Micron Updates

AdamFuzzyballs said:
New Year…New updates? Hope y’all’s holidays went well!
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Holy cow I can't believe its 2026. I am beyond grateful that the shop is slammed, and every single piece of equipment in the "knife shop" as we call it is busy with customer orders. There are a few jobs that are too much for the shop floor that are taking up my time, like rifle lowers (five axis WOOHOO) and huge inconel slabs and weldments that are definitely larger than we should be taking on, but who am I to turn down cool jobs. There is light at the end of the tunnel. I've been working on automating as much as possible with the shop to reduce admin tasks and give me more time for the cool stuff, like knives. As for progress in the knife department, we have almost all the fixturing in place. I'll get a video of the bevel grinding setup when I get the chance. I also picked up a super cool heat treat furnace from North Carolina to use for prototyping so I don't have to rely on outside sources for small runs. It even has a pneumatic door :O

Anyways I am not going anywhere, it's just taking a bit longer than expected. Hope everyones new year is going well! I'd love to hear about some of yall's projects!
 
SharpBits said:
It's always good to hear that US manufacturing is not dead. Every machine in use is great thing!
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Not even close to dead. I don't think it ever will be. We all have our struggles for sure, and I've got some good customers that are sticking by me as I learn some hard lessons. I gotta say the knife equipment put us in a position that we have strange equipment that larger manufacturers don't have a subcontractor for, like the blanchard grinder and the waterjet. I am really trying to push for more work to get another machinist, but we need a pretty good backlog as increasing labor expense by 33% is a huge jump.

The story of how we got the equipment and what we are trying to do with it is also an awesome ice breaker while meeting with customers. I think they just want to see that we are people that want to create and not just turn a profit with their wallet if that makes sense.
 
Happy Saturday everyone! Just wanted to give a quick update. I've been so busy at the real job still, so no movement on the knives yet. I worked almost every Saturday and Sunday of 2026. We've made so much progress with our organization and on time deliveries, so I am excited that once I can find another machinist I will be able to spend my time on Micron. I'm not going anywhere, just busy!

Olive is doing great too. Since diving into local manufacturing circles she is known by name at so many manufacturers across the central PA area. As you can see, she's on the prowl when she sees my mom's nylon turnings wig.

Anyways, I'll be working this weekend and next at least. Have fun and stay weird everyone!
 

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Long overdue update. Thank you to all who I've consulted with for your input!

A few months back I purchased the survive inventory. Similar to the equipment, it was a lengthy and expensive legal procedure. Initially I saw this as an opportunity to get material for Micron knives. As we dug in, we've been organizing and taking stock of everything here. We found knives in every state of completion, from waterjet blanks and micarta blanks, to finished blades and assembled sheaths. It has been another full time job to sort through. Nothing is labeled, nothing is counted, and nothing is organized in any way. The volume isn't crazy, there aren't thousands of knives or even thousands of blanks, but the variations in models, grinds, materials, colors, and hardware is what makes it so time consuming. Once I got a real grasp on what we had, the plan changed.

Firstly, there are knives that are too close to completion to scrap. For example, we have 13 EDC 4's that are complete but missing the secondary bevel and one piece of hardware. Secondly, there is very little material that has not been heat treated and is large enough to turn into the knives I've been designing. So how do we proceed?

Treading carefully, we want a few things. We want to do right by those who were scammed by Survive!. We want to preserve and demonstrate Micron's, and our family's, ethical and moral commitment to being the best example of an American small business. We want to waste as little inventory as possible. We want to get Micron off the ground. We want to use this as an opportunity to help the other small businesses that were affected.

To achieve as much of that as possible, here's what we're doing. We have been reverse engineering fixtures, blades, sheaths, scales, hardware, and building new fixtures to produce missing components and grinding setups. If financially viable, we will finish and liquidate the survive knives, sold as-is, no warranty, at a price just over our break-even. If the survive logo has been etched, it will be sold as a survive knife, even if we produced the hardware, scales, sheaths, or performed the secondary bevel and sharpening. Alongside those, we will continue production of a few of our favorite models in our favorite steels. These will be Micron knives through and through with our tolerancing, our attention to detail, our warranty. We will rebrand these designs as Micron Knives, but we are not claiming we designed them. I'm still developing my own designs for future production, but these knives deserve to be out there.

This path lets us get off the ground, gives the other small businesses left in the lurch a chance to make something back on their development work, and keeps some really great knives in production. I am aiming for end of May to beginning of June for the launch. The redevelopment of fixturing and toolpaths has not been a walk in the park, but we have a good system down now thanks to help from some of our customers with their keyence scanners.

I look forward to any feedback you all have.
 
Hmmm… Any idea (general ballpark: 50/500/1500) of the number of Survive or Survive/Micron knives to sell off before you begin to design and produce your own all original Micron knife designs?
 
Knives that were paid for years ago will now be finished and re-sold under a different name. I was hoping to support a new company, but the continual ties to Survive are a huge red flag. I am out.
 
PolRoger said:
Hmmm… Any idea (general ballpark: 50/500/1500) of the number of Survive or Survive/Micron knives to sell off before you begin to design and produce your own all original Micron knife designs?
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Any model that we decide to continue production on will be a lifetime product, so no quantity limit (With the exception of generations, for example an MK4 gen 2 would replace the MK4 gen 1). I would like to get a few models in production before our own designs make their way into the lineup. The ones we've been working on will have their spot reserved in the lineup for sure. This way if there are warranty issues we can always get replacements produced
 
beeinak said:
Knives that were paid for years ago will now be finished and re-sold under a different name. I was hoping to support a new company, but the continual ties to Survive are a huge red flag. I am out.
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I understand this perspective and considered it heavily before deciding what to do. I also respect your decision. There are a couple points I should make.

