Meat Tests For Draven Industries

[Dr. Snubnose]

I did some meat testing for Eric Draven on his neck knives. He is a custom knifemaker, thought some would be interested in the results:

In Meat test #1 I use a seamed eye round roast that measured 10.5 " long that was 5 " round, left in it's original packaging and wrapped with additional saran wrap, 4 layers, (to simulate the resistance of skin) and stuffed it inside a Denim Jeans Pant leg. A quick downward slash cut was made using the knives mentioned to measure the depth of the cut. In Meat Test#2 I thrust into the roast with each knife and pulled forcefully downwards quickly until resistance was encountered. I measured the depth and length of the stab/cut.Then in the third test I made a Hard and Fast Horizontal slash across the belly of the roast and measured the depth of the cut. The results are as follows:




Draven Industries

KD-4K: (1.75 inch Blade) Meat Test #1) 1.75” Depth, Meat Test #2) 10.5” Length/1.75” Depth

Meat test #3) 1.75” Depth




KD-4F: (1.0 inch Blade) Meat Test #1) 1.0” Depth, Meat Test #2) 0.5” Length/1.0” Depth

Meat Test #3) 1.0” Depth




Comments and Observations: The larger bladed KD-4K with its Double Ground/ Zero Ground, S30V outperformed the Chisel Ground/Zero Ground CPM3V KD-4F in these Meat Tests. It is interesting to note that each of these blades slashed to the depth of the blade length and no further unlike some of the wharncliffe and recurved blades I have tested in the past. I believe this is because of the style and angle of the Kiridashi blade in general.Where both of these knives really excelled was in their penetration power. Both knives penetrated the denim, plastic wrap, meat and 1.0” of fat with ease and no felt resistance. Another interesting note is if I held the knives further back with my finger in the second finger choil they penetrated 3.75” which is impressive. However once thrust to these depths it was impossible to cut deep inside the meat. The KD-4K when thrust into the meat to only the blade length depth was able to slice the meat from top to bottom (10.5”) with no felt resistance, which is simply amazing and probably would have cut longer if it didn’t run out of meat. The KD-4F got caught up on the meat while attempting the same feat; this is probably because the bottom on the knife is a bit square in shape. That being said both knives were able to comma cut there way out of the index finger size hole they made during the thrust. While looking back at some of my other testing results with other knives of similar blade length, I was surprised to find that the KD-4K outperformed many of them in its slicing ability. For comparison sake I made a short list of some of those knives and their performance in Meat Test #1 and Meat Test #3.

Draven Industries KD-4K Test #1- 1.75” depth Test#3- 1.75” depth

Spyderco “S” PE (2” blade) Test #1- 1.0” depth Test #3- 1.25” depth

Spyderco LAVA Test #1- 1.5” depth Test #3- 1.5” depth

Spyderco KIWI Test #1- 1.0” depth Test #3- 1.25” depth

Spyderco LADYBUG CE Test #1- 1.5” depth Test #3- 1.5” depth

Spyderco SPIN Test #1-1.5” depth Test #3 -1.25” depth

Boker SUBCOM F PE (1 ¾”) blade Test #1- 1.0” Test #3- 0.5” depth

Kabar LAST DITCH Test #1- 1.5” depth Test #3- 1.5” depth




As a side note the KD-4K even scored better results that a larger blade knife:

Spyderco DELICA (2 ¾” blade) Test #1- 1.5” depth Test #3 1.5” depth

And out performed or matched the results of some CE and PE blades that were even larger

Spyderco NATIVE CE Test#1- 1.75”depth Test#3- 1.75”depth

Spyderco CIVILIAN PE Test #1-1.75” depth Test #3- 1.75” depth

SpydercoByrd CROSSBILL CE (3” blade) Test #1- 1.75” depth Test #3- 1.75” depth

Cold Steel THE SPIKE PE (3.5” blade) Test #1- 1.75” depth Test #3- 175” depth

CRKT M-16 PE (3” blade) Test #1 1.5” depth Test #3 1.5” depth

Kershaw SCALLION PE (2.5” blade) Test #1 1.75” depth Test #3- 1.5” depth




All in all I’d say the KD-4K did pretty well for a 1.75” cutting surface, and I believe it makes for an excellent back-up knife for SD purposes. I will be doing a more in depth review on these Draven Dashi neck knives in the very near future, since I completed the meat testing segment I thought some would be interested in the results…..Doc:D

***Here is a link to the Ironpitt Forum where you can see pics of the knives I tested:
http://www.ironpitt.com/forums/read/78,9675

"Always Judge a man by the way he treats someone who could be of no possible use to him"
*Custom Avatar with the Help of Daywalker*
Sifu Dr. Jan L. Miller
Dragon Tiger Kung Fu Center

[Shike]

Nice review and as always good info. Thank you Doc!

