Esav Benyamin
MidniteSuperMod
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2000
- Messages
- 90,915
I sent Dan Winkler an email with the link to this thread.
He is responsive to questions or problems with his knives.
He is responsive to questions or problems with his knives.
Twindog, can I ask the source you purchased this knife from?
I purchased it here secondhand from someone the forum. The seller is a really good person, and the knife was exactly as described. I don't have any issue with the seller.
This isn't a custom Winkler knife -- the one's he makes himself. I'm sure his custom knives are as good as their reputation.
I paid $305. It wasn't new.
I have and use quite a few knives. Over the years Ive gotten a feel for how well a knife will perform. I look for a nice balance between toughness (resistance to breaking, chipping or cracking), strength (resistance to deformation, rolling and bending) and wear resistance.
I just bought this Winkler II belt knife (the consumer version, not a custom), just because of the recent buzz (mention in the New York Times). It was a secondhand knife, but not used. The factory edge was sadly dull, which to me is a sign that someone at the factory just didnt give a darn.
The seller wasnt sure, but thought the steel is 5160, an extremely tough, low-alloy steel. I think he is right. Because toughness was going to be the main feature of this knife, I decided to give it a test of tip strength, the same way that Benchmade tested its 162 in S30V (stabbing a piece of softwood and bending the blade sideways). I was less aggressive than Benchmade. I had no intention of turning this into a destruction test. I just wanted to assure myself that the blade had a decent amount of strength to go with its toughness. The tip on this knife bent quickly and easily.
Well, this was not a knife that I was going to keep. And I certainly could not sell it to someone else, so I decided to test it some more. But nothing too hard. I wanted to see how strong (not tough) the full blade was, not just the tip. I placed the damaged tip on the floor and held the handle off the floor a few inches with my right hand. I put lateral pressure on the blade by pressing down with my heel. Basically, I stepped on the blade while holding the handle. Ive had other knives in this category easily take this kind of pressure which was way less than my weight (150 pounds). This blade bent easily.
To take it a bit further, I tried to see if it would cut a nail in half. It wouldnt. The nail basically got a shiny spot, but the blade edge dented severely, pretty much conforming to the diameter of the nail.
This blade may be super tough, but it has almost no strength at all.
Well there's your answer. Can't ask for much more than that.Twindog,
Wow! what a piece of crap! First let me say if you will send me your address I'll send you a new knife. Feel free to test it too. ( I would prefer you not cut a nail, that seems a little extreme and I don't really intend this model to cut steel. If you need to cut steel I make a Rescue axe designed to cut sheet metal that would probably hold up.)
About the time that knife was made was when I implemented some new inspection and testing procedures. As with that knife, we had a few come through with similar problems. This came from some issues with heat treating. That knife was most likely made from 52-100. I found out that this particular batch needed to soak in the high temp salt for no less than 1 full hour. We had only been going for about 15 min at heat and a full run of about 10 knives came out soft. I thought we had gotten them all but I guess not. Basically you tested a knife that had an improper heat treat.
We make more knives that I can possibly do all myself. It also has taken a while to get the guy's to a point that they can recognize the possible problems that can arise that are not visual. Each blade is now checked after heat treating and before the handle goes on to assure it is up to standards. There may be one that slips through now and then but it is rare. Humans make mistakes but we are trying to eliminate all the problems we can. However when one does come up we will take care of the problem.
Daniel
Twindog,
Wow! what a piece of crap! First let me say if you will send me your address I'll send you a new knife. Feel free to test it too. ( I would prefer you not cut a nail, that seems a little extreme and I don't really intend this model to cut steel. If you need to cut steel I make a Rescue axe designed to cut sheet metal that would probably hold up.)
About the time that knife was made was when I implemented some new inspection and testing procedures. As with that knife, we had a few come through with similar problems. This came from some issues with heat treating. That knife was most likely made from 52-100. I found out that this particular batch needed to soak in the high temp salt for no less than 1 full hour. We had only been going for about 15 min at heat and a full run of about 10 knives came out soft. I thought we had gotten them all but I guess not. Basically you tested a knife that had an improper heat treat.
We make more knives that I can possibly do all myself. It also has taken a while to get the guy's to a point that they can recognize the possible problems that can arise that are not visual. Each blade is now checked after heat treating and before the handle goes on to assure it is up to standards. There may be one that slips through now and then but it is rare. Humans make mistakes but we are trying to eliminate all the problems we can. However when one does come up we will take care of the problem.
Daniel
Mr. Winkler,
I don't know if you got my emails regarding this in the past as I've never gotten a response from you. basically, based on your pricing I have an issue you how your knives are sharpened. for $350 a knife I expect an edge better than this. notice how the edge curves down towards the plunge? theis makes that part of the knife virtually impossible and I'd have to take out a lot of material just to straighten it up. This is off topic but I figured I'll post this since my emails were unanswered.
I'm unsure if you own a Winkler and are just using someone else's photos for reference, or if you are just complaining.