I even know how to use MS Project. LOL

I hope the Comrade CSM is well.

Sorry folks, been outta the loop trying to keep up with all the monkey stompers and fuglies people have been ordering :lifter

Anyhow, received the blade this morning..... simplicity nothing more nothing less, and quite honestly a tool I wont mind having strapped to my belt..... I am sure there were a lot of requirements that went into the design of this blade, my only comment is the micarta handle and the seeming lack of a tactile grippy finish, would love to hear more about its development.

Now back to the sheath, this was an NDI product that BHI offered, and the design is throughly ripped off of Eagle (like we didn't expect that :rolleyes: ) There certainly isnt anything spectacular about this design, in fact I see it as a knock on the blade.

First thing I noticed was the fake 550 on the lower tie grommets, thrown out immediately. Then there is this fold-down contrivance to ostensibly 'raise' the height of the belt carry. The proponderance of VELCRO is definitely noticeable. Would have preferred a more substantial push snap, and inverted at that ala SOE.



In short Mr. Harsey, this is a sweet piece of steel, tempered by a poorly designed/ executed sheath.... I'll do my best to come up with something worthwhile.

EGG

CPM? Alas, we have some project speakers here?

I am up to my ears in Backward/Forward passes, network diagrams VB macros blah blah blah!

Blame some of that design issue on me, I picked an off the shelf item from BHI. They never had the chance to design something for the knife. I will repeat, no one else in the industry could deliver the no.s we needed in the time frame imposed on us. With that statement I'm done talking about who we get the sheath from.

About those grips, The micarta grips better when wet than dry. It also has the highest toughness of any handle material we could put on.
The sandpaper grip panels that are in vogue will tear all the hide off your hand or chew thru a glove if you need to perform a repetitive function, like chopping. The soft rubber panels are prone to being torn out because they are, well, soft.

Shaping of the handle is for control pushing, pulling or twisting, hard.
This handle is designed for "Blind tactical reference". This means when you draw the knife without looking or in complete darkness, the grip tells you exactly where the edge is. This is not a new concept, the championship axemen you see on tv have filed the handles of the axes so a fine ridge line running the length of the front of the handle matches the exact line of the edge of the blade. This is for control and exact placement of the axe while using full speed and power.

All handle shaping including the exposed, rounded edge tang takes into consideration the wearing of gloves. It's one thing to judge a knife in a warm dry room, quite another to use it with frozen gloved hands and still be able to control it. The exposed tang gives great radial grip strength.

I've spoken about the blade steel here before, it's the CPM S-30V. Pay attention to that. The first commercial use of this steel, on the whole planet, was the Yarborough/Green Beret knife project. Chris Reeve is responsible for proposing that steel be made by Crucible Specialty Tool Steels in Syracuse New York.

Since then CPM S-30V has gained an extraordinary following in high quality knife production based purely on performance, not bullshit. Ask Reaper or Ambush Master what they think of that steel.

I hope this information is of some help.

No blame to be laid on anyone Bill. Sometimes things work and then something better comes along. I put my A/F in a Spec Ops Brand as soon as it got here. I'll probably change again when something new comes along if I like the looks of it. Hell, I may even torture ol' egg until he makes me one. I'm thinking a monkey stomping fugly combo sheath. LOL

Its kind of like arguing about what color drawers Sofia is wearin' - who the hell cares? Get the girl and buy your own drawers if you don't like the ones she was wearing when she rang the doorbell. :p :lifter :eek:

There you go putting things in proper perspective again NDD.
In fact you may have made me forget about knives for a moment.
Please take good care of Sofia.
Thanks.

Bill:

Bashing BHI is a full time job, and you don't have to even try, they do it to themselves. It is a blatant copy of the Eagle FS-IID, IIRC.

The grips are fine, and you and I have discussed the alternatives. Remember, this is a hard working knife, not a showcase queen.

For those who do not know the history, that knife went from a drawing board to the USASOC CG's hands in a VERY abbreviated time line. Then they were asked to make about 1,000 of them in less than 90 days, IIRC. As a perfectionist who lives to reject miniscule defects, Chris Reeve took to sleeping in the plant to get this project done on time. Note that Bill kept working on his projects, and Chris still had deadlines and deliveries of his regular production blades to make to pay their bills. The designer and maker make almost nothing on the sale of this knife, that is their patriotism and contribution to the SF soldiers of this nation.

Anyone want to wager if another manufacturer could have done this with the blade, or have found any maker to crank out 1,000 sheaths in a couple of months, I would like to offer you a sporting proposition.

Now, having said that, I agree with what egg said, and want to see what he comes up with. If it works, anyone who wants a different design can buy one, and make everybody happy.

BTW, Bill, before you get fired up, the CPM reference is to the Critical Path Method, a design and scheduling tool, but I am sure that you realized that. The CPM S-30V, as we all know, is the heat.

TR

Critical Path Method...Haven't heard of that before but did have it figured out as something other than a steel.

We didn't know if we could meet deadline either but had the knives delivered thru proper channels with two days to spare.

Actually, the CPM

the critical path is the shortest path of activities in a project in which any change in the durations of activity will impact the overall duration of the project. Basically, a line of activities in which there is no 'slack' in time. Theres a corollary in Activity on Node/ Precedence diagramming. Alas I gotta get my nose back into my PMP study guides :D

Point taken, and after putting the blade through its paces tonight, I retract my earlier comments re: the handle :-)

So what you mean is, if something slows up production, it takes longer.

Not exactly.

It will show you what the critical steps are which prevent the project proceeding until it is completed. By following the time line, you will be able to see what the fastest way to complete the project is, and the total time required is.

Mainly used in complex projects, but on a knife, for example, the sheath is not critical till the knife is done. The grips are not critical until another step requires them. Heat treat would be a critical step, as other things cannot happen till it is done.

If Egg has the time, since he seems to have the expertise, you should chat with him about CPM for a knife. If you can list the steps sequentially, identify critical steps, and estimate time for each, he can build the chart. I think you would find it fascinating and probably helpful as well.

TR

Let me whip something up this weekend to explain the premise of criticality.... stay tuned.

This is the hard part of hanging out here, I keep learning stuff.

Eggroll, Thanks for checking out the grip.

Hey Egg, I'm interested in what you come up with too. I should have my Yarborough in the next couple of months. Then my next knife purchase will need to be a Reaper. :D :D :D

Basically a bottleneck, right?