon steel, scandi type knife with a blade of 2 to 3 mm thick. It's up to you to decide if the force you were using was reasonable, but if it went as easily as you suggest, then I would be looking for a replacement from the maker.

 

[TomBartlett]

I've been perfectly happy with this knife, and I know that I shouldn't have been putting pressure on it in the way that I was. The last thing I want to do is have this tar Ben Orford's reputation in anyway.