Random Thought Thread

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79 years ago today. All gave some. Some gave all.

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"We have sent men and women from the armed forces of the United States to other parts of the world throughout the past century to put down oppression. We defeated Fascism. We defeated Communism. We saved Europe in World War I and World War II. We were willing to do it, glad to do it. We went to Korea. We went to Vietnam. All in the interest of preserving the rights of people.
And when all those conflicts were over, what did we do? Did we stay and conquer? Did we say, "Okay, we defeated Germany. Now Germany belongs to us? We defeated Japan, so Japan belongs to us"? No. What did we do? We built them up. We gave them democratic systems which they have embraced totally to their soul. And did we ask for any land? No, the only land we ever asked for was enough land to bury our dead. And that is the kind of nation we are." - General Colin Powell, 14 February 2002.
 
The Amazing Virginian said:
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79 years ago today. All gave some. Some gave all.

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Kettleman said:
My daughter was there a couple weeks ago. Said she just stood and cried the emotion was so strong. Heres a few pics of how it looks today.View attachment 2209552View attachment 2209550View attachment 2209546
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The Jedburg Memorial was dedicated this year. Such a small yet destructive group.

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I loved seeing the Star of David among the crosses; it’s good to be reminded that the Jewish people were IN the fight. Not just helpless victims in a camp. It was my second time there and it was just as somber and overwhelming as the first. It’s simply staggering what was done for us just to secure a chance at a future worth living.

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This is the German memorial. I had no idea it existed before this trip. The tone is very very different. I’m not much of a spiritual person so I don’t know how to describe it beyond being dark and almost apologetic. We didn’t spend much time there, but I’m glad I saw the contrast.

I was raised in a pretty poor household so I never thought I’d get to see things like this beyond on the interwebs and in pictures. I feel incredibly grateful for the men and women, none of whom I will never know, who did so much for us. May we remember and never forget.
 
Regarding the HDFKs' secondary prices it is worth to revisit some of Nathan's own sage words on this subject in response to this oft discussed topic. The trail listed below in from late Jan 2022:
Nathan the Machinist said:
The HDFK sold for $330 in 2017, which would be $375 in today's dollars using a standard inflation calculator. However, that inflation model looks at a lot of things (food prices for example) that aren't price drivers for my actual costs. For example, my labor costs are about 3X the inflation rate (this has been pretty typical in many industries). Electricity has been pretty level, but my raw materials such as steel, carbide, scales material and heat treating costs have also outpaced inflation. Without getting into politics (which are inevitably nasty these days) there were choices made by a previous administration that affected steel and other raw material prices. I'd argue this is probably a good thing because the unpredictable chaos and barriers to imports gave the domestic manufacturers (that I use) an opening to increase their prices, which is probably a good thing for the industry as a whole (because the profit created by this chaos kept capital in an otherwise dying industry), but those price increases are real and apparently permanent. And I'm paying the price for that now (literally). A problem that I face, as a manufacturer, are competitors who have not adopted price increases themselves leaving me with two choices, hold my prices to remain competitive (and eventually go under) or raise my prices to reflect my actual costs. I'm at a disadvantage compared to many makers because my prices reflect my actual costs more than most. We have always strived for bang-for-the-buck by giving high performance materials and processes at reasonable costs. This is done by eliminating a lot of fluff. We're pretty lean here. But many makers have a lot of fluff in their models that I don't. They can cut into some of that fluff and I can't. My point here being, your perception about similar price points is missing the fact that the HDFK isn't a $330 knife anymore.

We were making an entry level "gateway drug" knife for Amazon and something like the SDFK was a logical knife for that. I'd have been happy to simply run them all as basic, but many people here wanted a signature series option and I was happy and able to accommodate them. It's a simple variation of an existing pattern already in the production process. I don't need to apologize for that or try to justify it. The second half of your question is why don't I just make more HDFK instead. The answer is because it is a pattern that has already been produced in large numbers, it had a pre-order and the price to make it today would be high enough that we couldn't sell enough to justify the significant investment in time and resources to set up production for a small run of that old pattern. Those kinds of resources are limited and would be better applied to a more productive use of that time such as a folder or a kukri.
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Blues said:
The "High Dollar" Field Knife?

Now you know where the expression "worth its weight in gold" comes from. 🤣
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Brutal-Force said:
Obviously in a Capitalist world with a low supply and a high demand you have to be "willing".

It's too bad that Nathan couldn't just put a HDFK out there and charge $800 for it without cannibalizing his own Behomother. I do not run my own business, but I do manage a business, so I completely understand the ROI of his decisions.

If I were in his shoes, I might create a signature series HDFK and serialize them to maybe like 10 per year. Include a premium sheath from Bill (Duramax), Gold Heat Treatment and Premium scales similar to the DEK-0.

Now that is a $1000 knife which won't take from his standard knives. Instead of going backwards on a cheaper knife, go forwards on a Premium Signature Version with all the bells and whistles.
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Nathan the Machinist said:
I like to think the work we ship is intrinsically worth what we sell it for and not inflated due to scarcity or "rare" or "hot maker" factor. It has been a business practice of mine from the beginning to charge what something is worth. I may revisit this once Abigail's college tuition comes due, but for the time being it is a business practice that has kept a roof over our head for a long time.
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