Howdy gents, Just finished adding a sharpening choil (with a file) to my 5, and after adding a nice deep (vinegar) patina to the surface, a bunch of irregularities showed up rather visibly. Upon closer inspection, they appear to be rather serious cracks in the surface of the steel, some with chunks of steel having broken off. If it has any significance, it's serial #30345, and it hasn't been used hard. Most I've done with it was chop a 2" thick branch down, and some basic cutting. I was waiting until I finished my mods to really wail on it. Anybody have any thoughts on this? @Jeff Randall, would this be a warranty replacement? I'm totally bummed at the moment. I've spent the past few days working on this one...
I would try to break it, if it breaks send it back, if not I would use it. They probably want it back to see what happened though.
It is a 1/4" hunk of steel, I doubt that you could break it without a lot of leverage or a huge impact.
It is possible. I think it would either break fairly easily or not at all, I would bet that you can't break it by any normal means though.
RENO, take it to the machine shopi and get them to MAGNAFLUX it. It will cost you less than $20 (i'd be surprised if it cost more for such a small test piece) , and IF there is an tiny crack, even an unseen to the eye microscopic crack , it will show up. Then proceed with warranty from there. personally, if it was mine, and it had a hairline crack right there.....I would just run a MIG bead down it and file the bead flat and go beat the snot out of it.
Funds are tight brother, and that right there is enough to ship it out in the case the gents at ESEE want it back.
It does look like a crack to me. Please send it back to the shop because this looks like a flaw in the steel.
Removing the structural powdercoating was asking for troubles really Glad to see things get sorted out for you. I'd freak out seeing cracks in my 5! A crazy thing to discover.
So, quick update (long time, I know). I finally dripped the $35 to send this in only to be told it's normal "grain from the rolling process" and will be coming back to me. Now, I'm no metalurgist and won't pretend to be, but of the dozen or so ESEE's I've stripped, and as many Beckers, I've seen roll marks and machine marks, but never cracks like this. So, moral of the story, make sure your ESEE is in two pieces before wasting any money, time or effort shipping one in. Especially internationally.
What do you want them to do? Apparently you've had it laying around for two years before doing anything about your "urgent problem". Sounds like the blade was checked and found to be in a good condition, and then shipped back for free? Ain't 35 bucks cheap for that?
Wow, buddy, cool your jets. Sounds like I struck a nerve. Where did I ever say this was an "urgent problem"? It most certainly is not, and has never been. I don't expect the folks at ESEE or Rowan to do anything more than they already have. All I was saying is you're better off making sure your knife is actually messed up before wasting any time sending one in just to have it turned around. It's a waste of time and money on both ends, mine and ESEE's. All I was trying to do was save someone else some time and money. If you misconstrued that as me complaining, my apologies.
