The Cutting Edge

The official blog of Knife Depot

Category: Knife Learning (page 1 of 3)

Why Knives Make the Best Father’s Day Gifts

A novelty necktie. A “World’s Greatest Dad” mug. An apron for barbecuing.

If you’re a dad, chances are you’ve unwrapped a present on Father’s Day to find one of the above items and had to force a smile and say “thanks” with as much sincerity as you could muster.

If you’re a child and you gave one of these items, you have no excuses.

Father’s Day should be a time when you give or receive something that’s functional yet touching. Something that’s long-lasting but useful. And yes, this mystical gift that’s all of these things does exist: the knife.

Here are a few reasons why.

Knives are useful

The absolute worst part of a gift like a novelty necktie is that it’ll never get used. Maybe on some off chance the office will have a crazy tie day, but even then the tie will already be lost in the garage somewhere.

Continue reading

Reasons to Get Engraved Knives For Groomsmen

engraved knives for groomsmen

If you’re reading this, chances are you’re getting married.

Congratulations on taking the plunge. That also means you’ve probably been planning your wedding for ages. The venue is chosen, the flavor of your cake is set in marble, your music is finalized, and you’re still working on your vows.

But there’s the little matter of thinking about your groomsmen.

Your brother or buddy was likely put up to the task of best man or groomsman. It’s safe to say he’d much rather be out hunting or watching a basketball game. Instead he’s getting fit for a tux or going to rehearsals.

That’s why it’s always nice to thank them with a gift.

And there’s no better groomsmen gift than an engraved knife.

Considering this is a knife blog, I know we are very biased, but I honestly believe personalized knives make the best gifts for groomsmen.

Here’s why.

Knives are actually useful!

If you do a quick Google search on the best groomsmen gifts, thousands of articles with suggestions will come up. Most of them are filled with absolute junk that people don’t really want, like cufflinks (who wears these?), leather bags (come on!), pocket watches (what year is this?), and even personalized underwear.

Except for alcohol, every single one of those gifts is getting thrown in a drawer.

Knives, on the other hand, are extremely useful.

Continue reading

What is Lock Stick and How Do You Fix It?

It’s happened to almost all of us.

You get a brand new framelock folding knife in the mail and eagerly engage it. Everything seems fine as the knife opens smoothly and effortlessly. But, just as you’re closing it, you notice the framelock is extremely difficult to disengage.

This is known colloquially as lock stick.

Unfortunately, it’s an all-too-common issue in framelocks and even liner locks. The good thing is that there are several ways to go about fixing it.

What Causes Lock Stick?

In the most basic terms, lock stick is when a framelock or liner lock feels sticky when trying to unlock it. This makes it more difficult and sometimes even painful to disengage.

That’s the definition of lock stick, but what actually causes the major knife annoyance?

Galling

The cause of the issue is multifaceted. One of the reasons has to do with the lockbar material and the blade steel. Lock stick happens most prominently in knives with titanium handles because titanium is susceptible to galling and tends to stick to dissimilar metals.

For example, if you have a titanium lockbar contacting with the tang of an S35VN blade, they have the tendency to stick to one another. That’s why this issue isn’t reserved only for budget knives but also affects pricier ones.

Continue reading

What is Loctite and is it Necessary?

Reviewers on YouTube have made disassembling knives very popular (much to the chagrin of many knife manufacturers I’m sure).

No one is more guilty of this than Nick Shabazz — though his disassembly videos are a public service to teach those about the inner workings of the knife and general maintenance.

You’ll likely notice that when Nick and others put knives back together, they use a substance called Loctite on the screws.

So what exactly is Loctite and is it really necessary to use when putting a knife back together? Read on.

What is Loctite?

Loctite is the brand name for a threadlocker. Loctite is to threadlocker what Kleenex is to facial tissue or ChapStick is to lip balm. Although Loctite is the most popular threadlocker, there are other brands available like Permatex.

Continue reading

Best Ways to Test Your Knife’s Sharpness

This post has been updated since it was first posted in August 2012.

The vast majority of people can’t tell a dull knife from a sharp knife. People automatically assume that if a knife can cut, it’s sharp.

Unfortunately, that’s not always the case.

A dull knife will usually cut, but it requires much more force and energy than if you’re cutting with a truly sharp knife. So how can you tell if a knife is truly sharp? Here are a few ways to determine the sharpness of a blade.

Let us know your sharpness tests in the comments.

