Thanks, Adrian.
Now, mind you all, this is still a work-in-progress. Here's what I've got right now:
Forged in SBG
Round Two
First and foremost, let me apologize again for the absurd delay in working on this round of the competition. Life’s been, well, life. I’ll spare the details, and get straight to business.
Here we’ll be looking at what was to have been the “second round” of knives made for the Forged in SBG competition, the “Thrusting Knife” round. That is, dedicated stabbing knives for use in “fighting” conditions, rather than general utility or field knives. Makers include Sanmarc (henceforth Marc), balimund21 (henceforth Jeff), DigsFossils-n-Knives (henceforth Digs), and Fallen (AKA Lyndle Driggers).
Apologies in advance for photo quality, my “good” camera died and I had to use my “not-so-great” cell phone…
First off, here’s a reminder of the knives we’re looking at:
As with previous rounds, all knives were made within a time limit of 6 hours, start to finish, not including tempering/heat treat. As such, these should not be looked at as the high point of each smith’s work, and minor details such as aesthetics or uneven finishes will not be judged with a high priority, rather each knife’s ability to perform the task set before it will be the primary consideration.
With that said, unfortunately, I was not able to do as much with these knives as I had hoped due to a shortage of time, resources, and (embarrassingly) knowledge. All that I have managed so far is what I would consider the bare minimum for testing thrust-oriented weapons: accuracy and penetrating power. I found some old gun targets while cleaning, some time ago, and opted to use them with a cardboard box backdrop to gauge how easy it was to direct the points of each knife through simple head-on stabbing and a few “in action” shots where I tried to mimic the movements one might use in an actual fight (eg the ol’ duck, bob, and weave, with a little bit of footwork, and fast strikes rather than carefully-aimed thrusts) and used both standard grip (blade forward) and “reverse grip” (blade down) in turn, ten times each. (I think?)
I have no method of recording video, so all I have is before and after photos, for the sake of keeping things quick.
After these tests, I stacked about 20-30 squares of cardboard (I forget the exact number) and attempted downward (“reverse-grip”) stabs into the stack to test penetration. I would have preferred to test with some level of armor and/or fabric, but could not acquire the materials.
Taken individually, here are the stats of each blade and the results of their respective tests:
Fallen:
Overall:
15”/38cm long
11.6oz/328g
PoB 0”
Blade:
8.75”/22.3cm long
1.42”/3.6cm wide tapering to 0.55”/1.4cm at transition to tip
0.18”/0.4cm thick tapering to 0.09”/0.2cm
Grip:
5.85”/15cm long
1.25”/3.2cm wide at palm swell, 1.25”/3.2cm at ends, 0.95”/2.4cm valleys
0.83”/2.1cm thick at palm swell, 0.8”/2cm at ends, 0.75”/1.9cm valleys
Target:
For those curious about the groupings, the first several strikes were all aimed at the center. Unfortunately, said center quickly became non-existent. Subsequent strikes were aimed first above, then to the left of center.
Stacked cardboard (please ignore the mess, these were done in a hurry and I didn’t have the opportunity to clean up first):
For those interested in counting, the first stab penetrated 7 approximately ¼”-thick pieces of standard corrugated cardboard. Subsequent efforts yielded 9 and then 6. As you can see, the knife went in at an odd angle on these two, and a good bit of the tip is exposed. Actual penetration was greater than recorded, but the exact figure could not be determined accurately. I only counted what was still on the blade at the end.
Overall, this knife is made very well. Finish is superb, grinding is even, everything’s snugly fit and well-shaped. It is, perhaps, a touch large for my own tastes, and as such I had some trouble directing and controlling it. It is the largest of the knives, by 3” overall, but only 0.2oz or just a few measly grams, but despite its 0” balance (same as all the others, give or take a slim margin) I still found this knife to be tough to steer, somehow. I blame my lack of experience.
Digs:
Overall:
12”/30cm long
11.4oz/323g (approximate; apparently I missed a number when I originally typed this and had to convert based on the imperial weight)
PoB 0”
Blade:
7.75:”/20cm long
1.33”/3.4cm wide tapering to 0.14”/0.3cm
0.35”/0.9cm thick tapering to 0.05”/0.1cm
Grip:
3.95”/10.1cm long
0.94”/2.4cm wide at guard, 1.32”/3.3cm wide at pommel; convex taper, twist shape
0.6”/1.5cm thick at guard, 0.37”/0.9cm thick at pommel, minus thumb swell
Target:
I used the same side of the same box to hold the new target, for what that might be worth. Otherwise, grouping is on the same principle: Started aiming at center, center evaporated, started aiming further out.
Here’s a shot of what the box looked like after both knives (Forgot to mention, vertical slots are “standard grip,” horizontal are “reverse grip”):
Cardboard:
In each attempt, this knife consistently penetrated more than 10 pieces of cardboard, with a pretty substantial portion of the tip showing through the other end each time.
Overall, I find this knife a delight to handle. I had my misgivings, at first, about the half-twist grip, but it sits comfortably in the hand and the knife rests neatly in the blade-forward orientation. In the reverse grip, it’s slightly less comfortable, but the added divot (for want of better word) in the “pommel” makes a fine thumb rest, Digs having said this was the intention.
