- Joined
- Jan 26, 2012
- Messages
- 28,942
Well I tried "minimalist chopping" with the top folder pictured below: At 11 ounces these Al Mars have considerable heft that would be a wasted feature without a bit of hacking at light branches, or even chopping at an angle for making basic tent pegs...:
Note the deceleration impact from chopping was considerably reduced by the fact the whole grind was zero-edged to about 6-8 degrees per side... It really made a difference in shock... The chopping performance was actually quite good (for a folder) since it combined the thinner edge with the weight of 11 ounces: The edge survived intact (surprising for a zero edge, and illustrating the excellent quality of the Seki City's Aus-6) but the knife's pins and foundations were unable to take the modest impact loads... I did not hack as hard as I could, just spun the knife loosely by the flared end of the handle...
The lockbar's center pivot pin deformed, leading to a changed lock position:
Note how the Zero Edge took it in stride, while the whole knife crumbled... The red logo knife below it is a 10 degree bevel... From the factory these things are just dull, yet even with so much thinning the zero edge still survived chopping... The bottom knife will be limited to slicing tasks from now on...
It could well be a more modern folder with a proper steel stop pin would hold up better, but today's folders tend to be well under 11 ounces, and would not be much good at hacking anything...
Gaston
Yes. We know you broke your 30 year old classic folding knife chopping with it in your back yard. What does this have to do with anything?