1. The Paper Test

Probably the most tried and true method is the good ol’ fashioned paper test. Grab a piece of paper, hold it between your fingers, and slide the knife downward. If it’s sharp, it will cleanly and easily slice the paper with just the weight of the knife. If it’s dull, it will usually be ragged or slip right off. This test also allows you to find any jagged or missed spots if you cut the whole length of the edge on a single stroke.

For an even better test of a blade’s sharpness, use a piece of magazine paper. Paper from a magazine is exceptionally thin and slick, which makes it even more difficult for a knife to slice through. According to Mike Vellekamp (who used to work at Spyderco before his current venture of V Nives), Sal Glesser used to make them use paper from National Geographic magazines. Phone book paper is an even tougher test, and  toilet paper is the toughest.

Yet another variation fo the paper test is to fold the paper in half so it has a rounded edge. Cut the paper along the rounded edge and if it’s sharp, it will catch and cut the page.

Here’s a good clip from the legendary Bob Kramer on the paper test.

2.  The Shaving Test

If you’ve ever watched knife reviews on YouTube, you’re probably familiar with the next test. It involves running the knife along your hair (usually your arm hair) and watching the little hairs get lopped off as the blade comes gliding through. Any hairs that fold under will indicate that the blade is not up to snuff.

Continue reading

How Amazon Profits Off Counterfeits

Fake knives are a big concern. If you buy from eBay or some less than stellar sites like Alibaba, there’s a fair chance that the knife you get is a fake.

But, if you were to buy a knife from a site like Amazon, it has to be real, right? Not exactly.

We have had a lot of complaints about the way Amazon does business over the years. For example, earlier this year, we wrote about how the massive online store restricts the sale of legal knives to some people. Back in 2013, we also wrote about how sites like Amazon have a leg up selling knives against smaller businesses such as ours thanks to Google.

But, one of our biggest complaints with Amazon has been the fact that they are plagued with counterfeits. Now, a recent story reveals that Amazon not only sells counterfeits frequently but benefits when fakes are sold and does little to rectify the problem.

Amazon ‘Thrives’ from Fakes

An article in the Los Angeles Times reported on fake products, including fake charging cables, and how they’ve affected legitimate businesses.

spyderco counterfeit

Here’s an excerpt from the article:

Not only has the platform avoided any serious backlash for allowing the sale of fake goods, it’s actually thrived from it, say more than two dozen brand owners, e-commerce consultants, attorneys, investigators and public policy experts.

Counterfeiters help pressure brands to sell their wares on the site. Companies that avoid Amazon risk letting counterfeiters determine how their goods appear to customers on the most influential e-commerce site — ceding control, for instance, of which pictures are used to promote a product and which colors and sizes are offered.

The spread of cheaper knockoffs can also put pressure on authentic sellers and brands to lower their prices, helping Amazon win more customers.

The company has resisted calls to do more to police its site and address claims by businesses that they are losing millions in lost sales and reputational harm, according to experts.

One of the biggest culprits is the third-party sellers on Amazon. When you buy something off Amazon, a third-party seller will often fulfill the orders, but they may be selling fakes. Even when Amazon itself fulfills the order, the products in their inventory may be fake without them knowing about it.

Continue reading

What is a Knife’s Boye Dent?

The great thing about knives is just how many minor changes and innovations there are. Sure, we know about the biggies like creation of the pocket clip by Spyderco’s Sal Glesser or the Reeve Integral Lock, but what about the smaller things?

For example, if you’ve bought a Spyderco with a lockback mechanism in the past few years, you’ve undoubtedly used something called the Boye Dent.

But just what is the Boye Dent?

Here it is.

The Boye Dent is a very minor addition that’s infiltrated modern lockback knives from Spyderco. It is essentially a scallop-shaped recess in the release  bar of the lockback or mid lock.

What is the Purpose of the Boye Dent?

The Boye Dent was pioneered by knifemaker David Boye, who is now known for designing boating knives. On his site, it says that the dent is for “preventing accidental disengagement of the blade when the handle is gripped tightly.”

Blue Whale Folder by Boye Knives

Essentially, when you put the palm of your hand against the release bar, there is less material there to accidentally disengage the knife.

Continue reading

What is Minimum Advertised Pricing (MAP) and How Does it Affect Knives?

If you’ve ever bought something from an online store, you may have noticed the term MAP in fine print somewhere. Standing for Minimum Advertised Pricing, MAP plays a pretty big role in how much you pay for things — whether it’s knives, water canteens, or televisions.

Because we are a knife store, we thought we’d look at the pros and cons of MAP policies and how they affect you.