This knife also has a superb finish. It can be referred to as a “whole steel” or “integral” construction, in that the hilt (pommel included) is the same bar stock as the blade and there is no separate material composing the “handle,” however the wire-wrap guard, while a neat idea that provides a nice contrast to the dark blade with its bright (Brass? Copper?) yellow color, is not even and kind of seems a bit…insubstantial? It does well at keeping one’s hand off the edge, but I don’t know that it would do much else. Not that it may even be intended to, as such…
Marc:
Overall:
12.5”/32cm long
6.6oz/186g
PoB 0”
Blade:
6.75”/17cm long
0.8”/2cm ricasso, 1.02”/2.6cm at first swell, 0.51”/1.3cm into tip
0.16”/0.4cm thick at guard, 0.1”/0.3cm into tip
Grip:
5.95”/15.2cm long
1.05”/2.7cm wide at guard, 0.98”/2.5cm at pommel, 1.05”/2.7cm central ring
0.65”/1.6cm thick ag guard, 0.68”/1.7cm at pommel, 0.7”/1.8cm central ring
Target:
Somewhere along the line, the paper managed to tear. I have no recollection of how or when that happened; it’s been quite a while since I did this.
Anyway, once again, very tight groupings.
Cardboard:
Counts are 10, 8, and 8. I’m tempted to give the last one extra credit, since I hit it at an awkward angle. It would probably have been deeper if I had hit it straight-on, like somebody who knew what they were doing…
Overall impressions of this knife are…wow, it’s light. Like, really,
really light. I find the handle excessively long, but it serves to keep the point balanced and in line fairly well. Finish is a bit rough, as is common among Marc’s work. Some folk don’t like that, I don’t mind it at all.
Despite being the second-longest knife, it weighs in around half of the others, and splits its mass fairly evenly between blade and hilt. It’s super-fast and easy to control and direct, all without putting much strain on the user. Penetrating power is right up there, and the kris/flamberge-inspired wavy blade design lets the actual blade width stay fairly slender, keeping weight down, while providing a wider, er…wound channel.
Jeffrey:
Overall:
11.75”/30cm long
9.7oz/276g
PoB 0”
Blade:
7.5”/19cm long
1.55”/3.9 wide at guard, 0.3”/0.7cm into tip
0.1”/0.3cm thick throughout, swells to cylindrical tip
Grip:
4.11”/10.5cm long
1.56”/3.9cm wide at guard, 1.04”/2.6cm at pommel, concave taper
.74”/1.9cm thick throughout, slight bulge at center to 0.78”/2cm
Now this knifes a bit odd, but bear with us.
Target:
Once again, aim travelled upward after the center was obliterated. I do mean obliterated, too. Just look at those holes…
Aftermath of Marc + Jeff:
Cardboard:
Seriously, though, look at these holes:
Anyway, punched through 10, 5 (hit it wrong, I know), and 8 layers, leaving what looks almost like bullet holes. I chuckled, I admit, at what I perceived as a “crazy,” even “silly” design, but it actually held its own really well. I barely had to rest the tip on the cardboard and it was already sinking in, so it’s
extremely pointy; ridiculously acute tip on this thing, and it’s fairly conical, so there’s no real edge orientation to worry about. As wide as the blade is, it’s very thin, but the corkscrew shape leaves a massive hole behind, equivalent to a much larger spike. I wouldn’t want to be stabbed with any knife, but I’m pretty sure the guys at Geneva wouldn’t be okay with this one.
So, that’s all I’ve been able to do up to this point. As you can all surely see, results are
pretty even. In fact, the biggest thing holding this back is that I can’t seem to make one stand out over the rest.
Fit and finish goes anywhere between Fallen or Digs, the former having the cleanest lines, the latter a very cool design, cleanly executed. Both are very sharp, with Fallen having the slight lead there. I think Digs’ knife has the more acute tip, but the bevels are steeper, so the sharpness suffers accordingly.
Marc’s knife isn’t as clean or as sharp as Fallen’s or Digs’, but its size versus its weight makes a fantastic combination, and its edge and tip are more than adequate for the job.
Jeff’s knife has no edge, whatsoever, but has
the most acute tip of all the knives. It also handles about as well as any of the others, but has a slightly wide (for my comfort) handle as an expense for the very wide blade. It’s also a bit crooked, but that’s whatever.
Right now, I’m leaning toward liking Digs’ knife most, with a firm respect for Jeff’s and Marc’s. This is not to discount Fallen’s knife, it’s a beast, but it’s that “beastliness” that, maybe, dampens my spirits a bit with this knife. I want to like it; the design is good, the quality of workmanship is great (as is typical with Fallen’s stuff), but in the end, maybe it’s a little too much knife?
I hope to use my day off tomorrow to do at least one more test. There was some interest in seeing how many of these knives could cut, so I’ll pick up a new case of water and have a go at it; with a few set up for actual stabbing tests. I may use some of the boards from the Chopper/Fighter round to see how hard I can stab something without bending (or breaking) the tips. Kinda wanna roll up an old pair of jeans and see how many layers of denim they can get through, but I may have inadvertently thrown away my old jeans already…I’ll have to go digging and see.
In the meantime, this is what I have. I’d like to hear from the rest of you what thoughts you can offer, so feel free to tell me what I’m doing wrong (or right, if anything) and if there’s anything you’d like to see done.