Any chance of a salt (H1) military?

R.Taylor · Jul 30, 2009

4mm H1 is available now ,how about a military H1 with yellow G-10 handles?Possibly fully serrated?
anyone else like this idea?
regards,R.Taylor.

Josh K · Jul 30, 2009

What do you mean 4mm H1 is now available? Was it not before?

R.Taylor · Jul 30, 2009

It has become available recently for the new warrior project!
Wasn't available before to my knowledge!

yablanowitz · Jul 30, 2009

Not until Spyderco works out a production-line feasible flat-grind process for H-1. The very thought of a saber-grind Military makes me want to hurl. Besides, unless they went with titanium liners and dropped a bundle of developing rust-proof threaded fasteners (read: jack the cost WAY up), what's the point of putting H-1 in it?

monsterdog · Jul 30, 2009

3 words : Full Convex Grind

Seanski · Jul 30, 2009

yeah I'm really growing fond of full flat grind knives.

sean

Josh K · Jul 30, 2009

yablanowitz said:
Not until Spyderco works out a production-line feasible flat-grind process for H-1. The very thought of a saber-grind Military makes me want to hurl. Besides, unless they went with titanium liners and dropped a bundle of developing rust-proof threaded fasteners (read: jack the cost WAY up), what's the point of putting H-1 in it?

I suggested laser cutting it, I don't know if that's feasible though.

I'd be in for titanium liners and 306SS pins / hardwear. Make it a yellow G-10 handle and I'm in for two. $180 for a rustproof millie wouldn't faze me.

Lycosa · Jul 30, 2009

and a compression lock??

yablanowitz · Jul 30, 2009

monsterdog said:
3 words : Full Convex Grind

Can you grind both sides of the blade at the same time that way? That's why all the Salts are hollow saber grind. Both sides of the blade are ground at once to get around the work-hardening issue.

Josh, I don't even want to think about how powerful a laser it would take to cut flat bevels over an inch wide.

And even though I never take my knives apart, I'd have to stop reading the forums if Sal put out a pinned construction Military. I couldn't stand to see the amount of whining that would cause.

Josh K · Jul 30, 2009

yablanowitz said:
Can you grind both sides of the blade at the same time that way? That's why all the Salts are hollow saber grind. Both sides of the blade are ground at once to get around the work-hardening issue.

Josh, I don't even want to think about how powerful a laser it would take to cut flat bevels over an inch wide. And even though I never take my knives apart, I'd have to stop reading the forums if Sal put out a pinned construction Military. I couldn't stand to see the amount of whining that would cause.

I wouldn't like to see a pinned Millie either, but I know that you can cut just about anything with a laser. It would have to be pretty serious stuff though.

kreole · Jul 30, 2009

Josh K said:
$180 for a rustproof millie wouldn't faze me.

wouldn't be that cheap if we're talking lasers, but disregarding that, $180 translates to $360-$400 msrp, and I don't see that as having a big enough market for it to happen.

Josh K · Jul 30, 2009

kreole said:
wouldn't be that cheap if we're talking lasers, but disregarding that, $180 translates to $360-$400 msrp, and I don't see that as having a big enough market for it to happen.

Remember that all the blanks are laser cut, I can't imagine it costing much more to include blade grinding in there.

I want Spyderco to push the design envelope. They already did it once with the Salts, fully rustproof folders. I'd like to see them do it again with a liner lock, open pillar construction, and G-10.

yablanowitz · Jul 30, 2009

There is a pretty big difference between cutting though 4mm thick stock to make a blank and cutting through 30mm wide stock to make a bevel. I seriously doubt you could recover the tooling cost in less than 10,000 pieces unless the knives were selling for Sebenza prices. I think the market for $400 street price H-1 Militaries is pretty small. I know I wouldn't buy one.

elkins45 · Jul 30, 2009

Wonder if you could water jet or EDM it?

yablanowitz · Jul 30, 2009

As always, the big question is can you do any of those things on a mass-production scale. Tom Krein can and has flat ground H-1 blades, but I don't think he could do 1200 a month.

Josh K · Jul 30, 2009

yablanowitz said:
As always, the big question is can you do any of those things on a mass-production scale. Tom Krein can and has flat ground H-1 blades, but I don't think he could do 1200 a month.

Assuming a 30 day month that's only 40 a day. That's only 5 an hour working an 8 hour day. Well, 5 an hour does sound like a lot doesn't it? :foot:

5.56 · Jul 30, 2009

Don't forget, the Military is made in Golden, CO.

H1 is not.

That adds another bump in the road.

Josh K · Jul 30, 2009

5.56 said:
Don't forget, the Military is made in Golden, CO.

H1 is not.

That adds another bump in the road.

I believe the problem with H1 and ZDP-189 is that the heat treat is being done in Japan. I don't think there would be a problem with grinding and HT'ing a batch of blades and shipping them back over.

5.56 · Jul 30, 2009

It would be very expensive though, the yen is stronger than the dollar, couple that with the cost of American manufacturing equals $$$$$.

elkins45 · Jul 31, 2009

Josh K said:
I believe the problem with H1 and ZDP-189 is that the heat treat is being done in Japan. I don't think there would be a problem with grinding and HT'ing a batch of blades and shipping them back over.

If H-1 is a precipitation hardening steel (I think it is) then there is no heat treat.