I believe Cliff's day job is scientist (physicist) which is why he tries for objectivity and repeatability.

But his testing methods don't make that easy: at the end of the workweek he may grab half-a-dozen knives and hike into the woods for a few days, and knives are evaluated on how well they actually prepare the meals he eats, the shelters he sleeps in, the fires he starts, etc. So some subjectiveness and variability is inevitable but the testing itself is certainly far more relevant than bonehead testing.

I've never understood the idea behind abusing tools to the point of destruction, and then declaring one better than the other! Why not just take a sledge hammer and beat the knives to scrap and be done with it? As if the knifetest destruction program wasn't enough, now they plan to do it underwater! That should provide some really be useful information.

But what if I need to hammer through a concrete block while scuba diving?!