Scrap Yard knives

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I'm in search of a good "do-it-all" kind of knife... does anyone have any experience with any scrap yards

[Marswolf]

Lots of experience both practical and in service.

What are you really looking for

Price

Real world experience

Theoretical.

Good knives are worth the price. But none of them are cheap.

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I'm willing to spend what it takes to get a good knife but after looking at the Busse family of knives scrap yard seems to be the best value for the money. they're releasing a new knife sometime tomorrow and i just wanted to see if anyone on here had any opinions on them. As far as real world use goes i'd probably only be using this knife for camping trips (splitting fire wood, etc.)

[Marswolf]

It looks to me like Scrap Yard Knives is basically competition for Cold Steel Knives. Prices and construction are similar.

Looks like their claim to fame is the use of S-7 shock resistant tool steel. I think the questions is, if it is so good how come virtually no one else in the knife business uses it for blades? They also make knives in related steels like SR-77.

Here is a page listing knife steels - good and bad. http://users.ameritech.net/knives/steels.htm S-7 and SR-77 aren't even listed.

There are a lot of qualities to knife blade steel. Shock resistance is one of those qualities. But ability to hold an edge, corrosion resistance and a bunch of other qualities come into play. Heat treating and quenching are other factors.

Personally, I'd be reluctant to buy a knife in a steel that other knife makers aren't using.

BTW, here is an old steel knife I keep in the block with my Wüsthof kitchen knives. It has proved to be an excellent preparation knife. The steel is saw blade steel. I use it for nostalgia and because it makes a good boning knife, although I have a professional meat cutter's boning knife given to me from a meat processing plant. The old knife steel actually has a lot of physical properties of S-7. It's good, but it isn't nearly the quality of the Wüsthof blades.

S-7 might be a good choice for a wood splitter, but it would have to be properly heat treated and quenched or you will spend a lot of time sharpening it.

Have you ever seen the DVD that Cold Steel gives away that shows how tough their knives are? If you order a free catalog from them http://order.store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/wg-request-catalog?csstoreonline you also get SOLID PROOF AND GRAPHIC SWORD PROOF DVD's

[Mark@Sea]

Cold Steel hands down.

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Thanks for the input guys... i think i'm going to go ahead and try to snatch one of these scrap yards up today when they are released, just because they seem to be pretty hard to get. I'll test it out and let y'all know what i think about it.

Marswolf, edge retention and corrosion resistance are the two big hangups that i have with S77 from what i've read (i've never actually owned an S77 blade). I guess we'll see how well she does. Thanks

[Marswolf]

Thanks for the input guys... i think i'm going to go ahead and try to snatch one of these scrap yards up

I figured you would.

Marswolf, edge retention and corrosion resistance are the two big hangups that i have with S77 from what i've read

But you are buying one anyway.... By any chance do you carry a Glock?

Cold Steel hands down.

Mark, I carry a Cold Steel on my web belt. Excellent throat slasher / stabber. Excellent double edged attack knife. I wouldn't recommend it for wood splitting. I'd go for a froe made from a truck leaf spring for that, or a wedge, or a splitting maul.

My daily carry is a Gerber Applegate - Fairbairn Covert Folder in 154CM. Recommended by a LE friend in North Carolina. I have been very happy with it.

Oh sorry, wrong photo....

The one knife that is always in my pocket when I go out is a Victorinox Classic SD in black. Good not only for everyday use, but also for combat settings. That little screwdriver will fit anything! I've sent a bunch of them to guys heading to Iraq and Afghan. After a while, they figure out why they are carrying it. Should be standard issue. Here it is in a nice transparent pink.