Believe it or not I do take care of my knives sort of.
Instagram bro steel_angel_gabriel was like, how about a video on the proper way to treat
a knife.
You know a video with all the dumb shit cut out.
It’s extremely hard for me to cut out all the dumb stuff.
Sorry.
Now I’m not going to pretend I’m a knife care expert… but I generally follow rules
on how I treat knives off camera.
So hopefully when someone posts a comment like this one from name redacted: I didn’t
read this wrong he sounds like he’s being a jerk right?
Or this one from Don Sherman, which is a legitimate question for a person who doesn’t watch
this channel regularly.
So from now on I can just post a link to this video and either not feed the troll or in
the case of the latter comment…
hey man it’s a joke.
Sort of.
One is a genuine question… the other seems to be a miserable human being trying to make
other people miserable.
But yeah.
First up- batoning.
You can treat your knives however you want… knife makers often make dumb shit videos like
I do, except in the case of cold steel they’re like… these may void the warranty.
Ok bro.
Batoning as you know is taking a hard piece of wood and beating on your knife to show
another separate piece of wood who the man is now.
I have had to baton maybe 3 times in life off camera…
once was for a meat smoker that needed smaller pieces of wood.
I dunno maybe that’s the only time.
I generally recommend only using fixed blades for batoning, unless you’re a shitty youtube
personality like me.
Folding knives are not really meant for batoning, despite all the tactical bushcraft marketing
bullshit manufacturers feed you.
This is especially true of knives with titanium frame locks… because in the case of my Chris
Reeve Sebenza the repeated pummeling of the hard blade steel against the titanium from
spine whacks deformed the softer titanium frame lock.
Always assume a knife has a shitty weak lock if you want to be safe, because it helps you
to avoid damaging your knife.
Batoning wears on your lock… and in the case of me sometimes it can break a blade
if you repeatedly hit a knot.
Batoning is rarely necessary for keeping an already hot fire going.
Just throw the rotten soaked wood on the fire and surprise…
IT BURNS.
You’re like what if the log is thick, what then?
Use a wood splitter.
Materials you cut with a knife.
I abuse my knives on camera… but I am carefully to only beat them against soft things.
Soft plastic, wood, paper products, rope… generally soft plant based materials and soft
synthetic materials.
The more you use your knife against metallic or ceramic or glass surfaces, the more likely
they are to dull, chip, or edge roll.
I generally am careful when using my expensive knives when I cut food on a glass or ceramic
plate.
Remember ceramic is used to keep knives sharp because it is a harder material than a knife.
I know that sounds like a no brainer, but I have seen plenty of people clink knives
against plates.
If it’s a $20 Ganzo who gives a shit.
The higher the number on the HRC hardness scale your knife is the more likely it is
to chip, the lower the dumber the more likely it is to roll or become deformed.
These are generalities, and not absolutes.
Regarding Prying.
Don’t do it unless you want your tip to break.
You’re like what if I get a tanto can I pry… sure do whatever the fuck you want…
but don’t complain when a knife breaks.
There is no price point where knives cease to fail.
You can have a weak piece of expensive wear resistant steel or a strong piece of weak
steel.
You have no way of knowing until after it happens.
Store your knives indoors, and always put them away dry.
High carbon steel blades like ESEE fixed blades, use a high carbon steel, which is why they
coat them- because they rust in moisture and humidity.
Now my Opinel no 8 is a high carbon blade, and it does discolor after a while, which
is part of it’s charm.
If you hate this discoloration buy stainless steel blades, and always wipe them down.
When I put my knives away I make sure they’re dry, always.
There are rust free steels out there, but the word stainless does not mean rust free…
it will rust, some stainless steels rust faster than others.
Look at it this way… high carbon and carbon steels rust easiest and within minutes.
Stainless rust less and some stainless compositions rust quicker than others some minutes need
to be wet all day… then rust free steels like spyderco’s H1 are supposedly rust free.
Also salt water rusts steel faster than fresh water.
It is extremely hard to prevent a high carbon steel blade from discoloring or developing
a patina over time
Lube your pivots.
I am not a dude that disassembles polishes and reassembles his knives, for smoother action.
But if a pivot… the screw up front that the blade pivots on… well if it’s creaky
or gritty you can lube it.
If it seems fine leave it alone.
Lubing blades with oil also helps prevent rust.
Watch a video on proper knife lubing for a real demonstration.
I am a occasionally luber, and unlike Pornhub you won’t get a good lube demonstration
from this video.
I generally use 3-in-1 oil.. there may be better lubes out there, so google best knife
lube figure it out.
If you don’t regularly disassemble knives, and know what you’re doing…
don’t start.
Many knives have great warranties that are voided by a dumbass taking apart a knife and
not reassembling it correctly.
Many knives have soft screws even expensive ones- yeah I’m talking to you Spyderco…
a $150 made in Taiwan with soft screw should be unacceptable in this day- but for some
reason it ain’t.
You can easily damage soft screws especially if they have locktite on them, just by turning
them or looking at them wrong.
Also many knives are assembled by people who you know- that’s their job.
If you’re worried about a knife failing bring a backup… buy a fixed blade.
If it begins not deploying correctly or locking correctly, send it in to a manufacturer for
warranty work.
A lot of manufacturers have lifetime warranties, that cover most things except intentional
abuse- check their warranty before buying a knife if that’s important to you.
Sharpening.
Get a sharpening system that maintains a consistent angle when sharpening.
A Spyderco sharp maker is a basic version of this.
It’s what I use because I refuse to spend $500 on a high end sharpening system.
There are many sharpeners out there, I’m not saying to just look at the spydercos…
but it’s what I use.
If you’ve never sharpened a knife before don’t start by free handing it.
I also don’t bother with those cheap “v-sharpeners either like this.”
Ok so steel angel gabriel asked for a basic video about this.
These are general rules I follow… not all may work for you… there are better advice
videos on the internet, so watch those instead.
If you like this video check out other videos by me, that feature satire, useless tips,
bad advice, and many ways to not treat a knife.
If you want a serious knife video I implore people like name redacted to not try and watch
7-10 videos… because they don’t get any better… and trolling masquerading as “advice”
is still trolling.
My mother told me at a very young age, if you don’t have anything nice or constructive
to say…
don’t say it.
Of course if someone does something ignorant or has something ignorant to say unsolicited,
feel free to shut em down.. shut em down, shut em, shut em down.
Ok maybe that last one was Chuck D. Thanks for watching.