A new run of 15N20 - ROFR Books CLOSED

[David Mary]

I have placed an order for a sheet of 15N20 in .140" thickness. It's coming to me at the shop, so I will can cut blades by angle grinder, and heat treatment by Andy Pomorski. This will allow faster turnaround than my stainless blades. I'll be consulting with my customers who have 15N20 from me already to see if and how we might be able to tweak the tempering cycles.

15N20 is a simple, fine grained, tough alloy, capable of high edge stability at thin geometries. I believe it has higher corrosion resistance and wear resistance than 8670, but less toughness (it is still a tough alloy mind you; I tested a 3/32" 15N20 Barax machete and it was a really heavy hitter for its thinness, weight, and relatively neutral balance).

This steel has proven itself to me in utility roles, food prep and hard use such as machetes. In this thickness it will make great blade of just about any size, especially geared toward harder use with thin edges.

If interested, please email or PM me to discuss what knife you'd like made. I will not take deposits on these, they will be right of first refusal. This allows me the leeway to put them on hold when blades come back from heat treatment that are for customers who have already put a deposit down. There are a number of those outstanding yet, in AEB-L and MagnaCut.


Blades

My handmade blank features can include, but are not limited to, the following options:

20 LPI fine jimping
Extra material removal in the tang to reduce weight
Radiused spines/ricasso edges

Grinds will be flat, flat-vex or convex

Can be single or double edge, tanto, swedged, etc.

Fine scotchbrite satin finish


Handles

Canvas Micarta in black or natural, including .060" canvas liners of either color (new to the shop), as well as canvas pins of either color (also new to the shop.

I will likely be making one for myself (as usual!) with double liners of each color over scales of one of the two color and pins of the other color, having been inspired by the look of knives from Fiddleback forge.

Other materials include Suretouch, including all black Suretouch (new to the shop), G10, and whatever surprises or goodies will be included in the 11 lb. end cut box I just purchased.

Oh and Green Burlap Micarta.

Handle finishes include flat, contoured, radiused, dremel textured, or any feasible combination thereof.

Pin materials include canvas micarta pins in black and natural, brass tubes, and carbon fiber tubes.


Sheaths

Will be black Boltaron, taco by default, pancake also available.

 

[Wild Willie]

I'll be consulting with my customers who have 15N20 from me already to see if and how we might be able to tweak the tempering cycles.

Whatever you did with your last batch was pretty darn good David. Edge retention, at least in my opinion is excellent, the blades respond well to a butcher steel between sharpenings, and it's very easy for me on my rudimentary equipment to put an absolutely "jump up and bite you" edge on it. In the 15 or so months I've had an edchef in this steel it's only been to the bench stones twice I believe, the steel and a set of crock sticks keeps it fit for the most part, with an occasional pass on a dmt diafold.

 

[Crag the Brewer]

I know it's hard to answer....but I need to stagger things.
In your opinion, is our thick AEBL a long ways out? Are we thinking Summer for that?


This 15n20 sounds like something is be interested in, but id want the blade shape, and handle thickness I need (Only Micarta)

I'll start collecting pictures of what I like, and don't like......Thanks.

When do we need to get back to you?

 

[David Mary]

In your opinion, is our thick AEBL a long ways out? Are we thinking Summer for that?

I can't say for sure, as it depends on Jarod's family situation. The last I heard, before Mrs. Jarod gave birth, was that those blades were heat treated and awaiting shipping.

When do we need to get back to you?

For these, I don't know yet. Once the sheet arrives, I'll start cutting it and post progress in the shop thread. I have yet to talk to Andy about his availability to heat treat it, which could be sooner or later and once I know I will share that info as well. That being said, early bird gets the worm.

 

[Hurrul]

Seems cool to me. I too, have a EDChef in 15n20 and think well of the steel in thin stock. Very easy to maintain the edge for my tastes. Thin, rigid blades are a lot of fun, but I bet a stouter piece in this kind of steel would be fun, too.

David - I'll email you.

 

[Madranchtx]

David
I would like to get in on this but don't understand your email address. I guess I'm a little slow.
Mark.

 

[David Mary]

Good evening Mark, thanks for reaching out. My email address is:



Also, you're not the first who has had trouble deciphering it, so I am putting this image in my sig now instead. The idea behind not simply typing it out normally in a public post or sig is to prevent spammers from keyword searching email addresses to send garbage to. Sorry for the inconvenience.

ETA: text in italics

 

[Leo Greer]

Are these books still open? It says it is, but I wanted to make sure given the age of the thread.

 

[David Mary]

I can fit another few designs on there, but I want to have them cut and handed over to Andy for heat treatment by Friday.

 

[Leo Greer]

I can fit another few designs on there, but I want to have them cut and handed over to Andy for heat treatment by Friday.

To talk about getting a knife made, do I need to communicate here, or send you an email? I’m sorry for my ignorance about all of this—I’m pretty new to the knife community in general, and especially to any sort of custom knives.

 

[David Mary]

Email or PM. Thanks!