1) This inventory was in a storage unit that was late on rent. They were to be scrapped.
2) The purchase price went to creditors, just as the equipment purchase price did. A public records search will show you that survive is not bankrupt. There would be no other way for the small businesses that were screwed out of their balance to recover any of it.
3) It would have been dishonest to not keep the community informed. Although I am not legally or morally obligated to provide knives to those who preordered from survive, the best outcome given the circumstances are that the knives are sold with complete transparency and bare minimum profitability. Also, if 3,500 knives were paid for but never delivered, the 200 that I will finish and sell would not have been enough to make those people whole.
4) We decided to finish these knives and continue the production of a few models. A big reason for doing this is the creditors who were paid (who are small businesses) can recoup some cost, the sheath manufacturers can recoup some of their cost, and the hardware suppliers can recoup some of their loss too. We considered changing or regrinding them into our own models, but that would have been disingenuous and the small businesses that made molds for the sheaths would have no opportunity to recover their losses.
5) If we were to finish the knives that were in production, sell third party, and not continue production, we would have to 1- spend so much on reverse engineering and fixturing that we would have to charge more than they sold for. 2- there wouldn't be enough volume for the other businesses to recoup their costs

I know it doesn't appear this way at the beginning, if you put Micron aside, this is the best way to make light of a terrible situation. I understand as well that this will be viewed poorly in the eyes of many, but if you take a step back, what is the best ethical outcome of this? Opinions do vary on this, but stopping to do the right thing and slowing down to do the right thing, is still doing the right thing.
 
MicronKnives said:
I understand this perspective and considered it heavily before deciding what to do. I also respect your decision. There are a couple points I should make.

1) This inventory was in a storage unit that was late on rent. They were to be scrapped.
2) The purchase price went to creditors, just as the equipment purchase price did. A public records search will show you that survive is not bankrupt. There would be no other way for the small businesses that were screwed out of their balance to recover any of it.
3) It would have been dishonest to not keep the community informed. Although I am not legally or morally obligated to provide knives to those who preordered from survive, the best outcome given the circumstances are that the knives are sold with complete transparency and bare minimum profitability. Also, if 3,500 knives were paid for but never delivered, the 200 that I will finish and sell would not have been enough to make those people whole.
4) We decided to finish these knives and continue the production of a few models. A big reason for doing this is the creditors who were paid (who are small businesses) can recoup some cost, the sheath manufacturers can recoup some of their cost, and the hardware suppliers can recoup some of their loss too. We considered changing or regrinding them into our own models, but that would have been disingenuous and the small businesses that made molds for the sheaths would have no opportunity to recover their losses.
5) If we were to finish the knives that were in production, sell third party, and not continue production, we would have to 1- spend so much on reverse engineering and fixturing that we would have to charge more than they sold for. 2- there wouldn't be enough volume for the other businesses to recoup their costs

I know it doesn't appear this way at the beginning, if you put Micron aside, this is the best way to make light of a terrible situation. I understand as well that this will be viewed poorly in the eyes of many, but if you take a step back, what is the best ethical outcome of this? Opinions do vary on this, but stopping to do the right thing and slowing down to do the right thing, is still doing the right thing.
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This is a business decision you are being transparent about and I respect that. I do see both sides to this situation and unfortunately you are inheriting a problematic history. I am not claiming you are problematic just the situation and acquiring of the previous organization and their inventory.

Hopefully it’ll be the best reasonable outcome. As I do agree it would be neigh impossible to make whole those who were scammed.
 
JearBeatus48 said:
This is a business decision you are being transparent about and I respect that. I do see both sides to this situation and unfortunately you are inheriting a problematic history. I am not claiming you are problematic just the situation and acquiring of the previous organization and their inventory.

Hopefully it’ll be the best reasonable outcome. As I do agree it would be neigh impossible to make whole those who were scammed.
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I appreciate the perspective, and I agree. Especially with the problematic part LOL.

It might not be the right wording when I say I am trying to do right by those who were scammed, as that might come across as me trying to correct guys wrongdoings. That is between those who were scammed, guy and ellie, god, and hopefully a lawyer. What I mean by "doing right by those who were scammed" is that the inventory is accounted for. No one is getting rich off the inventory. It's in the hands of a good company that will be a positive contributor to the knife community. The best case alternative scenario is that the material is scrapped. The worst case alternative scenario is that it's still in the hands of survive who can still profit off of it.

Sticky situation for sure! But hopefully it makes sense when people actually get the knives they order without presales.
 
SharpBits said:
It is important to repeat that any funds Micron paid for the old stock were used to settle debts owed to creditors, with none of it going to Survive!'s former owners.
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100%, thank you for that! I probably should have been more clear about that.
 
beeinak said:
Knives that were paid for years ago will now be finished and re-sold under a different name. I was hoping to support a new company, but the continual ties to Survive are a huge red flag. I am out.
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Get where you're coming from, but unless there were enough blanks to make everyone whole, can't really see any win-win scenarios here.

Would be nice if MicronKnives MicronKnives , once they get settled in, could offer some sort of discount to S!K customers that could show they never got their knives.
 
jlauffer said:
Get where you're coming from, but unless there were enough blanks to make everyone whole, can't really see any win-win scenarios here.

Would be nice if MicronKnives MicronKnives , once they get settled in, could offer some sort of discount to S!K customers that could show they never got their knives.
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I’m betting there were thousands. There’s no way for them to be able to justify that or know who got screwed and who is bullcrapping them to take advantage of a discount
 
Bigburly912 said:
I’m betting there were thousands. There’s no way for them to be able to justify that or know who got screwed and who is bullcrapping them to take advantage of a discount
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Probably right...wishful thinking on my part
 
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