Lifespan of a knife--what am I doing wrong (or right)

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SubSpace

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May 26, 2011
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In a video posted by a fellow member, a member of the Case family stated that the average expected lifespan of a pocket knife was 3 to 4 years before the blade got too thick to be a useful edge. As I am sitting here, I am looking at my grandfather's Case knife which he carried for 70 years. That knife went through WW2 and beyond, and it still has plenty of life in the blades. Jackknife has tales of his Buck 301 being carried for 25 years. I myself have yet to wear out a pocket knife.
What am I missing?
 
My opinion is that there's no such thing as "average lifespan of a pocket knife".
Too many variables. What do you cut? How often? Steel? Sharpening? The standard deviation is huge.
So, use your knives and don't worry about that. If your knife will really wear out to become unusable, then you will know the answer for you, and get a new slipjoint :)

Fausto
:cool:
 
I did once come across a bloke (an engineer who came to service a machine in a former job of mine) who commented whilst frustrated with his dull SAK
"This thing is too blunt. Time to get a new one." or words to that effect.

It might just be that they're catering for he lowest common denominator?
 
I don't worry about it at all. Should I ever manage to wear out a knife I would consider that good news -- it's a great reason to buy a new knife! ;)

- Christian
 
If I ever had that problem, I'd just rebevel the edges.

Maybe he's referring to the power-grinder or sharpen-on-the-cement-steps crowd?
 
I'm thinking this quote must be oddly misconstrued or false. Not with just a Case, but about any brand. If we assume the "too thick" aspect to be the primary grind bevel, then the edge bevel, if maintained at, say a 20 degree angle, just continues to get deeper with respect to the height of the blade, and even with drastic height loss, can be shallowed on a stone, or even convexed. I've got some of my grandfather's old pocketknives which have sharp blades worn down to mere nubs. My own Vic Spartan has had 20+years of constant carry (& sharpening of its relatively soft steel; no complaints, mind) and has lost maybe 1.25mm (in height)on the main blade and 1.5mm on the smaller one. The edge bevels are fine and its a daily cutter. There must be some other thing going on here, or bad communication.
 
The Case's themselves were Great Salesmen. I'm not sure how much they really knew about building or maintaining a working knife. From the earliest days, other people built the knives they sold.
 
I remember reading that same thing "three to four years" and thinking wow really !! But the more I thought about it that was a different time and most of us here look at things from the viewpoint of a knife knut . I almost never do anything to completely ruin an edge and I strop far more than I sharpen with a stone, also I have many knives to choose from so they get minimal wear. Also I have never really lost a knife I have retired them due to keepsake value or just because they fell out of favor due to new purchases. Probably none of these things came up it board meetings about customers at knife companies. A dear friend of mine likes knives and uses them properly (if a little rough) he uses knives almost everyday and he breaks or loses at least one knife every year, he is possibly who the makes are thinking of.
 
They figured that lifespan on an average person having only one knife, using it every day for everything they did, whether it was whittling soft wood, scraping dried mud off their shoes or cutting asphalt shingles. They figured that person would have little or no sharpening skill, and would likely be using a bench grinder as their primary sharpening tool. Trust me, I know some of those people, and 3 to 4 years is pushing it. I've known guys that would wear out a knife in three to four months. For every knife knut who gets 50 years out of a blade there are a hundred who get less than one. Most of them have no idea that you can thin out the main grind and make the knife usable again, so once their 50° edge bevels have gotten wider than the spine of the blade, they figure it's shot and time for a new knife.
 
Yablanowitz--I was thinking maybe the same thing. That they didn't have sharpmakers and other such devices and used the edge of a concrete step as a sharpener, and used it without care...
 
I can see my long-gone Granddad sharpening a Klein wire skinning knife on his grinder in my memory right now! When I was a boy I loved to see the sparks fly off his grinder as he sharpened his knives, axes, etc., in that old dark warehouse - he had a pile of burnt up knives. His average, along with all my perfect knives, would be 3 or 4 years per knife!! OH
 
The Stanley utility knife was introduced just prior to WWII, in 1936.
http://www.classicandperformancecar.com/features/icons/262396/the_stanley_knife.html

It would be interesting to know how long it took for the 199 Stanley to displace knives like the TL-29 from the pockets and tool belts of tradesmen and home owners.

If you were to remove all Stanley style utility knives from the planet and if all knife blades were made from carbon steel (or a simple stainless) I think a) more sharpening stones would get sold and used and b) 3 to 4 years would be about average.

Nothing wrong with sharpening a knife to death. Better than idolizing it.
 
Yeah, I can see in a world of frequent use and resharpening of a knife, especially if the steel was a little softer than today's, that it would get worn out in a few years. If that number is true, then I have about a 300 year supply of knives already.
 
yablanowitz said:
They figured that lifespan on an average person having only one knife, using it every day for everything they did, whether it was whittling soft wood, scraping dried mud off their shoes or cutting asphalt shingles. They figured that person would have little or no sharpening skill, and would likely be using a bench grinder as their primary sharpening tool. Trust me, I know some of those people, and 3 to 4 years is pushing it. I've known guys that would wear out a knife in three to four months. For every knife knut who gets 50 years out of a blade there are a hundred who get less than one. Most of them have no idea that you can thin out the main grind and make the knife usable again, so once their 50° edge bevels have gotten wider than the spine of the blade, they figure it's shot and time for a new knife.
Click to expand...

SubSpace said:
Yablanowitz--I was thinking maybe the same thing. That they didn't have sharpmakers and other such devices and used the edge of a concrete step as a sharpener, and used it without care...
Click to expand...

Plus 2.
I likewise have known folks who wear out knives reasonably quickly.
 
Might also be if you were using one knife and one knife only day in day out and using aggressive sharpening methods. Some people wrongly think they must 'sharpen' the knife everyday!:eek:

Moral here is have many knives in your rotation! Never did go with this one knife only ethos:D:D
 
I feel that if you constantly sharpen your knife to maintain a keen edge with constant use, that life span is pretty realistic. To be more realistic, for most tasks you don't really need an extremely sharp or keen edge. Opening packages, food prep, and most uses just need a thin blade that isn't chipped or rolled. So if you were to use a knife and only sharpened it if it chipped or severely rolled your blade would probably last a long time. I used to be REALLY OCD on constantly sharpening my knives once it wasn't able to whittle hair or cleanly slice newsprint. Drove me insane sometimes and I overly wore down some edges. Sharpened up my coffin barlow a few weeks ago and got a nice thin mirror edge. Almost went overkill b/c the base of the edge still had a little of the original bevel, but I told myself remember what happened last time. Now I only sharpen when I get edge rolls. Haven't had any knives chip on me so far.
 
you have to bear in mind that people back in the old days only lived 3-4 years on average :D
 
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