S30v that bends?

[Slash]

Only that home inspector Cliff knows would pound/stab their folder in cement blocks to make sure there is no deterioration of the structure.

Where I come from home inspectors are trained only notate stuff they see and pass on the info. Not do so much as even plug in a garbage disposal that's unplugged. In fact during the training class for home inspection. The instructor used an unplugged garbage disposal as an example to the scoop and limit of what's required from them.

True story(according to the instructor) goes that someone(disgruntled previous homeowner?) filled the disposal up with 9mm rounds, unplugged it and flipped the switch into the on position. The inspector notated the unit was unplugged. A qualified plumber was called. He shined a flashlight inside and noticed the bullets before trying to plug it in and test it.

Moral of the story...BE CAREFULL out there. There are sick people in this world.

Also, use the right tool for the job. Unless, it's some piece of crap blade you can easily replace.
Because sometimes even having the funds to buy a nice blade, doesn't guarantee you're gonna get the same one that was destroyed if it's now discontinued and can't be found anywhere. If that knife is special to you that is.

[nakahoshi]

I run two construction businesses, I have cut drywall on many occasions with a folding knife, usually doing inspections / trouble shooting. It is essentially just chalk, a little abrasive but nothing to be concerned about. This morning I did an inspection on water penetration and used my Paramilitary to cut open some poly, slice through some batt insulation, scrape away some concrete from a window nailing flange and probe the wood for moisture penetration and check the concrete for consistency by lighting using the knife like an ice pick into the material to check for flaking/spalling. Yes it will dent the tip, wear the blade a little and put a couple of small chips in the edge, but none of this is serious on a working tool. On another inspection I could just as easily take the same knife, cut back some sod, dig/pry in soil to expose weeping tile etc. .

Most construction workers locally will use Olfa knives for all cutting work, including drywall as you don't actually cut the plaster part, just score it and crack the board. The actual cut outs are done with the equivalent of a router, no one uses the traditional hand saws any more for window/door trims as they are too slow, which is a bit of a problem as the electric saws run so fast they will tend not to produce as clean a cut and will damage the poly and usually give the trimmers fits as they have to clean up after them when putting in the door boxes. But again it isn't something I would be concerned about, I have given my carry knives to people on site more than once or used my knives to trim drywall back from a sloppy cut when I was doing an inspection.

My brother currently is one of our main carpenters/trouble shooters and he carries a number of decent folding knives with him, usually Spyderco folders. I repair them fairly frequently when the damage is a bit severe, but aside from the occasional broken serration and snapped tip, it isn't usually significant and it still takes years to put significant visible wear into a blade. Plus the actual tools he uses do have to be replaced/repaired as well. Hammer get broken claws, chisels get torn up retrofitting windows, etc. . It isn't like they are going to baby a folding knife when they are using everything else as a tool. It is just a knife, to be used, repaired and replaced when necessary.

I was taught to respect my tools by my Father. I don't have a lot of extra money to replace $100 Knives and other tools.

To clarify, I am an electrician and when I need to cut drywall I use a Drywall saw, When I need to Chissle I dont use a screwdriver, when I need to pry something I use a Prybar. Its much easier to use the correct tool.

Just because you can use a knife to do what you described that doesn't mean your using the tool correctly. I use my Endura to cut Cardboard, Open boxes, cut through string and rope ect. I like to keep it sharp. A dull knife is unsafe IMO and I wouldn't consider a dented tip, a extremely dulled blade and some chips in the edge "Normal wear and tear". That sounds like abuse to me. If you take care of your tools you wouldn't have to replace them. Some tools will wear out but I don't consider my Spydercos to be one of them

I wont let someone use my knife if I think they will abuse it.

I will use a razor knife on applications that would otherwise destroy my knife, and that's what they were designed for. I will gladly lend one of those to someone who needs it. :p

-Bobby

[Cliff Stamp]

Do you make your own knives on the side?

No, prefer to work with custom makers. They enjoy grinding and I enjoy using, it is a perfect partnership. I regrind blades on a regular basis and I barely have the patience for that. I just spent an hour putting a dual-bevel chip breaker profile on a Magnum Kukri Machete. I don't enjoy that or consider it fun, but I am very interested and looking forward to using it this weekend. I would much rather use that hour outside doing more work.

Unless one is making choppers out of them it really doesn't really matter anyway.

High toughness, and materials properties related to such have a significant bearing on the durability of edges in cutting, it however only typically is evident in low cross sections. To be specific, a high toughness is one of the very properties which allows thin cross sections and thus high cutting ability.

As an example, a Sebenza in S30V had dramatic and visible edge failure on simply cutting plywood, while a Salt in H1 a the same edge profile did not. The Sebenza's edge cracked off while the Salt simply wore. Similar issues can be seen in any material which is dense enough to exert significant lateral force on the edge, it is fairly common in kitchen knives used on fish (especially shell fish), poultry, etc. .

