Need a knife?

danfoley

danfoley

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www.ybw.com
YM tested 18 of the top knives on the market, the reviews are in the magazine but some have to be seen to be believed:

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Interesting. Most of the big names seemed to be good, apart from the miniature Gerber. Mind you, I've got a little one, and I wouldn't use it to cut rope. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
very few suitable on a small boat, pointy ends, it's silly! I hope they are marked down for that.

that victoriknox swisstool spirit looked the business and one of the few with a blunt tip. I have given up trying to keep my old swiss army knife sharp and am adding a knife to my christmas list. I fancy a gerber multi tool but was also impressed with the cutting edge on a couple of leathermans so will also look at those.
 
Its the work of seconds to grind the point off the end of a blade if that makes you feel safer. (Ensuring you don't spoil its temper of course)

on a separate note:
I have a leatherman Wave titanium (I think thats its full title)and, as supplied, they are "scary sharp" - but frustratingly the best sharpening tool I have, a diamond file, is firmly attached to the same leatherman.
I have no idea how I will resharpen the scalloped blade, so I only use it for rope or soft materials.
 
Watch it you. I've seen you in action at the 'Hit or Miss' lecturing a poor unsuspecting bloke enjoying a drink at the bar, about RYA! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
We'll leave that for the Antifoul test, the next time we do one /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

At least you can see for yourself how the knives performed, rather than just take our word for it /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
Interesting. Even more so would be to see how they performed after a year's normal use.

I have a Victorinex 'survival' knife. It has two straight-edged blades, one Victorinox, the other licensed by Mauser. After some ten years use the Mauser blade has never been sharpened and is still sharp enough to shave with; the Victorinox blade needs regular sharpening and is beginning to wear out.
 
I think that all that test shows is that the larger the knife, the more pressure that can be put on the blade and the better it cuts. A breadknife used as a comparison would have provided a useful reference.
 
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A breadknife used as a comparison would have provided a useful reference.

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While I understand that a benchmark/reference is a good thing, I don't think a bread knife would be fair...It's not as if you can safely use a bread knife up a mast, use it as a screwdriver or as a pair of pliers, is it? /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

We'd also have questions raised as to why we used a bread knife? Which brand should we use? a cheap one from a supermarket? A professional chef's one?...why not a cleaver, machette or chainsaw?
/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif I think you get the idea /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

So we just test like with like within the realms of what we (and you - the reader) can obtain easily, and then stick to the guidelines of what we set out to test.

The knife test was only a small part of the test procedure, if we were to include video of us using them to screw and unscrew things, open tins, strip wires etc etc etc Ken's request for a video of paint drying might be preferable /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
I don't intend to make this my lifes work, but I can't see any part of that post that is correct.
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I think that all that test shows is that the larger the knife, the more pressure that can be put on the blade

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Ehh.. No! the most pressure you can put on any knive blade (by which I assume you mean force) is as close to the hilt as possible, so as long as you can wrap your mitt round the hilt you can exert the same force on a stanley knife as a sword.
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and the better it cuts.

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again, no, the sharper it is the better it cuts, unless it has some specific purpose where a serrated pattern improves the cut (like bread).
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A breadknife used as a comparison would have provided a useful reference.

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Why? the standard for comparison was a variety of ropes - what would be the point of trying a breadknife against the standard - the only conclusion you could draw was that a breadknife compared favourably/unfavourably against x,y or z in one aspect of the tools suite of purposes.
 
So were these knives straight out of the box, or did anyone check to see if they needed sharpening? I wouldn't use a new knife without sharpening it first, just the same as a wood chisel or any other edge tool. How did you measure the sharpness? Why did you test the blades with teeth, as they obviously are not meant to cut ropes? A bit of a pointless test if you ask me, except it underlined the need to have a decent chopping board on the boat.
 
I suspect you are not aiming the questions at me as it I ain't YM.
But I will say for what its worth - a leatherman comes out the box as sharp as a razor, I couldn't have put a better edge on mine, and importantly, it held its edge for the best part of a year despite minor abuse.
For anyone who doesn't have the knack for sharpening a blade well that may be significant.
 
Bread knives (Specifically the Prestige one with small serrations not the wavy edge, hole in handle for attaching lanyard) are my tool of choice for chopping ropes away from props and rudders. For over a bread board I use a "green river" sharpened with a coarse carborundum stone.

Both have been usefully employed safely up masts various. I have separate tools for the other tasks.

Or was this a test of "Multitools" not knives?
 
I am desperately bad with knives. I photographed Angling products for a mail order catalogue, and managed to cut myself on 5 of the twenty or so knives I shot.
There were also guns, but I was very careful with them!
 
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I am desperately bad with knives. I photographed Angling products for a mail order catalogue, and managed to cut myself on 5 of the twenty or so knives I shot.


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Bees, (Chris Beeson - Technical editor of YM) could hardly work through my oooh and ooow as I had to extract every blade out of the 18 multitool, no blood, but lots of scratches /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
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