From: rusty.hinge@foobar.girolle.co.uk   
      
   Schweik wrote:   
      
   >> So, all you knife fantatics and gurus, please share your knowledge   
   >> with a humble seeker of truth.   
   >>   
   >> B__P   
   >   
   > I think that you are asking an awful lot from a knife. The   
   > steel/temper that you would select for a shovel (digging holes) and a   
   > knife (slicing bacon) are entirely different. Of course because the   
   > attributes of the tool are different.   
      
   Depends.   
      
   A proper shovel is made from carbon steel.   
      
   Many proper knives are made from arbon steel, and the degree of hardness   
   and temper would be similar.   
      
   > My own experience, and it dates back to a time before all terrain   
   > vehicles and chain saws (when people actually walked) is that   
   > experienced woodsmen carried a number of edged tools. Typically a   
   > butcher knife for cooking chores, a light axe for chopping (Hudson Bay   
   > used to sell what they called a "cruising axe" that was typical of   
   > this type), if planning on shooting something a hunting knife to   
   > dressing out the animal, and, of course a pocket knife - Nearly all   
   > males carried a pocket knife in those days.   
      
   And I used to carry one knife, a sgian dubh which I made in 1958. I only   
   carried an axe (Brade's handaxe and/or 7 lb Elwell American pattern   
   felling axe), and sometimes, a scythe and a machete.   
      
   The ones additional to the knife were only carried to and from the   
   woodland which I used to help maintain in the 1960s.   
      
   Beware the man with only one knife - he might know how to use it.   
      
   > So why not decide what tools you want and simply select the best in   
   > each category?   
      
   If you want a knife which keeps its edge, looks good, and can be honed   
   to razor-sharpness, I'd go for a Damascus steel made for the purpose.   
      
   Failing that, carbon steel, and forget about most stainless blades -   
   butter blunts them.   
      
   --   
   Rusty   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)