Is the Fisk Bowie heat treated?

Walking Man

Walking Man

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Hello.
I would like to know what type of treatment the knife gets before it sent in to the hands of the consumers.
thanks.
 
Walking man,
Without a doubt, the OVB series knives recieve the full attention of the CAMILLUS heat treat dept! The blades are tempered to 58-59 Rc. Regarding "what type of treatment", I'm not sure what further information you are looking for? We have a highly refined heat treat process that we have optimized for the 0170-6c carbon stell that we use in the OVB series, which is the same as the steel-heat treat for the BK&T's knives.

I hope this helps, and thanks for your interest!
 
Yes, it does help, and I had assumed as much. I didn't think Mr. Fisk would allow anything but the best to be marketed under his name.
But I am very curious as to why this information was not listed as part of OVB sales information on your website, there was no info about the blade other that saying it is 0170-6C carbon steel on the website. Don't you think this info would help sell these knives? I do.
 
Walking man,

I hope this doesn't sound at all condescending, but I think that it is just generally assumed that any decent knife from any decent maker/manufacturer would be heat treated. I have only a very basic knowledge of Steel-ology, but I think that pretty much all knives need to be heat treated in one way or another.

I assume that that's why it was not specified, but I imagine Will or someone else could explain this better than I could.

I hope that's helpful (rather than obnoxious),

-John
 
Originally posted by blastjv

I think that it is just generally assumed that any decent knife from any decent maker/manufacturer would be heat treated. I have only a very basic knowledge of Steel-ology, but I think that pretty much all knives need to be heat treated in one way or another.
Click to expand...

I don't think that's true at all. Am I wrong?
 
Originally posted by Walking Man
I don't think that's true at all. Am I wrong?
Click to expand...

I think I bought six of the original maple handle OVB's, and never thought to ask if they were going to heat treat them. I don't think Camillus is going to make a knife and not heat treat it, or would Jerry Fisk put his name on it.

Now if you asked that question about a knife from Frost Cutlery, you might have some concern. ;)
 
Why assume? Why not get the facts?
And Phil,
PLEASE REREAD THE THREAD.
What I said was that I'm NOT sure it's okay to assume most decent production knives are heat treated, in response to an earlier post.
 
Thank you, Anthony.
While many companies advertise their heat treating, Many also do not. Since many knives are advertised as being heat-treated, I incorrectly assumed that many are not heat treated. I guess this is something that you are expected to assume....
I'm surprised I didn't hear this before.... :eek:
 
Walking Man

I'm assuming you're a new to the whole knife culture. It's a safe assumption to make that any knife made by a reputable company or custom knifemaker is heat treated. It's just that some companies have better heat treatment methods than others. Guys like Phil can assume an OVB Fisk Bowie is heat treated because...it's common sense to know that it would be.
 
I don't consider myself new, but then again, I really haven't spent that much time in finding out about the construction process, either.
 
My understanding is that the heat treatment, as a whole process, is mandatory in a user knife.

You may expect no (or poor) heat treatment in a $2 cheapie from Pakistan or China, but in any respectable branded knife here -- either made in the US, Taiwan, Europe, China -- to have at least some heat treatment process (even if it is not to the quality of a Bos technique).

Without heat treatment, the blade steel will be incredibly soft so as that it will barely hold an edge. If done incorrectly, it may be so brittle it will shatter on impact (like a file).

Needless to say, asking if a respectable knife has been heat treated is like asking whether your automobile's engine has oil in it. It is worthless without it; an exceptionally poor example may not; a second-hand one may have its temper ruined; a failure of QC may cause it to be missing it; but, for the most part, it is mandatory.

What you may be referring to is the cryogenic treatment. Certain mfg's who will remain nameless like to boast their cryo treatment, which, which used properly, supposedly can enhance the performance of your blade, but I am not positive about this part.

Another possibility: Many mfg's like to mention that their steels are heat-treated by Paul Bos. Bos is a particularly well-known heat treatment expert, and steels that are supervised by him are almost guaranteed excellent.

-jon
 
Another possibility: Many mfg's like to mention that their steels are heat-treated by Paul Bos. Bos is a particularly well-known heat treatment expert, and steels that are supervised by him are almost guaranteed excellent.
Click to expand...

As an aside, Bos runs the Buck heat treating facility also.
So, Buck knives and custom knives of the same steel will generally share the same heat treat.
 
Also, what is really the crux of my question, is Did Jerry Fisk demand specific requirement of the knife strength, such as, bending the blade to such an angle? or other rigorous testing?
 
Walking
Perhaps I can help a bit. When I got to looking at working with a cutlery company I looked at several. I liked what I saw with the Camillus folks. I like the steel they were using and the methods they told me they used to heat treat.
I have never been one to just take for truth all I hear. So, I drove up to New York from Arkansas at my own expense to see for my self. I looked at each department, I talked to department heads as well as the each person on the floor that put his hands on it. I watched them go through each step. I like what I saw. While there I looked at the rest of the plant. Every step a knife takes in their plant. To go a bit futher, and I hope they do not mind me saying some of this, I looked well at their quality control department. I was very impressed. I saw them kicking out $12.00 pocket knives cause as the person told me "we have standards". A $12.00 pocket knife. It is not restamped and sold under a different name to save money, it is sent back for corrections. There is no one from the government sitting and watching this, this is them holding to do the best on each knife that goes out.
I like the steel used on the Beckers and asked for that to be used on the OVB's. I have used Beckers for several years, and to me it is as good as there is in the factory business so I knew how they held up. If you have any other questions let me know, and I will be happy to answer them. Thank you for your support.
 
Thanks for joining in, Jerry. I've been hemming and hawing about both buying a Camillus collaboration Bowie, and contacting you about a custom knife, and your post urged me to stop procrastinating.
The OVB knife is beautiful, but I won't be afraid to use it. When mine arrives I'll put it to work in the woodpile and post a short review (after I polish it!).
 
Walking,
This is kind of an odd track you're taking here.
It is fair to assume that any decent knife is heat treated. Any knife geek can be forgiven for making that assumption.
A non heat treated knife would be cause for a product failure return in a production knife.

Further most knives are bought by non knife geeks who don't care about silly details such as heat treat, variety of steel, or knife Maker/Designer.
When approaching this market many companies don't feel boring the masses with details is the best track.
Many prefer a more emotional approach and experience has shown this to be effective.
Some companies may wish to advertise an association with a quality provider, such as Buck using Paul Bos heat treating, or Camillus partnering with Jerry Fisk. Others may not.
Regardless this is a business approach and not a product distinction necessarily.

Sounds to me like that was what you were asking about.
Then in the next breath you say what you really meant was did Mr Fisk have any design requirements for his knife.
Thats quite a leap for the reader to make.

Of course, I can hang with that.
Mr Fisk is somehwat famous for blade performance testing. You know, chopping cans of water in half and stuff.
The FIsk Bowie is very light and agile and apparently pretty tough at the same time. I don't have one yet but I certainly wouldn't turn one down in a trade!
Especially like the new one with the longer blade.
I 'm a freak for big knives.
So yes Fisk has standards and design requirements for his blades and Camillus has production requirements for their blades and they try to meet at a happy medium to make a good product at an affordable price.
I think they did pretty well on the Fisk Bowie even if a little pricey.
 
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