Its a Frank Burns

I used to be an avowed MASH fan, watching every TV episode. One of my favorite scenes was when Hawkeye was telling BJ about his childhood visit to the beach. He ran up to see what was lying on the sand and his mother said, “Don’t touch it, It’s a Frank Burns and the dullness comes off,” or something very close to that.

I find dullness in a lot of people today. There does not seem to be that spark of aliveness that joi de vivre that people exhibited only a few years ago. They seem to lack breadth or depth. Maybe it is the fault of the public education system. Maybe it’s the economy stupid, or the never ending wars in the mid-east, or maybe its just that we have become immune to the simple joys of life.

Dullness versus aliveness is something that one also looks for, or senses in a fine fighting knife. The lack thereof is a good reason to pass it by. This is not an easy task when buying a knife over the internet. Some people’s “Razor Sharp” is medium dull to me. If it won’t shave hair or slice paper cleanly it isn’t sharp! You can develop a certain appreciation for aesthetics and balance with time and experience but there are still intangibles that can only be defined by holding the knife in your hand and swinging it in a flow pattern to feel how it moves.

The other thing that I talk about a lot is the two primary functions of any knife which are, to cut and to stab. Stabbing is a simple motion and requires very little of the knife, or the knifemaker, except that it be pointed and not overly thick nor excessively thin. Cutting is the true litmus test of a fighting knife’s suitability for hand to hand combat. A dull knife is only slightly better than an empty pistol. Both are close range weapons that won’t function. The bane of sharpness today is usually the steel itself, many of the stainless steels being nearly useless. I have two identical Benchmade knives, one made with ATS34 and the other with a D-2 Blade. Despite my best efforts the ATS34 refuses to take and hold a keen edge while the D-2 blade is always sharp.


The concept that form follows function was the mantra of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. One without the other is an abortion of sorts. I learned this in 9th grade Art Class. A fighting knife without a keen edge is also an abortion[1]. A recently purchased custom fighting knife arrived in an unacceptable state of dullness. How is it that a knifemaker could fail to grasp Wright’s simple concept, or the fact that to be complete, an object needs both form and function? The other major obstacle to sharpness is edge geometry. This knife is neatly hollow ground to a near-edge and then given an abrupt saber grind for the last 1/16 of an inch. This is a common practice and it is probably responsible for the dullness. I used to teach building muzzle-loading rifles and I told my students that the last 1% of the work made 99% of the difference in how well the rifle turned out. The same is true of grinding a knife edge. There is much to commend this knife (for example the terrific handle and overall blade shape) and it is worth some time on a whetstone to touch up the edge. Assuming there is the sharpness in the steel to bring out. The seller has offered me the option of sending it back to the maker. That might be the prudent choice.

[1] an offensive term for something so badly done or made that it is a complete failure