and just to add this in here as a blast from the past (took some searching out to re-find it!)
Cold Steel Recon Scout - 5/16" thick steel!
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/328256-CS-Recon-Scout-Fails-Miserably
Wow that really is a blast from the past!
- Notice the thickness of the blade
- Notice that the blade is black. That means that the grind is left deliberately rough to hold the coating. It also means that there will be a steep secondary bevel to form the edge - the shiny bit.
- Notice the knot 1/3 of the way back from the point of the knife. Due to the geometry and grind of the knife, that knot will work as well as a pivot point as if you drilled through the log and knife and put in a steel high tensile bolt.
- Notice the crack below the back of the snapped off blade, so someone has been see-sawing the knife by applying force to the back of the handle. With that crack, the back of the knife is free and can impart full force to the blade/tang junction with every hard hit to the point, the end of the handle being held firmly.
- Notice the separate guard, and how securely the rubber handle is still attached to a rectangular tang. Most especially notice the abrupt 90 degree angle where the blade meets the tang, which really causes a stress point because tangs are usually annealed, and probably poorly with that knife.
Anyway that's my take. I'm of the firm belief that since any trip out can turn nasty faster than most would believe, it's essential to have a really sharp well honed and trusted tool along which you can't lose because it resides between your ears, though you should wear a hat to keep it at a suitable temperature. Then you won't do silly things like that! With a very strong knife and that knot you could have ended up with a stuck knife.. Why not use any knife to make some wedges and start cracks and do things that way? The great point about that picture is that it shows us not to judge the strength of a knife by its appearance but to test tools and then use them well within their known limits.
I've made my mistakes and made some more than once because they were so unbelievable.
I tried various V bevels on a super heavy Barteaux machete and used it to clear some thick fallen alder. I chopped at an acute angle to avoid the alder spring boarding (splitting up). It split down and the blade was able to turn into that split and get totally stuck. in line with the grain and so in line with the tree. I could open the crack by hanging from the tree.. but then I couldn't reach the machete. I had to chop the tree apart with an axe because the machete was stuck in it like the sword in the stone. I had to repeat that one a few times just to see properly how it worked. Then I gave the machete a more acute convex grind because stuck blades could be a serious issue.
I normally drag long dead conifer branches I've snapped off trees down to the beach, place them lengthwise on top of a log and chop through the branch half way along its length and into the log with a hatchet or axe. Then by wrenching on each end of the branch, the split opens against the hatchet blade along the whole length of the branch. It's a great way to get wood dry enough to get a fire started in bad conditions - in very short order. With a knife, you baton a cut across the grain half way through and close to the thick end of the branch, stick the short end closest to the cut into a crack between trees or logs, then use a lot more force to carefully open the split. It's a lot trickier since you are prying only one way and the split tends to run out. On getting Fallknivens, I wondered if I could drive the H1 point first through a branch into the log and open the split as with a hatchet. Unfortunately with a knife, it doesn't work no matter how hard and deep you've pounded the blade and so as I wrenched on the branch to open the split the knife came free and I made the most powerful knife thrower... The knife flew and stuck in a log but it could have gone into the ocean which is deep a few feet from shore, or caused a serious accident. On really thinking things through, I wondered how I could ever have thought that it would work...
So I've had my knife issues too! That's where a lot of experience with a blade really counts in not risking the blade or yourself, no matter what blade you've chosen.
) you then have a heavier knife that's not so easy to use for finer jobs.
