One thing about being "too nice" - I wanted to prove how tough these were so I sent one to a guy who is known for destroying stuff. He once broke an anvil and makes knives wish they were never made!
Here's what he's had to say after about a month of having the "Retro Fighter" - one I coated with OD Green GunKote. He's not the best speller but look what he's done with this thing:
I havent had my knife from Don all that long but have had it long enouph to say with assurance that aside from maybe getting it dirty or even staining the handle if you work at it (I fitted mine in the sheath I made for it to soon after dyeing the leather) you WONT hurt it with anything even resembleing normal use.
I have been around metal working most of my life in one form or another and have gotten so I can NORMALY tap a blade and tell how it will hold up by the tone of the ring. Based on the ring from his blade I had thought that it would hold an edge well but suspected it would be susceptable to chiping or breaking because its 'tone' would generaly indicate a blade thats nearly glass hard and thus rather brital. He asked me when he sent it though to put it through its paces and use it as a workhorse to be sure it would stand up to whatever a person might put it through since a lot of these knives go to soldiers and he wanted to be SURE that one of our guys didnt wind up in the sandbox with a busted knife or one that just wouldnt do the job. Well Ive been putting it through its paces and then some....
When I got it it had a decent edge to it but it didnt shave very well and I like a sharp knife so I took a couple hours and 'fine tuned' the edge untill it would shave my arm bald in one pass and cut through news print without freying the edges of the paper then strapped it on my hip to be put to work. I had to build a sort of car port roof over a camper we use as a guest room and I put a tin roof on it. Well toward one end the corigated tin for the roof was 3 layers thick and I got tired of smashing my thumbs when the nails bent rather than going through so I took out the knife, set the neelde tip where I wanted the nail to go and tapped the end of the handle with the hammer and used it as a sheet metal punch to make holes for the nails to go through. I made holes for about a dozen nails this way and while it did dull the tip slightly it DIDNT break and it DIDNT bend and the 'damage' was simply dulling that a good visit with the whet stone will cure. Once I had the structure up, it is free standing and needed to be secured in place so I drove fence posts at each corner then cut sections of rope with the knife to tie the corners down and as most who have done much of it know few things dull a knife as quick as cutting rope. I got it tied down the set up a canopy off the front and used a 2x2 to hold one side of the canopy and it needed grooves by the ends to hold the 550 cord so the knife got to carve/chop out the grooves and cut the tie down lines of 550 cord for that.
The next day I had to help clear around a pond and used a weed eater to take down most of the stuff but when I would come across saplings and such that the blade on my weed eater (its a steel blade not the string type) wouldnt cut, out came the knife and chopped the stuff down. Now the knife is NOT weighted tip heavey like a machette so its not ideal for chopping chores but it IS balanced nicely to be light in the hand so that despite the weight it could be used for long periods without tireing the had or becoming dificult to be precise with. I also used it several times in the kitchen and garden to slice up tomatoes and such and will chop it just dont carry energy of its weight like a machete so its a trade off for which its primary use is and it works on this one well.
The next day I had to run a new electrical curcit for the front pourch. So the knife got to cut a few smaller wires, strip the romex and cut a section of the vinal sideing off the side of the house. Those were some of the highlights of its use in addition to some lighter mundane use to open packages and nip strings and so on.
After about a wek of that type of use the blade was geting to the point that while it would still take off a few hairs it was no longer truely shaveing sharp so I had to touch it up again on the stone. The edge did also come back a lot easier that it had been to fine tune it the first time.
The balance of the knife is also decent as a throwin knife which I found the other day when out bucking hay and a copperhead crossed my path and I didnt have my gun on me (took it off to keep from rusting it from the sweat) so employed the knife to try to take its head off with a toss. Well Im a bit out of practice at throwing a knife so while it appeared that I nicked it (and clearly convinced it it didnt want to be in the area anymore) I didnt cut its head of or pin it with the throw but the ground wasnt abnormaly soft and the blade did go up about to the handle in the ground without a particularly hard toss.
The knife has also seen other unkind use like cutting a bit on saddle leather, chopping small saplings out of the way, cutting cord/string off the mower shaft etc. etc but to put it simply, I have am indeed the type of guy that is liable to break an anvil (and literaly have) and have if anything been intentionaly hard on this knife largely so I could say without reservation that unless you are truely abuseing the knife and trying to chop up cars with it and use it as a crow bar and other insane crap (I'll let you know when I get around to that stuff) you will NOT damage these knives beyond at most minor cosmetic scuff by putting them to work and if you are abuseing them....from what Ive seen so far they stand up and ask for more. As I have discussed with Don, aside from possibly fighting, the design of this knife (a retro fighter) is one that while not the ideal design for any job is about as good as you can realley get for a knife that will work for almost EVERY job.
The true art in any tool is how well it works as a tool and these seem to be fine art by that messure and have the looks as a bonus.
I can't wait to get more reports from him! He thought it was brittle but I knew it wasn't because Paul Bos does the heat treat. As long as the knife is well built it will withstand WAY more than you think it will, which is the only thing good enough for our soldiers IMHO.
