Nathan the Machinist
KnifeMaker / Machinist / Evil Genius
Moderator
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2007
- Messages
- 15,650
I'm posting this early so you guys can read it and understand it without being in a hurry. I'll unlock this at our usual post time, 3:00 EST.
You guys usually expect to see Delta 3V from me, but my first love was D2, and for good reason. Just like 3V, D2 has an industry accepted heat treat for it that was developed for tool and die that doesn't reach its full potential for use in a knife. By making some pretty substantial tweaks to the heat treat and by doing my homework and refining those tweaks we have what I feel is the best heat treat for D2 in the industry. I've been doing optimized D2 for a long time and helped invent what is now largely considered to be best practice for this alloy for cutlery applications. This steel, with this heat treat, has tenacious edge retention from good edge stability, outstanding abrasion resistance and high hardness. Though not as tough as 3V, (it probably doesn't need to be in such a small knife) it has similar corrosion resistance and better wear resistance and a toothy edge that cuts cuts meat, rope and cardboard better than anything else I've ever tried. This is a great alloy and this pattern is a good application for it.
As our knife company has grown we have added machines and tried different people in order to improve our capacity. Last December we hired a fellow, Mark, who is not a machinist but is an experienced knifemaker who has both a custom and production background having worked in both small and large knife production environments. I hired him to help me grind and sharpen knives. He came into the position already very skilled and we have been working with him to get him up to speed with our particular processes. I chose this D2 EDC project to be his first project here where he has taken lead, so these are his baby. Jo, Mark and I did the machining on these blades like we usually do, but Mark did the finish grinding and sharpening. They are made to my quality standards.
The 3" EDC was designed as a collaboration with Lorien Arnold. It is a well made, no frills, high performance, small utility knife. The steel is Crucible D2 at HRC 62.5-63.5 with a fully optimized heat treat with very good edge retention and edge stability. You'll be surprised how sharp this gets and how well it holds an edge. If you have never used really good D2, it is gonna blow your mind.
This steel with this heat treat will support a relatively fine edge, so this was taken down to .015" before sharpening (though I'm leaving some additional meat in the tip) and it was sharpened 18 degrees per side. This is relatively acute and it cuts very well, but is durable. They're also lightly hand ground after machining to give it a slight convex grind.
The primary grinds on these are more narrow than the Field Knife. They are quite "slicey"
Some might consider this a tactical knife but the point is not reinforced and it is not shaped or balanced as a weapon. It's thin behind the edge. It is a hard working cutting tool, a tradesman's knife and small woods knife.
It's very light weight.
The handle is ergonomically designed for a standard forward, reverse, saber and pinch grips for an average to relatively large hand. Despite its compact size it fills the hand and allows extended hard work without hand fatigue. The tang is internally skeletonized. The scales are 3D sculpted CNC machined. The blade is made of 1/8 D2 with a heat treat that has been optimized to maximize edge retention. Despite being relatively thin it is durable.
A side effect of this heat treat is a higher percentage of free chromium, so although it is not stainless, it is nearly so.
Specs:
D2, 62.5-63.5 HRC, .135 thick at ricasso (a hair over 1/8")
Total length 7.5
Blade length 3.2
Weight 4.8 oz
Edge angle 18 DPS
.020" BTE
Grippy 3D machined scales in micarta or G10
Black oxide treated 18-8 stainless steel fasteners
Hidden lanyard
Choice of vertical or horizontal Kydex sheath made by Dan Crotts of Dozier Knives. If you want one of both sheaths, an extra sheath is $50.
Be aware the horizontal sheath has very high retention. You can't remove the knife by pulling straight back, you have to tilt it up at the same time. See video. If you want something that's easy to get in and out of you should choose the vertical pouch sheath.
Tell me what scale option you choose and I'll build it. There are twenty knives available in this sale. The knives in the picture are not the knives you will receive. I'm sharpening now and they can ship next week.
A video illustrating the sheath options:
[video=youtube;HiG_KqF06KY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiG_KqF06KY[/video]
These are all field grade, as machined and stonewashed with tool and grind marks.
$195 in canvas micarta, natural or black
$205 in black or OD green G10
$215 in maroon linen micarta, camo micarta or black/blue G10
Shipping in the USA is $10.
We're a little short on some of the special colors, and we can never predict how many of one color or another will sell, so if there is a shortage it will be first-come first-serve.
Includes a good kydex sheath, choose vertical or horizontal. An extra sheath is $50
These knives are unusual because they are machined. I do this in my shop on industrial CNC machine tools. A WIP thread documenting my technique can be found here: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1048443
I take paypal, cash, check or MO.
