Cam :
Why is it that the v grind does not bind as bad as say, a thin saber grind?
If you were to take a v-ground blade and just grind the sides down, it would transform into a sabre grind. This blade would now bind very badly because the wood would wedge tightly around the edge, this is how all machetes with flat sides perform on binding wood. When the blade as a whole distorts the wood (v-grinds), the wood will deform plastically to a much greater extent and thus loses some of its elastic nature which is what allows it to bind onto the blade.
Of course some woods don't bind on blades at all because they are so soft. Most of the woods around here when fresh for example like Pine and especially Alder, you can chew through with a cheap machete even when of a decent size, say 6"+ pine, isn't difficult. This is why traditional machetes (no primary grind) work so well on soft vegetation. However try the same blade on a piece of Black spruce and after you make one cut you have to get another knife to cut the machete out. Note as well that if you took the machete with no primary grinds that did work well on soft vegetation and gave it one (dual convex) it would work even better, however the improvement would be slight due to the lack of binding.
In regards to the ATC, no I have no experience with it. I have been looking for one on the secondary market as I have heard nothing but good things about it.
Jeff, first off, you are the one making the promotional claim and thus have the burden of proof. As for my opinion, based on the Ontarios I have used, exchanges with others, what I have read online, and the nonexistant interaction with Ontario, the QC of Ontario is not nearly as high as a decent level production company, let alone a small shop outfit like Livesay. Thus I don't think it reasonable to expect the same level of performance from an Ontario RTAK as one that was made by Livesay. Obviously people with different experiences with Ontario and Livesay will have different opinions. However there are some details that I assume are different such as didn't the Livesay's RTAK have a differential heat treat, do the Ontarios?
I would have assumed that if you payed the full price for a Livesay RTAK you could expect a better knife than the Ontario version, it is something like twice the cost after all. There is no one for example that promotes the production Bagwell bowie as being the same as a custom from Bagwell himself. Nor does Camillus promote their Fisk bowie as being equal to a Fisk custom. Those two production versions do differ from the customs in materials but in general for all production versions of custom blades there is the assumption that you are getting a lesser quality blade. Otherwise of course the actual custom is just more expensive with no advantages, which isn't a very common opinion.
Note,If you go to the RTAK page now, there is a paragraph which explains that the details it describes performance wise are in reference to testing done on the RTAK made by Newt Livesay *not* the Ontario RTAK. While I don't agree with the statement that the Ontario blade could be expected to give the same level of performance, this is just a matter of opinion, there is
no misrepresentation being made, and with the facts clearly stated, people can decide for themselves. This paragraph was
not present when I made the above comment.
-Cliff
