Cutting test: CS Trailmaster vs 2L Pepsi

[mirage]

Andy threw down a challenge in this thread (http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11018): Who could slice a 2-litre pop botle in half?

Having drunk myself into a state of dyspepsia, I managed to empty a Diet Pepsi bottle. To the kitchen, where I balanced the bottle on the very corner of a work surface in order to allow free passage for the blade. I positioned myself so that the bottle was about 45° to my right front, took a couple of dummy runs to set up the muscle memory, then swung at the junction between the shoulder and neck of the bottle.

Whack!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v491/maximusotter/Trailmaster%20vs%20Pepsi/2005_0719Trailmaster_vs_Pepsi0013.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v491/maximusotter/Trailmaster%20vs%20Pepsi/2005_0719Trailmaster_vs_Pepsi0024.jpg

Impact was slightly higher than I'd aimed for...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v491/maximusotter/Trailmaster%20vs%20Pepsi/2005_0719Trailmaster_vs_Pepsi0017.jpg

... the blade passing through the locking collar.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v491/maximusotter/Trailmaster%20vs%20Pepsi/2005_0719Trailmaster_vs_Pepsi0037.jpg

"Action replay"

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v491/maximusotter/Trailmaster%20vs%20Pepsi/2005_0719Trailmaster_vs_Pepsi0047.jpg

A super macro shot of the edge of the Trailmaster. The blade is at the bottom, the edge in the centre of the shot.

I thought about the strike, and began to wonder what would happen if - at the time of impact - the blow didn't hit the shoulder/neck junction at about 90°, but hit the side at approximately 45°. There would then be no kitchen work surface "bracing" the bottle and increasing the apparent power of the slice.

I positioned the lower section of the bottle on a surface and repeated the test...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v491/maximusotter/Trailmaster%20vs%20Pepsi/2005_0719Trailmaster_vs_Pepsi0048.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v491/maximusotter/Trailmaster%20vs%20Pepsi/2005_0719Trailmaster_vs_Pepsi0050.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v491/maximusotter/Trailmaster%20vs%20Pepsi/2005_0719Trailmaster_vs_Pepsi0052.jpg

The severing here is more down to the edge geometry of the Trailmaster than the "wedging" effect of the surface on which the bottle was standing.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v491/maximusotter/Trailmaster%20vs%20Pepsi/2005_0719Trailmaster_vs_Pepsi0056.jpg

A super macro shot of the thickness of the plastic wall of the bottle through which the Trailmaster passed.

I have fresh admiration for my Edge Pro Apex, Carbon V and the designers of the Trailmaster.

mirage

[ElThomsono]

Wow! That's some work mirage :happy15:

I love the macro shot of the blade, it's flawless. Particularily since it went through the neck and not the side :O . Did you sharpen between the can test and this one, or was it all done with the same edge?

One problem though....Pepsi? :yuck:

[mirage]

Wow! That's some work mirage :happy15:

I love the macro shot of the blade, it's flawless. Particularily since it went through the neck and not the side :O . Did you sharpen between the can test and this one, or was it all done with the same edge?

Thanks for the kind words.

I gave it a half-hearted strop on an old leather belt impregnated with Solvol Autosol. More for habit's sake than to improve/repair the edge. I can't see a trace of damage from the impact with the aluminium.

mirage

[TAHAWK]

Nice pics.

Did you "draw" the knife as you cut?

(I thought folk with "dyspepsia" used Coke products. :rolleyes:))

[Ropeman]

Serwish!

Excellent stuff Mirage. Now do it with a melon. :ninja

Or a big fish. Or what about a car go on, chop more stuff up, this is what knives are for. I need to get the KaBar stropped up and get some tins emptied.

[mirage]

[QUOTE=TAHAWK]Did you "draw" the knife as you cut?[QUOTE]

No, it was a straight, sweeping blow.

I found that the trick is to commit to the follow-through. Don't aim for the bottle, but aim for the floor with the bottle as an obstacle on the way.

mirage