- Joined
- Oct 2, 1998
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We just got off the phone with Bill Perches of Street Smart Professional equipment and discussed the tests, how the knife was acquired, etc.
The more we talked about the knife, the older the estimated age became, which is truly something amazing now. I'm wishing we hadn't destroyed the knife in testing now, because it seems that the knife is going on 9 years and probably came out of his first series of ATAK's.
Indicators for the apparent age of the knife are as follows:
There is no file work on the spine of the knife, so I don't know what that means for the age, but I'm sure someone else can venture a guess.
As you guys know, we've reported all the information we've had throughout the entirety of these tests. We haven't tried to conceal anything, and are bringing all new information to light as we get it. If our agenda was to bash Mad Dog, we wouldn't be giving this information.
What it's looking more and more like is that this knife was one of the first 500 made and past the person who supplied this getting it from the dealer 8 months ago, we can only speculate where it's been. What we can testify to is that the knife only had sheath wear when we received it, and that it still shaved hair easily. The knife has obviously not been resharpened at any time, nor has it been used prior to our tests.
Given this new information, we are going to remove the Mad Dog entry from the tests until a new Mad Dog knife has been provided so that we have the most accurate information on a current production model. When we perform those tests, that information is what will be recorded.
As far as the tang markings go, that is another issue. We are still not entirely sure if this knife has been stolen and finished, or if this is a properly made knife. Because the knife could be up to 9 years old, his methods and materials have probably changed considerably and the marks could have meant anything back then. I'll leave that speculation up to others.
Regardless, the tests are going to be redone, something that was already determined. We will see what happens then.
We will be sending the knife currently in our possession off for RC testing to a university. That will end the hardness questions quite nicely.
We are currently awaiting ATAK's from Nam Viet Vo and Walt Welch so that we can get results from later production ATAK's of the last few series.
Spark
------------------
Kevin Jon Schlossberg
SysOp and Administrator for BladeForums.com
Insert witty quip here
[This message has been edited by Spark (edited 05 November 1999).]
The more we talked about the knife, the older the estimated age became, which is truly something amazing now. I'm wishing we hadn't destroyed the knife in testing now, because it seems that the knife is going on 9 years and probably came out of his first series of ATAK's.
Indicators for the apparent age of the knife are as follows:
- Hard Chrome. Apparently this is the first generation chrome which is subdued in appearance and almost looks like a flat, matte grey. There is no Kalguard present.
- ATAK Sheath. The word ATAK is engraved on the back of the sheath, indicating that it's pretty old because current production has the model name written on in magic marker
- Blade Stamping. The knife has MAD DOG SEAL ATAK stamped on the top right side of the knife. Bill says that this is in fact laser etching, something that hasn't been done since a wayyyyy long time ago.
There is no file work on the spine of the knife, so I don't know what that means for the age, but I'm sure someone else can venture a guess.
As you guys know, we've reported all the information we've had throughout the entirety of these tests. We haven't tried to conceal anything, and are bringing all new information to light as we get it. If our agenda was to bash Mad Dog, we wouldn't be giving this information.
What it's looking more and more like is that this knife was one of the first 500 made and past the person who supplied this getting it from the dealer 8 months ago, we can only speculate where it's been. What we can testify to is that the knife only had sheath wear when we received it, and that it still shaved hair easily. The knife has obviously not been resharpened at any time, nor has it been used prior to our tests.
Given this new information, we are going to remove the Mad Dog entry from the tests until a new Mad Dog knife has been provided so that we have the most accurate information on a current production model. When we perform those tests, that information is what will be recorded.
As far as the tang markings go, that is another issue. We are still not entirely sure if this knife has been stolen and finished, or if this is a properly made knife. Because the knife could be up to 9 years old, his methods and materials have probably changed considerably and the marks could have meant anything back then. I'll leave that speculation up to others.
Regardless, the tests are going to be redone, something that was already determined. We will see what happens then.
We will be sending the knife currently in our possession off for RC testing to a university. That will end the hardness questions quite nicely.
We are currently awaiting ATAK's from Nam Viet Vo and Walt Welch so that we can get results from later production ATAK's of the last few series.
Spark
------------------
Kevin Jon Schlossberg
SysOp and Administrator for BladeForums.com
Insert witty quip here
[This message has been edited by Spark (edited 05 November 1999).]
