How I Torture Test my Blades
I wanted to be sure any blade that came from my forge and shop would out-perform any store bought blade, so not only did I research heat treating methods for years to find the right mix for the metals I use, I also designed a gauntlet of abuse to ensure any blade I made and finished would stand up to anything one could possibly need to throw at it. This is the most recent batch of knives that are soon to hit the shelf of my shop, I think you’ll agree that they passed this torture test with flying colors!
It starts with testing before I finish grinding, but after heat treating and tempering. I perform a sharpness test to make sure the edge is close to finished specs, then I will subject the blade to repeated wood chops and then a wood split by baton. after double checking the sharpness again, I drop the blade… tip first.. into concrete from about 5 feet. I expect every knife that I make to not only put up with this test, but suffer zero deformation or dulling as a result of testing. If any fail the test, they are rejected, never get to be finished and never make it to the store, This is how I conduct my quality control!