Batoning SR101

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Nathan the Machinist said:
I read this post with great concern because what you wrote there sounds pretty bad to me, so I wanted an opportunity to address it.

We make a lot of knives in a heat treat optimized 3V. Some of the smaller knives that won't normally see much impact are austenitized at a higher temperature in order to form a plate martensite (rather than the mostly lath that 3V normally forms) that offers a little better "crisp" edge, though less toughness. It is a little harder, but it is the structures formed, not the hardness, that differentiate it from our usual heat treat tweaks. The old Field Knife used that HT. It also supported a narrower edge so at first we were sharpening them at 15 DPS. This is much thinner and more acute than some folks over here might be familiar with. That particular knife was advertised as being a good cutter with good edge retention in a package that was relatively indestructible, but not intended as a rough use knife. My video showed shaving very thin slices off a sitting unsupported tomato.

That said, that knife is intended to tolerate rough bone contact. The sort of damage you describe from the sort of use you describe is not what I would expect to see, based on my own use of that knife in similar usage. "chipped out in several places and rolled in several more" sounds bad to me, but there may be a difference in your use of those terms and my own. When I think "chipped out" I'm envisioning significant edge damage and bits of steel missing. Possibly damage going up into the primary grind, considering the relatively thin dimension behind the edge.

Given my confusion I wanted to address the potential of other folks being similarly confused. So I took an old Field Knife (sharpened at 18 DPS) and cut a 1/4-20 bolt with it as a demonstration to show what I mean by "tolerates rough use". It's not indestructible. I make some rough use knives but this isn't one of them. And it does take some edge damage going through a 1/4" bolt. It is chipped. But I wouldn't call it chipped out. It will be resharpened and be fine. When I think "chipped out" I'm envisioning a more significant blow out than that.


I'm only posting here because this is a fairly unflattering review and I felt compelled to address it. Jerry makes some very durable knives. He knows I love them. But they can also be a little thicker and more obtuse. My work is not intended to be the same sort of thing and it will behave differently (for better and for worse) so it's possible you might be comparing two knives with significantly different edge geometry. If you were to sharpen your Field Knife to 24 DPS it would behave much differently.

If you're not satisfied with your knife you can return it for a refund. If your knife needs to be resharpened you can send it back for some love. If you're concerned there's something wrong with it and would like us to take a look at it we would be more than happy to. Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you.
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Nathan,
First let me say that I am in no way bashing your knife, just giving my honest account of what happened when I chopped through a pelvis. Maybe the wording chipped out pretty good could have been worded differently and for that I could apologize. I will message you my crappy phone pics before and after my resharpening.

Secondly, the only thing you can do for me is keep doing what your doing by making badass knives and maybe tell me how to be faster at the Friday sales! I love my field knife. It will take an act of God to get me to give it up! I love the looks of all of your knives and will one day own your entire collection. The ergo's on my fieldknife are outstanding and the edge retention is outstanding while cutting. I have quartered and cleaned many wild pigs with it this year as well as multiple other camp chores with minimal maintenance. All I have to do is wash the blood and fat off and it's sharp again! Like I said in my original post I will not be chopping through bone with ANY knife again. That's what saws are for!

When I tested it on that doe, I was chopping through that pelvic bones like I would chop brush with a machete just to see what it was capable of. I didn't know if any damage would occur but I was more than willing to accept any and all of it. I would bet that none would have occurred if I batoned it through instead of chopping through hitting it at different angles.

There were 4 small chips ( metal was missing) that was easily fixed by resharpening it after stropping the blade to get rid of the rolled spots. The one chip was a little deeper, but will come out in the next couple of sharpening sessions.

I have the utmost respect for you and your ability to make an outstanding product! I will not be sending my fieldknife back for refund or anything else for the way I used the knife. That was on me not you. I would not have tried that with 99% of knives out on the market because it would have destroyed them.
 
Cobalt said:
Interesting info. Good feedback for sure. Some questions.
So what is the field knife made of? 3V? or something else. Is it the new HT or something else? Did you talk to Carothers and what did he say? Do you know what the Rc is of that knife? I know he has experimented with some very high Rc's.

Edited to add: I just looked it up and yeah, it is an Rc of 61-62. Cpm-3V does not typically like to go above 59 but maybe on a small knife it makes sense,
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It is the Delta heat treated 3v and no I didn't talk to Nathan about it. I'm not the kind of person to bitch about something that I did. Plus it was easily fixed. That was the first time that I didn't use a saw on the pelvis and since I did it with my fieldknife I just had to do it with my MSe just to see. Nathan makes some excellent knives and I was not trying to bash his knife at all, just giving my experience with the 3v chopping through bone. I will definitely still try and buy Nathan's other knives.
 
jimmay said:
It is the Delta heat treated 3v and no I didn't talk to Nathan about it. I'm not the kind of person to bitch about something that I did. Plus it was easily fixed. That was the first time that I didn't use a saw on the pelvis and since I did it with my fieldknife I just had to do it with my MSe just to see. Nathan makes some excellent knives and I was not trying to bash his knife at all, just giving my experience with the 3v chopping through bone. I will definitely still try and buy Nathan's other knives.
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Jimmay, I certainly wasn't being accusational in any way. Knife makers like feedback when damage happens. It allows them to see what happened. Just ask Busse about stuff I have sent him back. :D I certainly haven't been kind to knives but it is good scientific info for the maker. They like feedback. Well most do anyway. Nathan is one of those as well.
 
Cobalt said:
Jimmay, I certainly wasn't being accusational in any way. Knife makers like feedback when damage happens. It allows them to see what happened. Just ask Busse about stuff I have sent him back. :D I certainly haven't been kind to knives but it is good scientific info for the maker. They like feedback. Well most do anyway. Nathan is one of those as well.
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Cobalt,
I didn't take it as accusational at all. I don't have the ability to type with emotional "tones". I lurk on here at least once a day and learn something every day. Some of yalls knowledge is nothing short of alchemy witchcraft. Upon rereading my post, I should have refrained from posting it here because I wasn't "batoning" with it but chopping. I just gave my experience with the 3v that was being talked about which wasn't even the topic. I didn't want to bother Nathan with it because he is a busy man trying to run a business(which I try to do also), manage his team and keep material running through his machines and he doesn't need to have a whiney bitch contacting him about something that the customer did (which I personally despise!).
 
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