I was taught to respect my tools by my Father. I don't have a lot of extra money to replace $100 Knives and other tools.

Have you actually cut drywall with a S30V folder and had it damage the knife to the point you had to replace it?

[Blerv]

It's not respect vs abuse. The edge is a wear component, it's not like the knife handle is being used to drive nails.

For someone like me, seeing another talk about cutting drywall or even cardboard is a bit sad. Most of those people though can't put an edge on a blade and would rather trash on the model than take responsibility. "**** Spyderco and their heat treating..." etc.

The folks who buy knives to use them and enjoy the sharpening process: Have fun. Based on Cliff's description of his knife use, the picture of his loyal Para1 recently posted is impressive. That means the average wuss like me would probably get 20 years before similar wear. :)

[Ankerson]

High toughness, and materials properties related to such have a significant bearing on the durability of edges in cutting, it however only typically is evident in low cross sections. To be specific, a high toughness is one of the very properties which allows thin cross sections and thus high cutting ability.

As an example, a Sebenza in S30V had dramatic and visible edge failure on simply cutting plywood, while a Salt in H1 a the same edge profile did not. The Sebenza's edge cracked off while the Salt simply wore. Similar issues can be seen in any material which is dense enough to exert significant lateral force on the edge, it is fairly common in kitchen knives used on fish (especially shell fish), poultry, etc. .

Or you could just have said match the knife, steel, grind, HT and tempering process with the tasks that the knife will normally see.

Different knives and steels for different tasks.

There is not just one answer to everything, too many variables for that.

All I did was point out that S30V can be used for different tasks based on different HT and do well and it does even though there are better steels to make choppers out of.

[Cliff Stamp]

Only that home inspector Cliff knows would pound/stab their folder in cement blocks to make sure there is no deterioration of the structure.

Home Inspectors generally do non-destructive as their primary purpose is simply reporting on a condition, that is not what I do when I am asked to visit a site.

I noted I was doing an inspection, the reason being that the two technicians who had attempted to resolve the problem could not so I was asked to stop by as a last resort to determine and resolve the problem as the cost of me visiting the site is far more than having a technician do it.

Non invasive techniques were use to isolate the problem, in this case a thermal imaging camera was able to narrow down the source of the problem so the interior wall finish was only cut away in a small section. In order to guage depth of rot the rotted material has to be probed, in order to guage depth of concrete spalling, it has to be excavated.

As I was there to produce a scope of work to fix the problem, the rotted material was removed after probing and all spalling concrete was chipped away then proper procedures used to repair the excavated materials.

For someone like me, seeing another talk about cutting drywall or even cardboard is a bit sad.

It's a knife, assuming you actually are so demanding that you can wear out a Paramilitary in a year, it costs you $0.30 a day to replace it. Realistically, even if you are cutting extremely harsh materials all day, it still will last a generation. My brother has both of the Salt folders I own, he uses both of them extensively. Both of them now reside in the barn where he keeps his horse. He used to use them in construction, but he prefers to leave them in the barn as it is open to the weather and they are impervious to it so they get used as general cutting tools by all who need it.

I have reground the serrations (deepened them) on one blade, and have once flattened the primary on the other one (plain edge) as the edge thickened from repeated sharpening. He will still be able to pass these down to his children even though the last time I stopped by to talk to him he was using the serrated one to cut back some sod and then till the soil as his girl friend was wanting to plant some flowers.

As a result of this he simply had to sharpen the knife for which purpose I gave him one a Spyderco Benchstone and he uses the corners on the serrations and the flat on the straight edge knife. Like the knives the ceramic stone is impervious to the elements and it pretty much immune to damage. I watched a guy one take take it and use it as a fine file on a hoof, then give it to another guy who pointed up an old awl.

On an amusing note I asked them about it (they didn't know it was mine) and they raved about it and noted the big feller owns it (my brother is 6'6"). I believe they clean it occasionally with a hand degreaser and a very coarse scrubber which is also used to clean part of the barn. It isn't like they have a yaffle of different tools, whatever is on hand is going to be used for whatever needs to be done.

It has to be kept in mind we as a race used to use knives made out of BONE, do you think they were constantly being replaced? I was in India for two years, they used to use knives made out of stamped sheet metal and would cut with them all day long and resharpen them on a rock. I was in one place for over six months and would often stop by the same vendor stand. He had the same sheet metal knife when I started as when I left.

I did actually give him one of my knives after we became friends (Spyderco Delica). He thanked me very much, but the next day he was using the sheet metal knife. He thanked me again, as he sold it for money for his family and kept using the sheet metal knife. That was five years ago, he is probably still using it now, he has a small stand right out side of Kovalam on the ECR.

Someone got a good deal on it as he sold it for 600 INR, that was about a weeks wages so he was extremely happy (about $15).