LES GEORGE VECP 2 with SM-100 steel::: pics inside

dcmartin

dcmartin

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I was at the Plaza Cutlery show a few weeks ago, I wasn't able to get there until close to 3:00pm (show ended at 4:00) so I didn't have a lot of time to take pictures but i did manage to take a few. One of the first people i spoke with was Les George....he had zero knives on his table (all sold out) I had never seen a VECP 2 (or a VECP 1 for that matter) or handled one. I was curious about the weight, ergos, fit and finish.... The VECPs seem to be all the rage these days on the exchange. He was a consummate professional, he took time to explain the upgrades he had done to the VECP 2 and when he saw that there were none around, he was nice enough to let me check out and photograph his personal EDC.

Prepare your eyes..... this is some cool stuff.

The blade steel (actually it's not steel... I'm guessing a hybrid titanium & steel) he used is SM-100, It's new formulation from Summit Materials.... this stuff looks awesome! It is non magnetic, extremely corrosion resistant (nasa calls it corrosion proof) and has a 60 HRC.

On top of that, it just plain looks cool as hell!
The colors you are seeing on the blade are from the heat treat.... they are not Duracoat, Cerakote, DLC, etc etc.

photo2-54.jpg


photo3-43.jpg


Oh yeah....even though i got there late and missed out on a bunch of stuff, the story does have a happy ending. I was lucky to find one here on our very own exchange, a VECP 2 in FDE.
Should be coming in tomorrow :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
 
wow

I guess when you can make whatever you want, you make what YOU WANT!!!!

Geebus that thing is pretty!
 
Les is one awesome guy. Talking to him is always educational.

Thanks for the photos.
 
I love VECPs so much I now own three of them! One is a VECP 1 that was sent back to Les and was stone washed so it looks like a 2 now. My second one is a special one he did with an Al tin blade. It kinda looks like blued steel but changes color in different light! My third baby is a brand new VECP 2 that came from the Cali Show from Les and I picked it up from Jaydub13 on here! I think Les is something special. His work is outstanding! Fit and finish is just crazy! Cheers to Les!!
 
Striderco said:
I love VECPs so much I now own three of them! One is a VECP 1 that was sent back to Les and was stone washed so it looks like a 2 now. My second one is a special one he did with an Al tin blade. It kinda looks like blued steel but changes color in different light! My third baby is a brand new VECP 2 that came from the Cali Show from Les and I picked it up from Jaydub13 on here! I think Les is something special. His work is outstanding! Fit and finish is just crazy! Cheers to Les!!
Click to expand...

Congrats Striderco! 3 of 'em.... Man i am jealous! I was happy to pick up an FDE, i would love to get a black one if the bank account allows.

Les was telling me that the color on his SM-100 blade was a fluke! He wrapped it in foil before the heat treat and some oxygen bled in.

According to the USPS tracking, mine should be in today... I'll be home early from work and patiently waiting on the porch for the postman :D

It's explained here if anyone is interested http://www.summitmaterials.com/sm-100/sm-100-faq/
 
dcmartin said:
Congrats Striderco! 3 of 'em.... Man i am jealous! I was happy to pick up an FDE, i would love to get a black one if the bank account allows.

Les was telling me that the color on his SM-100 blade was a fluke! He wrapped it in foil before the heat treat and some oxygen bled in.

According to the USPS tracking, mine should be in today... I'll be home early from work and patiently waiting on the porch for the postman :D

It's explained here if anyone is interested http://www.summitmaterials.com/sm-100/sm-100-faq/
Click to expand...

The properties of sm-100 are amazing. I find it particularly interesting that the alloy has memory to bounce back when heated, almost like the way kydex goes back to flat when heated. (If you bend the blade by accident apply heat and it will go back to true then reheat treat it and its true again)<- If I'm understanding that correctly, that's phenomenal.

I'm sure more of this will be showing up soon, and depending on the price range I'm interested. :thumbup:
 
dcmartin, thank you for this incredible thread!

I am a huge fan of Les, and plan on buying a full custom from him soon, although I do love my VECP midtech.

I hope I can order one of those sm100 steel VECP's, they seem pretty neat :thumbup:.
 
wolf5391 said:
The properties of sm-100 are amazing. I find it particularly interesting that the alloy has memory to bounce back when heated, almost like the way kydex goes back to flat when heated. (If you bend the blade by accident apply heat and it will go back to true then reheat treat it and its true again)<- If I'm understanding that correctly, that's phenomenal.

I'm sure more of this will be showing up soon, and depending on the price range I'm interested. :thumbup:
Click to expand...

Once it is hardened, it no longer acts like a memory metal.
SM-100 is based on 60-NiTiNOL-PM that Crucible created, which is based on Nitinol that the Navy created.
As you said, amazing stuff.


SM-100 isn't considered a steel because there's no iron.

Being that it's non-corrosive and can hold an edge, I'm really eager to see it become more popular.


I want some SM-100! :D
 
I'd like to read about real world usage before jumping on the SM-100 wagon. Has anybody seen/read anything? Product brochures don't count.
 
Nullity said:
Once it is hardened, it no longer acts like a memory metal.
SM-100 is based on 60-NiTiNOL-PM that Crucible created, which is based on Nitinol that the Navy created.
As you said, amazing stuff.


SM-100 isn't considered a steel because there's no iron.

Being that it's non-corrosive and can hold an edge, I'm really eager to see it become more popular.


I want some SM-100! :D
Click to expand...

oh I understand, very cool still
 
The material, (or at least the material that the current version is heavily based on,) isn't actually very new. Developed in the 60s for NASA, I think. It hasn't seen widespread use in knifemaking due to cost, and because of this, I haven't found a single user report on how the steel performs. I guess the knives made in it have been too expensive to really use, I know the Striders sold for over a thousand dollars.

capid1 said:
I'd like to read about real world usage before jumping on the SM-100 wagon. Has anybody seen/read anything? Product brochures don't count.
Click to expand...

Which is why Ankerson or Jdavis need to get their hands on one. Nothing's a replacement for the test of time, but Ankerson's or Jdavis' tests will at least give us a good idea of edge holding, ease of sharpening, and/or toughness. (Moreso the former with Jdavis and the latter w/ Ankerson.)
 
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I know what it is based on. SM-100 seems to be a novelty and bragging right than a blade that will get used. I'll stick with K390, S110V, 10V for edge retention or 3V for toughness as I wont be spending hours in a corrosive environment or probing for IED's anytime soon :)

Dan57 said:
The material, (or at least the material that the current version is heavily based on,) isn't actually very new. Developed in the 60s for NASA, I think. It hasn't seen widespread use in knifemaking due to cost, and because of this, I haven't found a single user report on how the steel performs. I guess the knives made in it have been too expensive to really use, I know the Striders sold for over a thousand dollars.



Which is why Ankerson or Jdavis need to get their hands on one. Nothing's a replacement for the test of time, but Ankerson's or Jdavis' tests will at least give us a good idea of edge holding, ease of sharpening, and/or toughness. (Moreso the former with Jdavis and the latter w/ Ankerson.)
Click to expand...
 
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