Material might include hardwood, some flooring material, thick dense rubber horse-stall mats, heavy vines, etc, or where hard contact might be incidental to what you were doing but you want the knife to be able to survive ok (fencing wire, rocks, bones, etc). You want a sturdy handle, pivot, and lock and a blade that can take the stress, including tip and edge.This question is something I have been thinking about and then spurred by Cliff's review of the K2, but also by spyderco's creation of the Schempp Tuff. I usually think of spydercos as prioritizing cutting/slicing performance over brute toughness, but got to thinking what besides the Tuff that spyderco currently makes might be considered a "hard-use" folder.
Not a Bradley Air :) Definitely not the chaparral (too thin). I love both of those and my Delicas, but they are not "hard-use."
I know most blades are tougher than most cutting chores, but still, surely some can be described as particularly rugged/hard use?
So which are? These are the ones I have or think might be based on descriptions:
really robust
Schempp Tuff (a rare 3V folder)
Bradley (M4)
Lionspy (don't have one) ??
Southard
Techno (just got one of these - short thick blade is pretty stout, short limits leverage-accentuated force, short handle probably limits how much you can lean on it)
moderately robust
I love the PM2 but the blade has such a pronounced distal taper and fine point. I use mine a lot and have leaned on it sometimes, but would not want to bet on it in a really hard use situation.
Manix2 - same thing
What would you put in the really tough category?
