Testing a Knife? Yes, I do that.

When I get a new knife, I spend considerable time “testing” its suitability for my applications. My form of testing is probably different from how others test, but it works for me. What I do, in general terms is to try to duplicate those things which I have done with other knives and which I will probably do again with this knife.

For a fixed blade, my testing is a bit extreme, for I am of the “sharpened pry-bar” school. Unlike Chris, I do punch holes in car doors. We needed to transport a large quantity of “special equipment” consisting of coolers, ice, chairs, and similar items a long distance over soft sand. We had a 4x4 ATV, but it had no carrying capacity. We needed a “sled”. In Baja Mx, it seems that if you take the doors off a vehicle, it does not need to be licensed. Therefore, finding a car door on a beach is quite common. The one we found did not have a window frame and there was no easy way to attach the door to the ATV. At the time, I was “testing” a Becker Crewman (BK-10), a rather robust fixed blade.

The drop point aligns a driving force nicely along the center of the blade. So when I put the point on the metal door and smacked the handle, the point did not skip up, like the traditional bowie point will, but cut a nice slot in the metal door. Two more smacks and I had a “U” shaped hole. Three more and another hole was cut along the latch edge of the door where there was a strong steel frame. We wrapped a chain thru the holes and our improvised sled began a week’s work of transporting “special equipment”.

I did not check the sharpness before and after the above. I am sure it dulled it considerably, but it was easier to sharpen the knife than carry the “special equipment”.

There have been many other tests, some it failed, like cutting carrots. I use an “oriental” style quick chop. The blade thickness snaps the carrot and sends the cut piece on a ballistic journey with considerable force. Kinda like a carrot machine gun.

The point is, that you need to decide how YOU use a knife and play around duplicating the anticipated uses. Carry the knife as much as you can. Look at every task as a chance to test the knife. I have had the BK-10 for over a year now and it has had considerable “testing”. Mostly now it resides in my hiking pack, which I grab every time we wander far from the vehicle. I have modified the grip and also the sheath. It has passed my “tests”, and in the process I learned its strengths and limitations. It comes naturally to hand and has earned its place in my pack.

Nomad