What is Minimum Advertised Pricing (MAP)?

We’ll start with the basic definition: MAP is a policy that sets the lowest possible price you can advertise something. For online stores, this means that the prices displayed must be at or above the amount established by the manufacturer.

To be clear, MAP only deals with the minimum advertised price, not necessarily how much the item can actually be sold for. So even at online stores, you can buy items conforming to MAP at cheaper prices. More on that later though.

Another thing to clarify is that not all manufacturers have MAP policies. Only a few actually have the policies and I think even fewer really enforce the policies. We’ll go into detail later but knife brands like Schrade, Case, and KA-BAR don’t have MAP policies while others like Benchmade, Spyderco, and Hogue do.

What is Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP)?

You’ve likely seen MSRP next to prices as well. This is the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price or what price the manufacturer thinks the item should be sold at. This is just a general guideline and you’ll often see the street price significantly lower on these items (especially if they don’t have a MAP policy).

Why Does MAP Exist?

There are often raging debates about the benefits and drawbacks of MAP policies on BladeForums.

For the consumer, MAP can feel like a greedy money grab from manufacturers who are trying to keep prices high. I understand where that’s coming from too. MAP can prevent consumers from getting deals on their products and it prevents stores with the means to sell at lower margins.

Continue reading

What is Rockwell Hardness and What Does it Actually Mean?

If you’ve bought a knife in the past, you’ve undoubtedly seen something like “HRC 56-58” in the specs.

You may know that it represents the hardness of a blade or even that it is measured on the Rockwell scale. But if you don’t know what it actually means for your knife, you’re not alone.

Understanding the Rockwell hardness is not the most intuitive thing out there, but with a little information, you can be more informed about the characteristics and performance of your knife.

Let’s delve in.

What is the Rockwell Scale?

A blade’s hardness is based on the Rockwell scale. The Rockwell scale was cocreated by Hugh and Stanley Rockwell in the early 20th century to test the hardness of different materials. There are several different scales by which a material’s hardness is measured on, but blade steels are measured on the C scale. (HRC means Hardness on Rockwell scale C.)

To find the value, a diamond-tipped cone is impressed into the steel to measure the depth of the indentation. It’s pressed into the steel at two levels of pressure and then the numbers are measured before calculating the results into the HRC via a formula.

Here is a quick video talking about the measuring process.

Rockwell testing can leave a mark on the steel, which is why many makers measure it on a part of the steel that’s concealed by the handle.

What Does HRC Mean?

So now that you know how it’s tested, what does the number actually mean? The HRC — which also goes by other abbreviations like RC — lets you know the hardness of the steel. A low HRC number means the steel is softer and a higher number means it’s harder.

Continue reading

6 Reasons Why Some Knives Are Discontinued

discontinued knives

We’ve all experienced it. You had your favorite knife for years—say a Kershaw Groove. You used the hell out of it. You took it to your wedding. You carried it every day for the last 10 years. Maybe you even used it to cut your first born son’s umbilical cord.

Then it finally gives way and simply stops working.

But when you go to Knife Depot to buy another, you find out it’s no longer in production. You drop to your knees, raise your fists to the sky, and curse the gods for such cruelty.

Maybe it doesn’t happen quite like that, but discontinued knives are a sad reality for knife fans.

So why do some of our favorite knives get the boot? Several reasons abound, including some that may surprise you.

1) It no longer makes money.

We’ll start with the most obvious reason why a knife might be discontinued. It’s not a moneymaker. This is actually a lot more complicated than it sounds, so we’ll break it up into different facets.

The knife sold poorly from the start.

Companies tend to release a slew of knives each year. Some hit the mark and others miss it by a mile. There will usually be people who buy every knife, but that’s not always enough to sustain the continued production of a product line.

Kershaw Tremor

Discontinued Kershaw Tremor

The Kershaw Tremor is one of those knives that came and went in only a few years, most likely due to poor sales. Not long into its run, the price of the Tremor dropped significantly. It went away quietly.

The knife sees fewer and fewer new sales.

Extremely popular knives are also discontinued, thanks to the idea of a product’s life cycle. Say a new knife comes out that’s exceptionally popular—the Starbird. The Starbird has huge, record sales when it first comes out and it’s the talk of the town. Sales continue to rise and rise. Eventually, the number of sales will reach a peak. As everyone who wants the Starbird has already bought it (market saturation), sales will begin declining.

Continue reading

« Older posts

© 2024 The Cutting Edge

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑

123