- Joined
- Jul 4, 2001
- Messages
- 398
Hello all ,
Well , as some know I received a custom knife from Bill Buxton in mid December . I have put this knife thru several of what I will call real world test . The test consist of things I require of my daily carry blades and in no way are an extreme measure of this knives abilities . O.k. enough of the fluff and on to the knife . The knife is a hand forged 52100 blade 3x quinched and drawn , brass guard and two peice Angora Goat handle , vine pattern file work up the spine .The sheath is a sturdy pouch type with a well done finish and tight stitching .
The first step was the initial look see , I opened what was an extremely well wrapped package ( I think Bill means for his blades to arrive in good shape) . The knife was more than I could have expected, fit and finish are first rate ( no gaps in guard to blade or guard to handle fit ). The blade is a mirror polish that is clean and bright with true and straight grind lines . Handle fit and finish are great , the colors and hughes are unbeleiveable in this goat horn ( really cool stuff
).
On to the first cutting test . I have been reading recently that a quality blade should make at least 200+ cuts on a lay from at least 1" hemp rope without the need to resharpen . I can proclaim this knife is certainly up to the task , after 215 cuts I got bored . I could not shave dry hair but it would wet shave easily . Along the same lines I took a peice of 1'x1' leather pad and cut it into app. 1" strips . The blade grind and edge geometry let this knife cut leather like it was butter.
On a more personalized requirement , some folks know I haul freight for a living and I need a knife that will cut the tie down straps when needed . The straps are app. 5" wide , 1/8" thick and made of nylon webbing which is both slick and tough . The real problem is the amount of grit and road debris that becomes embedded in these straps. I cut a 2 pc. set of this material which is a total of 60' in length . THe knife made a total of 72 cuts before it started to slide more than cut. For this test I used the whole cutting surface of 3.25" on the blade . I should add I touched up the edge between test 2 and this test on a DMT fine stone . I feel this is great performance as most blades need serrations to do this .
The final stage was a do or don't do situation for me as it could have damaged my new girl . Well, I did it with great trepadation and heart palpatations on mybehalf . I recently participated in a thread about Performance Knifes on this forum , I can only say I learned a vast amount and was floored by the extremes some test their blades to . For my test I modified the cross tie cutting test laid out by Ed Fowler , I could only bring myself to use a 4x4 rail of solid oak . Over a 1 1/2 day period ( did this while waiting to load and unload ) I cut this 4x4 into 3 peices , just whittled my little heart out . The knife was sharpened one time in this test , on the third pass . I sure can state that the knife passed with flying colors . As a matter of fact it held up much better than I . The sight of a truck driver doing this to his knife all the while cursing himself was a bit disturbing to my clients and fellow drivers . For what it is worth this is all the major testing done with my new toy ,she has been a pure joy to own and carry ( of which I have done everyday since getting her ) . Through all this no damage was incurred to blade , guard or handle , they are all tight as new with the exception of a few scratches which I hope to polish out . If not they will just be character wounds .
As you might have guessed I am very impressed with the bladesmithing of Bill Buxton . He is a fine knifemaker and one man who is true to his word . If you are in need of a quality forged blade please give him a try . You won't be disappointed .
Thanks for looking and reading the long review ,
Jerry
Well , as some know I received a custom knife from Bill Buxton in mid December . I have put this knife thru several of what I will call real world test . The test consist of things I require of my daily carry blades and in no way are an extreme measure of this knives abilities . O.k. enough of the fluff and on to the knife . The knife is a hand forged 52100 blade 3x quinched and drawn , brass guard and two peice Angora Goat handle , vine pattern file work up the spine .The sheath is a sturdy pouch type with a well done finish and tight stitching .
The first step was the initial look see , I opened what was an extremely well wrapped package ( I think Bill means for his blades to arrive in good shape) . The knife was more than I could have expected, fit and finish are first rate ( no gaps in guard to blade or guard to handle fit ). The blade is a mirror polish that is clean and bright with true and straight grind lines . Handle fit and finish are great , the colors and hughes are unbeleiveable in this goat horn ( really cool stuff
).On to the first cutting test . I have been reading recently that a quality blade should make at least 200+ cuts on a lay from at least 1" hemp rope without the need to resharpen . I can proclaim this knife is certainly up to the task , after 215 cuts I got bored . I could not shave dry hair but it would wet shave easily . Along the same lines I took a peice of 1'x1' leather pad and cut it into app. 1" strips . The blade grind and edge geometry let this knife cut leather like it was butter.
On a more personalized requirement , some folks know I haul freight for a living and I need a knife that will cut the tie down straps when needed . The straps are app. 5" wide , 1/8" thick and made of nylon webbing which is both slick and tough . The real problem is the amount of grit and road debris that becomes embedded in these straps. I cut a 2 pc. set of this material which is a total of 60' in length . THe knife made a total of 72 cuts before it started to slide more than cut. For this test I used the whole cutting surface of 3.25" on the blade . I should add I touched up the edge between test 2 and this test on a DMT fine stone . I feel this is great performance as most blades need serrations to do this .
The final stage was a do or don't do situation for me as it could have damaged my new girl . Well, I did it with great trepadation and heart palpatations on mybehalf . I recently participated in a thread about Performance Knifes on this forum , I can only say I learned a vast amount and was floored by the extremes some test their blades to . For my test I modified the cross tie cutting test laid out by Ed Fowler , I could only bring myself to use a 4x4 rail of solid oak . Over a 1 1/2 day period ( did this while waiting to load and unload ) I cut this 4x4 into 3 peices , just whittled my little heart out . The knife was sharpened one time in this test , on the third pass . I sure can state that the knife passed with flying colors . As a matter of fact it held up much better than I . The sight of a truck driver doing this to his knife all the while cursing himself was a bit disturbing to my clients and fellow drivers . For what it is worth this is all the major testing done with my new toy ,she has been a pure joy to own and carry ( of which I have done everyday since getting her ) . Through all this no damage was incurred to blade , guard or handle , they are all tight as new with the exception of a few scratches which I hope to polish out . If not they will just be character wounds .
As you might have guessed I am very impressed with the bladesmithing of Bill Buxton . He is a fine knifemaker and one man who is true to his word . If you are in need of a quality forged blade please give him a try . You won't be disappointed .
Thanks for looking and reading the long review ,
Jerry
