I got into a conversation today about knives and knife damage with a knife dealer(ESEE included). The other guy swore up and down that you could bend almost any knife (ESEE included) then bend it back straight and it would be as strong as before... I personally disagree! So I wanted to get some better advice on the matter.. SO.. If I manage to bend my ESEE what is my best option? Can I theoretically just bend it back? Should I use it bent? Is there a way to gauge the new strength? Is it safe to use? What should I do?? Again just theoretical question. I assume I know the answer to but just making sure....
Unless you're driving it in between a couple rocks and rappelling off of it, there's nothing structurally unsafe about it. I gotta try to find the picture of my Junglas bending as I was batoning frozen wood on a trip. As soon as the log split the Junglas was back to true and no issues. That's the point of the HT, to give it strength and flexibility. You'd be hard pressed to put a permanent bend in any blade with a good HT.
When working a blade and it bends during use however springs back to its original shape is because of the heat treat and properties of the metal. The metal went back to its original position because it was not stressed past its elastic range/point. If you actually bend the knife and it stays in that position you have pushed the capabilities of the knife and it entered its plastic range. When it enters this range the metal in that area can actually become harder and less ductile however more brittle. Depending on how much plastic deformation it has undergone you have a possibility of bending it back or snapping it when you make the attempt. No matter what the area of the bend and around it will be harder. If you look up strain hardening or work hardening it will explain the process better and what goes on in the molecular view. Overall the knife could still usable however in the particular area of the bend it will be harder and more brittle than the rest of the knife so one would have to watch out for future stresses in that area.
Jester and Kyle answered this question perfectly. If you permanently bend a blade, it will never be the same again because the structural grain of the steel has been stretched so far it's no longer homogeneous with the rest of the knife's steel in that one area of the blade. . If you bend it and it springs back into shape, that's perfectly fine and what's expected to a certain extent.