Don't Regret the Snark

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TMHunt said:
I sure as hell wouldnt by a car if the salesman refussed to tell me any details about it. I dont disagree with anything you said about Mr. Fisk. but this is a lot more competetive time. If I had the money to afford on of Jerrys knives. If he was unwilling to answer the questions I had concerning it. I would go to the next table. Its that simple for me.
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So if you discovered a way to make a superior Damascus steel, you would owe it to every potential customer to tell them exactly how you do it? I think he was talking about a craftsman giving away everything he'd learned through time, hard work and dedication to the craft.
 
tradewater said:
So if you discovered a way to make a superior Damascus steel, you would owe it to every potential customer to tell them exactly how you do it?
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would I owe it to them. No not at all. Would I tell a customer info on the piece, Yes.
 
TMHunt said:
Well, it does provide other skilled craftsmen so opprotunity and Im all for that.... I was also wondering, That Keffelar chopper you recently aquired. I know a lot of time comp cutters dont come with much more than cover for the blade but did it include anything? By the way, I really like that thing. Looks well thought out with good craftsmanship.
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I sent the chopper with a hard molded plastic sheath. These sheaths are ugly but very simple and functional.
Dan
 
Dan Keffeler said:
I sent the chopper with a hard molded plastic sheath. These sheaths are ugly but very simple and functional.
Dan
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Oh, Hi Dan, since your here let the compliment be heard. Relly nice peice of work on WW chopper. :thumbup:
 
Trade, giving away things youve learned over years of doing something is a far cry away from just doing something as simple as informing a customer about your product. there is a line I think.
 
Dan Keffeler said:
I sent the chopper with a hard molded plastic sheath. These sheaths are ugly but very simple and functional.
Dan
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Nice to see you here :)

The sheath does indeed work fine, its retains the knife even upside down and keeps the edge safe! That is a lot more than a lot of my knives come with. But being such a great blade it will indeed get a nice custom belt sheath eventually.
 
tradewater said:
And I'm absolutely sure he would too. I don't think that's what I said. I was commenting on some processes being held as proprietary.
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Yeah, I get that, But I call bulls!it on most proprietary processes. Not saying there all illegitimate. Im just saying its a good vehicle for a sales pitch.
 
Trade's right, even not using a "sales pitch" is a sales pitch of a sort. Make no mistake about that :thumbup:
 
Well at least we are all in agreement that Trade is AWESOME!!!!! Hell, someone should start a thread on just how awesome Trade is! :rolleyes:
 
james terrio said:
Those kind of tests are great fun and very helpful when comparing designs/makers/manus; the W&SS/Beckerhead Challenge last spring was a blast and I learned a lot! But they have a fatal flaw if you're really trying to compare steels honestly and accurately.... the knives aren't all built/ground the same. A nice thin edge in crap steel will outcut a thick blunt one in awesome steel, etc.

One of my fondest dreams is to build test samples of my two basic standard models in at least three different steels (probably CPM-154, CPM-3V, 52100 and maybe Elmax... might as well throw 1095 in there as a baseline) at two different Rockwell hardnesses each (say, 58Rc and 61-62Rc), with the geometry being as close to exactly the same as I can make it. Then gather together a group of reasonably sane and knowledgeable folks to compare them in a blind test. That would really be fun and interesting, but it would cost upwards of $1500/model and take for-freaking-ever... so don't hold your breath on that. :(
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If that ever becomes more than a fond dream, it would contribute a lot to the knife community, as long as one could somehow standardize the tests. You may be able to find sponsors for such an experiment.

That would be awesome.

I used a Modified SYCKO 460 in Elmax to bone out most of my deer and it worked extremely well. The edge held up pretty well. I used it because it is the thinnest knife of that size I own. I can't say that the blade steel was much of a contributing factor, but it would be extremely interesting to use the same knife ground as thin in different steels.
 
I don't know what the big secret is. Jerry Busse has posted about the company heat treatment here on BFC. I'm sure it's been tweaked since 2000, but the bolded part below is kind of funny in retrospect.

Jerry Busse said:
Busse has been doing cryo since the early 1980's. Back then it was a very primitive process involving an old cooler, dry ice and about a gallon of acetone. Process: pack the blades in dry ice, pour the acetone over the ice to speed the evaporation process, and hit somewhere around the -190 degree mark. Do a normalizing temper (approx. 350 - 450) and voila! Prehistoric Cryo!

In the late eighties we began the employment of a deep cryo treatment (-300/320 degrees) which was done in a dry, controlled, atmosphere. This process allows us to take our blades down to temp. over the course of 10 hours hold them at temp. (-300 degrees) for approx 50 hours, and then bring them back up to room temp. over the course of the next 10 hours at which point they receive 3 more, individualized, oven tempers. This is the same process that we employ to this day.

Some makers are out there just plunging their blades into liquid nitrogen which can shock the steel so dramatically that microscopic cracks and fissures can form that could cause massive blade failure in the field under heavy and/or light use. That is why it is crucial that the blades be cooled slowly and brought back to room temperature slowly and then normalized with a few oven tempers for stress relief.

Of course there are also some makers that I know of who claim to employ cryogenics because they stick their knives in the freezer over night. Scary! Alway ask the maker to give as much detail of his cryo process as possible.

Knowledge is power! Arm yourself!

Yours in Nuclear Cryogenics,

Jerry Busse
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The composition of INFI is posted here on BFC several times. Not too hard to find.
 
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