Nuclear Meltdown treatment, Why?

R

rsco

Joined
May 9, 2009
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65
What is the functional advantage of the nuclear meltdown treatment? I like how it looks and feels, it may be good for batoning and less good for a fire steel... What are the other pros and cons?
 
I dont know about the pros and cons of it, batoning maybe? As another member here stated batons are cheap! But I love the look and feel of it in my hand in an uncoated blade (NMSFNO DC Hand Sculpted Slabs) to me the other blades look unfinished now. Wish I coulda got the option on my Tank Buster order.
 
faster because it more aerodynamic :)
probably safer because no hard corners...
 
More comfortable for when you're doing real detail work where you actually grip the blade.


Plus it looks really cool :thumbup:
 
Cuts down drag and keeps the blade steady when your blade velocity exceeds over 63.7 mph. Only Bravado has caused a sonic boom with the Meltdown but he may not have had physical contact with the knife at the time...:eek::foot:
 
Looks and feels are exactly it. It's actually worse for batoning because club slips off the edges instead of grabbing a sharp edge on the spine.
 
I don't know about anyone else here but I love the nuclear meltdown treatment. They only made two that they put them in the name, the NMSFNO and the NMFBM and I love both knives very much.... I probably rate the NMSFNO as one of the best all around knives...
and who has handled the SAR8 and not loved that?
 
Liu Kang said:
I don't know about anyone else here but I love the nuclear meltdown treatment. They only made two that they put them in the name, the NMSFNO and the NMFBM and I love both knives very much.... I probably rate the NMSFNO as one of the best all around knives...
and who has handled the SAR8 and not loved that?
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With you all the way, I love the nuclear meltdown treatment. Don't know if there are any advantages, it's just cool. :thumbup::thumbup:
 
also on the sar 4 and sar 8.

My biggest dislike is how it feels in the hand during blind or supplementary indexing. When I put my thumb on the back of a blade thats square, I know exactly what angle the blade is to my thumb by it's perpendicularity to my thumbs surface. with the nuclear meltdown version I have no idea what angle the edge is at because I have about 30 degree's of angle where it all feels the same. I'm only able to determine it's position by the up and down of the handle slabs, something that's even harder with mag handles since they make the handle almost perfectly round.

Indexability is something that most people never look for in a knife and I'm not sure how important it is even for those who do, but for me it determines a lot of whether I like the knife or not.

I agree with what was said about batoning. When you use a hammer for moving an object, you generally don't use a ball peen hammer. you use rounded hammers for mooshing things around the ball end of the head. When you want to move something in one direction, you generally want a flat surface - probably not with sharp edges, but still flat.

I've had 3 of the 4 nuclear meltdown models and I would have preferred them all to be regular. I really like the extended blade length But I prefer the initial models configuration.
 
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Aside from the batoning/firesteel issue...which is sorted on the SAR8 with the "gimping"...the choil grip is more comfortable rounded for extended fine grip use...however I would prefer a flat spine and a NM choil because the flat spine can also assist with skinning by removing dried slips of meat from the skin if you are in a bushcraft/survival scenario and need to use it...equally if you want to "rough up" the inside of birch bark to take a spark easier or use the spine to scrape off bark on a skewer for food...however it needs to be remembered you can easily trim a stick with the main blade to a V edge and use that to act as a scraper without damaging your knife main edge...so some of the other uses can be got around...using the flat spine as a hammer though...especially if you are using nails/tacks made of metal...is unable to be replicated with a rounded spine...although you could use the "flat" of the blade as another option...although this does'nt feel quite right to me. Pegs yes...nails/tacks I like to use the flat spine...useful if wanting to anchor your field sharpening stone on a log...I carry four tacks in the stone pouch just for this...all told though I do like the rounded choil on my NMFBM for comfort...so for me I would tend to go traditional in the main and some key NM features if I could.
 
I, too, would prefer the rounded edges be limited to the choil and leave the spine square for indexing and other useful purposes. in general, I'll pass on the NM treatment given the choice.
 
The only NM treatment I have is a NMSFNO. I like it on larger blades such as the NMSFNO or NMFBM. It will not chew up baton sticks as quickly as normal spines. However, I prefer the smaller blades to have right angled spines for carving and more detailed work. I feel they offer a greater grip and feel than the NM spines. But its just my humble opinion. I am sure others feel differently.
 
Bottom Line on the NM treatment:

Anyplace you might have occasion to grip a blade or lay a finger on it to guide a cut, it's comfortable--will not chafe or "work" on the skin during prolonged use. To me, that's huge.

If you're using an NMFBM in the dark, I suppose indexing might be an issue, but I like to see what I'm cutting so the need to position a knife in the "blind" is not something I care about. If you're working inside a body cavity with a knife that big, you've killed something that's beyond my experience--and far beyond my scope of intent. :D

I absolutely love the NM treatment, no reservations.
 
PeterPHWS said:
Aside from the batoning/firesteel issue...which is sorted on the SAR8 with the "gimping"...the choil grip is more comfortable rounded for extended fine grip use...however I would prefer a flat spine and a NM choil because the flat spine can also assist with skinning by removing dried slips of meat from the skin if you are in a bushcraft/survival scenario and need to use it...equally if you want to "rough up" the inside of birch bark to take a spark easier or use the spine to scrape off bark on a skewer for food...however it needs to be remembered you can easily trim a stick with the main blade to a V edge and use that to act as a scraper without damaging your knife main edge...so some of the other uses can be got around...using the flat spine as a hammer though...especially if you are using nails/tacks made of metal...is unable to be replicated with a rounded spine...although you could use the "flat" of the blade as another option...although this does'nt feel quite right to me. Pegs yes...nails/tacks I like to use the flat spine...useful if wanting to anchor your field sharpening stone on a log...I carry four tacks in the stone pouch just for this...all told though I do like the rounded choil on my NMFBM for comfort...so for me I would tend to go traditional in the main and some key NM features if I could.
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All good points - I only have one Busse, a NMSFNO tan/tan ...only NEED one right? Seriously I plan to grind my spine down for the reasons you talk about soon as I find paint to match.

Perfect knife for me would be NMSFNO 1" shorter with a sharpened spear/drop point and flat spine.
 
modus said:
All good points - I only have one Busse, a NMSFNO tan/tan ...only NEED one right? Seriously I plan to grind my spine down for the reasons you talk about soon as I find paint to match.

Perfect knife for me would be NMSFNO 1" shorter with a sharpened spear/drop point and flat spine.
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Wouldn't that be a regular SFNO??? :confused: :D ;)

Minus the sharpened spear point anyway. :p

.
 
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