Has anyone broken/bent a stick tang knife ?, I dont mean on purpose but during normal knife duties, batoning, chopping etc. I ask because I normaly carry a Mora or a Pukko, both small or stick tang, I have found them very strong and capable, but there is a view that only a full tang is failsafe/unbreakable, whats your opinion ?
Has anyone broken ?
- Thread starter SteveUK
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I've witnessed one of these snap clean in half just below the handle whilst batoning a 1" thick piece of pine.
I've seen the exact same thing happen to that same knife after someone decided to do the Kochanski test
I ain't busted a stick tang - but I have seen photos of a Full Tang MOD Wilky Survival knife that had broken, and I have broken a (full tang) "Fox" Raids - just by dropping it on concrete...and a Tramontina (full tang) big hunting knife (forget the name - trying to chop (not baton!) through green ash poles.....
I snapped the handle of a plastic hollow handled "survival " knife once as well.....
I snapped the handle of a plastic hollow handled "survival " knife once as well.....
I've seen the exact same thing happen to that same knife after someone decided to do the Kochanski test
I certainly wasn't expecting it anyway
I've only ever seen a stick tang knife fail on two occasions:
Once when it's been used as a throwing knife by a stupid person who thought he knew better than I did when I told him that it would damage his knife
The other time was because the user was battoning through something hard and his technique wasn't the best. Should've used an axe.
A couple of years ago I spent a month going over my heat treating and just out of curiosity I also tested full tangs versus stick tangs. One of the destruction tests was to clamp the blade in a vice and using a 2 foot extension, to bend the blade until it set or broke. I started at the tip of the blade and had the scafold pole half way up the handle, gradually I worked up the length of the blade. Both types of tang gave out at about 1" from the handle. They both bent about 1" into the handle (stick tang broke the wood out, fulltang popped the scales off), it took about the same amount of force and the same amount of deflexion to do it.
Whenever people try and tell me that only a fulltang is strong enough I point out that virtually every heavy chopping or salshing tool around the world and throughout history has been a stick tang: billhooks, swords, parang, kukri (and that is a 12" baade with a 2" tang!!!)
Once when it's been used as a throwing knife by a stupid person who thought he knew better than I did when I told him that it would damage his knife
The other time was because the user was battoning through something hard and his technique wasn't the best. Should've used an axe.
A couple of years ago I spent a month going over my heat treating and just out of curiosity I also tested full tangs versus stick tangs. One of the destruction tests was to clamp the blade in a vice and using a 2 foot extension, to bend the blade until it set or broke. I started at the tip of the blade and had the scafold pole half way up the handle, gradually I worked up the length of the blade. Both types of tang gave out at about 1" from the handle. They both bent about 1" into the handle (stick tang broke the wood out, fulltang popped the scales off), it took about the same amount of force and the same amount of deflexion to do it.
Whenever people try and tell me that only a fulltang is strong enough I point out that virtually every heavy chopping or salshing tool around the world and throughout history has been a stick tang: billhooks, swords, parang, kukri (and that is a 12" baade with a 2" tang!!!)
Aye, a broken knife often means a rubbish knife or ill advised use, nothing to do with the tang. In my experience of course. Ultimately though I think that if you find yourself using a mora to split down a 3-4" log you deserve to have it break for not bringing an axe or a chopping knife in the first place
Pushing down hard on the handle while battoning is a very good way to hurt your knife, as was demonstrated a few years ago... a forum search should turn up the article!
Pete
Pushing down hard on the handle while battoning is a very good way to hurt your knife, as was demonstrated a few years ago... a forum search should turn up the article!
Pete
robin wood
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
I've seen the exact same thing happen to that same knife after someone decided to do the Kochanski test
The point being that the handle on this knife is stronger than the blade?
or that numpties should carry crowbars not knives?
The point being that the handle on this knife is stronger than the blade?
The point being that you shouldn't use your knife for climbing trees if you are over 16 stone
I have broken a few clipper's and mora's, all blade failures rather than tang failures and all being abused rather than used.
They can take a lot of abuse before they let go.
I have also removed the handles from a couple and it's really not easy, theay are not going anywhere in a hurry..
Easiest way is with a bandsaw.
They can take a lot of abuse before they let go.
I have also removed the handles from a couple and it's really not easy, theay are not going anywhere in a hurry..
Easiest way is with a bandsaw.
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