Still an interesting discussion. Thanx much for the defense.
I think Hardheart, Broos and Phil have clearly explained the difficulty in finding or stating absolutes. CATRA has been trying to refine this testing for decdes and still finds variables difficult to control. We've been testing for decades and keep refining our processes.
We steel junky's happen to be interested in a field that is almost mystical in its ability to remain elusive in it's truth.
Mr. Vassili,
We have been chatting for many years. I believe and trust that you are seeking absolute truth. I do not trust that you have found it. I believe that you believe you have found it.
You have suggested how I run my company. You have told me how to run my customer service. You tell me how to run my testing and my information and you tell me that if i do not follow your direction, we will find doom and gloom.
I believe that you believe you are correct and I thank you for your advice. But I must say that my own experiences have me on my own path.
To accuse me of offering selective information only to sell my knives is unfair. We use our testing to provide you with product to use. We're not selling any particular steel over another. I'm a steel whore. I'll make whatever that small group of steel-heads like. I'll just make sure it's all good stuff. That's why I test.
We use 2" x 4" mules to test steel. We have a dedicated hollow grinder that does nothing else but grind our mules. We keep edge thickness as close as possible (+- .0005) We heat treat to the foundries specs and we test hardness. (+- 1.0) We also test at higher and lower hardnesses for our own benefit. We hand sharpen on dedicated belts and use a laser goniometer to make sure of our angles. (+- 1 degree) We test at different angles to see which angles work best for each steel.
We still get variation. That's why we test many examples and try to find an average for our understanding. Then we buy steel and make knives for you.
Phil knows how elusive this information is. Hardheart has a good idea. Ankerson is learning much in his testing. We share our information in groups and sequences. We just don't give numbers.
And we're only discussing edge retention. We also test for other properties like corrosion resistance.
We introduced S60V (CPM-420V) into the market. S60V had some problems, that's why Crucible and the market went to S30V. We get very few requests for S60V.
We also ingtroduced many other steels into the market (ATS-55, VG-10, CTS-XHP, etc). We will continue to do so as some of our customers (Steel-heads) have this interest.
We make a line of modekls in ZDP-189 from small to large because you want ZDP-189.
We make a line of models in H1 because you want corrosion resistant cutting materials.
We make Mule Team models so you can test steels. Our next 4 Mule Teams are a Takefu Damascus, Hitachi's Aogami Super Blue,
Takefu Cobalt Special and Uddehom's M390. We picked these because they seemed interesting or the steel junky's asked for them. Upward and Onward; Unobtanium, Salium and Vassilium in the future.
We are, at this time, the only company to make a knife for you in Carpenter's new CTS-XHP and we have many more Carpenter steels in-the-works.
It seems that for some reason you are disappointed in and dislike our company. I don't know what we might have done to deserve such a position, but I'm sure you do. Perhaps in time, we might perform in such a way to win you over?
Thanx,
sal
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Trust in the bottom line in all activity
