Positive conversation with Peter Bruno

Willie71

Willie71

Warren J. Krywko
Joined
Feb 23, 2013
Messages
12,214
Peter and I had a productive conversation this morning. We cleared the air on our disagreement. Peter is making a commitment to improve how they do things at NJSB, and are in the process of implementing those changes.

We discussed the W2 issue, and after having the steel that was tested at the brake foundry tested at their lab, Peter said the carbon was a bit low. I didn’t get the exact number, but he was honest that there was an issue. We discussed that the steel didn’t have any obvious carbide segregation, so the hypothesis is that some of the steel that is normally discarded from the edges of the roll made it past quality control. The majority of the steel was fine, which is why the certs they had showed normal composition. Peter said the steel was from 2018, and the current stock is from a different melt. If anyone has problems, contact Peter and he will sort it out.

What will be different:

Peter made a commitment to consult more with smiths and metallurgists, and is in the process of developing those relationships.

Certifications will be posted, and stock will be carefully tracked to streamline diagnosing issues in the future.

There will be a new website shortly, and the lost email problem should disappear.

Communication with NJSB will be easier, and they want suggestions from smiths.

Peter is doing hands on heat treating to increase his knowledge in the area.

They are going to send charpy samples to Larrin for every steel they carry.

They are sponsoring CATRA testing for their steels.

They will post detailed heat treat recommendations, as well as troubleshooting procedures, such as how to test your oven.

They will change the annealing procedure, so all steels should be less than 90% spheroidized. This will take effect for future melts, probably 18 months in the future.

Overall it was a positive conversation. The direction looks positive.
 
Well, after reading that other thread, this is a pretty incredible change of approach. Well done from both sides. I've watched a lot of companies go sideways and not be able to turn it around. Weren't able to get to this point at all. I hope the turn sticks for NJSB and they are able to gain back what has been lost.
 
Peter gets the credit here. He reached out to me, not the other way around. Also, just to clarify, he knows I was going to post this. He said the rough week has a huge silver lining with getting to know some people he had no idea were out there.

Peter told me he’s not much of a forum person, so developing relationships with smiths and metallurgists who frequent forums bridges the gaps. We discussed the difference between someone heat treating with a weed burner, and a bucket of used motor oil, and someone with a well thought out shop and temp control/engineered oils, and refined process. Without knowing who’s reporting a problem, it’s much harder to tell if it’s a steel or process issue. If it’s someone like Larrin who tells him there’s a problem, it’ll be a much quicker response.
 
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I was the one who originally had the samples tested at Clarksville Foundry after being unable to harden any of the W2 purchased in 2018 while everything from 2016 hardened fine.
I recieved the same call from Pete, he was honest and transparent and verified my foundry tests were good and I am not insane, there was something weird going on. His call did alleviate my frustrations with them and Peter was overall a pleasure to talk too.
A mistake was made, he owned up to it and is doing his best to be aware and prevent this from ever happening again. Looking forward to seeing Peter implement all the things we spoke about and the direction he takes the company in the future.
-Trey
 
kdnolin said:
Warren, did shipping to Canada happen to come up in the conversation?
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With the new website that should be fixed. He’s sending me some 1/4” 15n20 to make a sword with, so I’m pretty sure that issue should be dealt with. I suggested they look into getting O2 for the Damascus guys. They are looking at a German version of Hitachi white too.
 
Pete has contacted me and told me similar things about being committed to properly tracking and pursuing any potential steel issues. We both agreed that transparency is best for alleviating customer fears and for building/maintaining a reputation for high quality products and customer service.
 
I’m glad a couple other people chimed in. I didn’t want to speak for anyone else. Just to be clear, the suggestions were what Peter and others already discussed. I’m just the messenger here. Peter texted me about an hour ago, and thanked me for the post.

In terms of expanding heat treat knowledge, they are using Kevin Cashen’s site, which is great. I recommended the verhoeven PDF, and of course knifesteelnerds.com. Peter is printing off verhoeven for the heat treat binders, and he’s going through the wealth of knowledge on knifesteelnerds.
 
Cool!!!!! I was originally told that the max thickness that new strip plant in Austria was set up to roll was the .195. Good to hear about this. Any chance of say 3/16 or 5/32? That would be good for lightweight choppers and such. Any word on width? that 1/4 and maybe more so, the 3/8 would solve the problem of having limited selection of nickel bearing steels for things like tomahawks.
Willie71 said:
They just got 1/4” in. It should be on the website next week. The phone was breaking up a bit. There might be 3/8” as well. Don’t quote me on that.
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jdm61 said:
Cool!!!!! I was originally told that the max thickness that new strip plant in Austria was set up to roll was the .195. Good to hear about this. Any chance of say 3/16 or 5/32? That would be good for lightweight choppers and such. Any word on width? that 1/4 and maybe more so, the 3/8 would solve the problem of having limited selection of nickel bearing steels for things like tomahawks.
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I didn’t get all the details.
 
Good to hear, I have been following the recent W2 threads due to buying 6 bars, 6-8 weeks ago. Hoping it is from the "current" batch. I have one knife forged out, been waiting for a general consensus for heat treating the new stuff before continuing with it.
 
So if we have some of this W2 that is having issues, is NJSB replacing it if we contact them? I've got some of that new thinner stock i picked up back at Blade West in Oct and curious if this is part of the problem batch people are talking about. Haven't used it yet as i've had other projects, but been bit wary now since all this popped up.
 
Willie71 said:
Peter texted me. The 15n20 is 5/32, 3/16, and 1/4”. The 3/8” he was talking about is 1095.
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I remember way back when Aldo got into the business he sold 3/8” 1095. I remember he called it 1095FG because it had a touch of Vanadium. It was good stuff. I used a lot of it
 
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