Thanks, pal. Glad you like it! That's actually my favorite big blade I own. My kukris languish ever since I built it.

It's overall and blade lengths are too long, and the blade itself is too wide at nearly 3", although it does meet all of Bladesport's other requirements.

About the only thing I'd change about the design are handle revisions, which all future versions of this knife will incorporate. Existing handles have more curve to them than they should, which leads to premature hand fatigue when chopping for extended periods of time.

DJ,

Post #58, pic #1, is the square item a stove?

D.J.,
Amazing grinds and too cool we get to see them!

When your working with the CPM S35VN that is beyond mid-tech
(I hate that term, sounds like one is only going part way)

That stuff is kind of hi-tech, http://www.crucible.com/PDFs%5CDataS...VNrev12010.pdf

We like it.


edited to add: does that link work?

Disregard. It now works.

Razor: It is indeed. That's my version of the Emberlit firebox style stove. Mikhail, the guy that owns Emberlit (good guy, btw), gave me permission to make them for myself and a small number of friends. Mine has what I consider to be "enhancements," and at 0.073", is a little more than three times thicker than the Emberlit. I can confidently stand on mine. The second one will have a few additional design tweaks.

Bill: Thanks! Always feels good when people I admire and respect think I'm doing good stuff. It's a privilege to be able to share my work here.

I know what you're saying about the mid-tech thing. Only fellow knife dorks know what it means, and it would be easier to just to call them something else less ambiguous and be done with it. Like "Limited Run Semi-Custom Productions."

I am very impressed with the S35. It was a toss up between that and the Elmax for these first knives. It looks good on paper, but what really sold me on it was the CRK Nyala I got at Blade two years ago. I must say, It's been an interesting first foray into the world of stainless "super steels." Maybe I'll build some customs out of it too. Or maybe not. If I did that I'd probably want to learn how to heat treat it in-house. As it is, being the control freak that I am, it's been difficult for me to let go of the processes on these LRSCPs. :o

Link worked fine, thanks! I actually had that data sheet saved already, along with probably half of Crucible's other offerings. :eek:

SF-TX: Dude, that's the story of my life. "Heeeey!!! Wait... Nevermind."

DJ,
I'm pretty burnt out on "steel wars", all the continuing arguments on the internet about what steel is best or what sucks written by many people whose knowledge comes from reading it on the internet and then sticking a finger up to see which way the wind is blowing then jumping on that bandwagon so they can be cool too.

There are many steels that will make good knives. Some of the most valued blades on this planet are of an un-named alloy. Think antique swords from Japan.

Good news you found this steel by using it. :lifter

CPM S35VN is barely stainless by chromium content but holds up against corrosion well.

The term "Stainless Steel" is like saying "cartridge", there are many types of both.

"Stainless Tool Steel" is a category of hardenable steels while many stainless alloys are not.
Some hardenable stainless steels are not "tool steels" like 416 stainless used for some stainless steel firearms barrels,

" Particle Metal Stainless Tool Steel" is another category while
"Particle Metal" tool steels are an entire other group in that some of these do not contain enough chromium to be called stainless.

CPM S35VN is a true tool steel made by the particle metal process with good stainless properties.
It has the unusual alloy of Niobium which also forms a carbide and increases the toughness by a nice measurable amount.

I've found the best steel is the steel in the sharp knife in my pocket or on my belt when I need it - it could be 1095, 440C, S30 or a number of others - but the key is sharp and available.

That's been my experience, also. Argument over which steel is best/most magical/newest is a concern of steel producers and their marketing dept.

As has been discussed in other threads, native Americans made knives out of frickin rocks, which seems to have worked pretty well.

Bill: I'm right there with you. People sure do get themselves bent out of shape. To me, it's simultaneously funny, sad, and ridiculous.

I would never offer a knife in a steel I hadn't used myself. If I hadn't had the positive experience I have with the Nyala, I'd have done the Colubris out of CPM154 instead.

I think S35 is a step in the right direction. Better toughness and wear resistance than S30? If the papers can be believed, I'm there. And based on my experiences with it, it has better corrosion resistance than S30V as well - perhaps on par with CPM154. None of which should make sense - they all have the same amount of chromium, so their corrosion resistance should be about the same at appropriate hardness levels, but it isn't... I seem to rust S30 just by looking at it sideways.

I like the added niobium too - it is my understanding that in addition to creating harder carbides, it also helps reduce and refine grain size, and that's a big plus.

x SF med and Barbarian: Exactly. Before this most recent round of "super steels," I'd owned, used, and carried knives in just about all of the popular steels. While I do have my preferences, steel type has never put me off owning a particular knife. These are the things that are important to me in a knife, in order of importance:

1) It cuts what I need it to cut.
2) Durable and easy to maintain.
3) Ergonomics.
4) Looks cool just sitting there.

If the knife has all of that, then for me, it's a good value for my hard earned dollar. If it's a knife I'm designing or building, what I strive for is the perfect balance of those attributes.

I am grateful major tool steel companies have used significant resources to design, refine and manufacture alloys specifically for the knifemaking market. They have a right to market this because it helps pay for the investment they have made.
Crucible Steel has gone above and beyond over the many years when other steel companies would not give knifemakers the time of day. This is historic fact, not an opinion.

All stone tool using cultures migrated quickly to metals when that technology became available to them.
Thin properly knapped rocks might cut well but don't have the toughness of metals (bronze, iron and steel) and also represented major costs in time and travel to sources of good stone.

I'm not a knife kind of guy but I'm liking the lock picks and Schims.

Attachment 21240

I mispoke. What I should have said, was: Now that knife steel is a major market interest, and steel manufactures are in heated competition to design better steels, internet armchair-commandos are quick to declare any but the newest steels obsolete, reguardless of personal experience (or lack thereof.)

Edited to add:
I'm very thankful tool steel manufacturers like Crucible work with knifemakers nowadays. I would have a much more difficult time learning knifemaking were it not for the increased availability of suitable blade steels.

Ask the Harsey about how sharp a flint knife can be... or plastic, or cardboard, or obsidian... not that he has any experience on the cutting side of any of those materials or anything. (cough, cough... paper towels and duct tape, band aids, krazy glue) :rolleyes:

OKC is in April... I'm soooooo gonna get crushed......

Bill: I concur. And honestly, I don't see much "marketing hype" as it were out of any of them. Usually it's just a one or two page technical paper.

alelks: Stuff like this is what happens when knifemakers have a little time to screw around. All of those picks and shims are out of 0.030" Ti, and they've been tumbled to knock all the edges off. I'm not very good with them yet, it has taken me up to 10 minutes to open a lock. But sometimes I get one open in 30 seconds, and then it feels like magic. :D The ones with the handles are designed off of Romstar pick templates, and the little ones are modeled after Bogota picks. Seems like just those two little Bogotas will do everything that full set will, although I may need to tweak the design of their business ends a bit.

Barbarian: I don't know that I'd consider cutlery steel to be a major market interest. It might seem like it is, but we're really more like a small niche compared to the rest of the stuff that steel companies produce. Which is what makes it impressive when a company like Crucible listens to us. And insofar as suitable blade steel availability goes, if all else fails, all you have to do is go down to your local junkyard and yank some leaf springs. Cheap, plentiful, tough as hell. :D

x SF med: Don't forget about tin can lids. :cool:


And now for your viewing pleasure, a few more big 'uns that I finished up this week.

Gorgeous looking blades! Very impressive!