The oldest piece of western literature is The Illiad of Homer. It is full of battles in which bronze weapons were broken and bent. Before that we have Oetzi with his copper axe and a flint dagger broken in combat and covered with someone's blood. My first sheathknife, the infamous Ontario/Camillus AF survival snapped during arctic survival school. ALL knives are subject to catastrophic failure. My own Fallkniven is. I know this, because Peter of Fallkniven has his knives laboratory tested to determine when they will. Luckly, rational use of a knife will rarely duplicate such stresses. I don't chop cinderblocks or stab cardoors. I did get a wierd patina from some smelly english cheese and my cat upchucked a sloppy hairball on the sheath <img src="images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />. I finally figured out what I DIDN'T want in a knife; guthooks,sawbacks,skeleton handles et al and what I NEEDED; a good grip, easily sharpened blade and a sheath that works. Then it was simply a matter of reading the various knifeforums, Doug's article and benefiting from other's experience. There has been a real rennaissance in metallurgy since I broke that AFSK. Still, I think Brad Pitt, er, Achilles would have loved a sword stamped Ontario <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />.