So, on the subject of Tops products... Their .230 machete is much believed to start off as an Ontario Knife Company item. It is believed that the .230 starts as either an OKC 18" machete blank, or a complete OKC 18" machete that then gets it's modifications by Tops.
I am intrigued as to how they may doing this?
If Tops chose to work out a direct deal with OKC to get the unfinished machete blank, did the OKC heat treat come as part of that deal? Or, do they receive it without heat treating, Tops then needing to have that done after their machining is accomplished?
That then leads me to wondering how the heat treatment was done on it, (if done at Tops), and if it's differentially heat treated or not?
We have folks on these boards that are knife makers, and I'm curious to know what they may think is the case with this Tops offering? For instance, if the 18" machete is received from OKC in fully heat treated form, how problematic would it be, (any issues/downfalls), for them to then machine the changes onto that heat treated, (read as hard), steel?
In general, I'm curious to hear what folks on this forum feel to be the process for Tops acquiring and modifying the OKC 18" machete into their .230 model.
My own guess, at least on the heat treatment part of it, is that Tops uses the already heat treated OKC blade. I don't believe that differential heat treating on a roughly 1/8" thick blade would lend itself well to the overall toughness of the final product. A heat treatment that only concentrates on the edge of a 1/8" thick machete, would likely cause that machete to much more easily bend. Just not a thick enough blade for their usual differential heat treatment process. Their knives are usually thick, (1/4" or more is not uncommon for them), so that obviously lends itself better to having a concentrated heat treatment applied to their edge, since the softer middle and spine area of the blade are likely more than thick enough to add some toughness for through the thickness factor alone. Just a guess, of course
I know that any responses will likely all be educated guesses and opinions, (unless someone here turns out to have
some actual inside information from Tops)... but, I'm still interested in hearing out your thoughts on this subject.
Thanks in advance