[smcfalls13]

Tell Eric to finish up his Razor Balis:p

He's slacking:cool:

[224477]

Thanks for the review input Doc. - always amazing to read the meat tests :D

[MAT888]

Let's check up Eric's site;

http://www.draven-industries.com/kdashi4k.html

Quite impressive for a kiridashi Doc.:D

WE ALL LOVE YOUR TESTS: KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!
:p

[The Mastiff]

Isn't Eric Draven the name of the charachter in one of the crow movies? It would kind of fit with the goth tendancies of his work, and website. I'd hate to hit a grand jury, or a civil suit with state or civil attorney talking about me carving someone up with a "bloodletter" , or some similar named blade. If it is named at all, something more benevolent like "endura", or "Calypso" conjures up less dark images, which can and do cloud facts. Joe

[Dr. Snubnose]

Well...Joe you might be right when it comes to naming Knives in such a way that it might denote something more than my knife is used for utility purposes only. Heck I even have heard of Lawyers who dragged into court a Disneyland caricature (hanging in the defendants home) of the guy dressed like cowboy wearing guns when he was involved in a self-defense shooting. The defendant in question just like cowboy movies...it kinda was his most favorite thing in the world...but the prosecutor tried to paint a picture of this guy as a delusional hard core killer just waiting for the opportunity to have an old time shoot-em up outside the saloon thingy...Of course that wasn't proved...and the defendant had a decent lawyer and it was determined that his actions were indeed justified as self-defense by the courts...So the caricature didn't hold weight in court....but the mere fact that it was even dragged into court as evidence would give one concerns about the names of things and how one might be perceived by a jury or judge. But the fact of the matter still exists that it is only a name...If you are in the wrong and stab someone 100 times with a butter knife, they are not going to let you go and say..well it's only a butter knife that was used....I think what is really important is your actions, reactions, circumstances, and perceived threat, as well as your personal history and character. I think these will come more into play then just the name of a tool used for defense. That being said I do understand what you are saying, and that is if you can avoid going there or having someone else go there, then why add a can of worms to the mix......Doc:D

[The Mastiff]

Doc, I agree that the important thing is being in the right, and whithin the laws. I guess it's just part of my carefull nature. I strongly believe in not doing, or saying anything that can be used, or twisted around against me. If It's going to happen, I'm not offering freebies.


There is a stigma attached to knives in the law enforcement circles that's generations old. That means you begin behind the 8 ball. It's sort of easier to explain a shooting than a stabbing, here anyhow. My area still has the carry of bowies, stillettos, and dirks as being illegal. It goes back to the days of dueling. Then there are the Italian style switchblades, which stem from 50's biker and gang movies.

In the cops subconscious, only bad guys use knives.

That can be overcome, IF, you have your stuff together, and don't make any mistakes or mistatements.

Even with firearms I wouldn't carry named weapons that have aggressive sounding names. Just my beliefs from when I was a cop long ago. Joe

[flyer35]

I know Eric personally and I know the names of his knives are there for a reason. With in the last year or so the names of his newer knives have not been following the same lines. Eric believes that if he's going to to name a knife that should have a name you'll remember. Eric Draven is actually his REAL name.
Great write up as usual Doc!

Rob





Isn't Eric Draven the name of the charachter in one of the crow movies? It would kind of fit with the goth tendancies of his work, and website. I'd hate to hit a grand jury, or a civil suit with state or civil attorney talking about me carving someone up with a "bloodletter" , or some similar named blade. If it is named at all, something more benevolent like "endura", or "Calypso" conjures up less dark images, which can and do cloud facts. Joe

[MAT888]

I MAKE MISSSSSSTATEMENTS ALL THE TIME...............
:rolleyes:

I'm no criminal however..