Jo will contact you via PM or email. Emails though BF often get lost in spam filters. If you don't hear from her by Monday please contact Jo on her PM, or send us an email at carothersknives at g mail dought com
Thanks for looking,
Nathan
You guys usually expect to see Delta 3V from me, but my first love was D2, and for good reason. Just like 3V, D2 has an industry accepted heat treat for it that was developed for tool and die that doesn't reach its full potential for use in a knife. By making some pretty substantial tweaks to the heat treat and by doing my homework and refining those tweaks we have what I feel is the best heat treat for D2 in the industry. I've been doing optimized D2 for a long time and helped invent what is now largely considered to be best practice for this alloy for cutlery applications. This steel, with this heat treat, has tenacious edge retention from good edge stability, outstanding abrasion resistance and high hardness. Though not as tough as 3V, (it probably doesn't need to be in such a small knife) it has similar corrosion resistance and better wear resistance and a toothy edge that cuts cuts meat, rope and cardboard better than anything else I've ever tried. This is a great alloy and this pattern is a good application for it.
As our knife company has grown we have added machines and tried different people in order to improve our capacity. Last December we hired a fellow, Mark, who is not a machinist but is an experienced knifemaker who has both a custom and production background having worked in both small and large knife production environments. I hired him to help me grind and sharpen knives. He came into the position already very skilled and we have been working with him to get him up to speed with our particular processes. I chose this D2 EDC project to be his first project here where he has taken lead, so these are his baby. Jo, Mark and I did the machining on these blades like we usually do, but Mark did the finish grinding and sharpening. They are made to my quality standards.
The 3" EDC was designed as a collaboration with Lorien Arnold. It is a well made, no frills, high performance, small utility knife. The steel is Crucible D2 at HRC 62.5-63.5 with a fully optimized heat treat with very good edge retention and edge stability. You'll be surprised how sharp this gets and how well it holds an edge. If you have never used really good D2, it is gonna blow your mind.
This steel with this heat treat will support a relatively fine edge, so this was taken down to .015" before sharpening (though I'm leaving some additional meat in the tip) and it was sharpened 18 degrees per side. This is relatively acute and it cuts very well, but is durable. They're also lightly hand ground after machining to give it a slight convex grind.
The primary grinds on these are more narrow than the Field Knife. They are quite "slicey"
Some might consider this a tactical knife but the point is not reinforced and it is not shaped or balanced as a weapon. It's thin behind the edge. It is a hard working cutting tool, a tradesman's knife and small woods knife.
It's very light weight.
The handle is ergonomically designed for a standard forward, reverse, saber and pinch grips for an average to relatively large hand. Despite its compact size it fills the hand and allows extended hard work without hand fatigue. The tang is internally skeletonized. The scales are 3D sculpted CNC machined. The blade is made of 1/8 D2 with a heat treat that has been optimized to maximize edge retention. Despite being relatively thin it is durable.
A side effect of this heat treat is a higher percentage of free chromium, so although it is not stainless, it is nearly so.
Specs:
D2, 62.5-63.5 HRC, .135 thick at ricasso (a hair over 1/8")
Total length 7.5
Blade length 3.2
Weight 4.8 oz
Edge angle 18 DPS
.020" BTE
Grippy 3D machined scales in micarta or G10
Black oxide treated 18-8 stainless steel fasteners
Hidden lanyard
Choice of vertical or horizontal Kydex sheath made by Dan Crotts of Dozier Knives. If you want one of both sheaths, an extra sheath is $50.
Be aware the horizontal sheath has very high retention. You can't remove the knife by pulling straight back, you have to tilt it up at the same time. See video. If you want something that's easy to get in and out of you should choose the vertical pouch sheath.
Tell me what scale option you choose and I'll build it. There are twenty knives available in this sale. The knives in the picture are not the knives you will receive. I'm sharpening now and they can ship next week.
A video illustrating the sheath options:
[video=youtube;HiG_KqF06KY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiG_KqF06KY[/video]
These are all field grade, as machined and stonewashed with tool and grind marks.
$195 in canvas micarta, natural or black
$205 in black or OD green G10
$215 in maroon linen micarta, camo micarta or black/blue G10
Shipping in the USA is $10.
We're a little short on some of the special colors, and we can never predict how many of one color or another will sell, so if there is a shortage it will be first-come first-serve.
Includes a good kydex sheath, choose vertical or horizontal. An extra sheath is $50
These knives are unusual because they are machined. I do this in my shop on industrial CNC machine tools. A WIP thread documenting my technique can be found here: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1048443
I take paypal, cash, check or MO.
Jo will contact you via PM or email. Emails though BF often get lost in spam filters. If you don't hear from her by Monday please contact Jo on her PM, or send us an email at carothersknives at g mail dought com
Thanks for looking,
Nathan
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