San Mai III Natchez Bowie tang

hermit dave

hermit dave

Joined
Jul 19, 2011
Messages
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Does anyone know if the blade/tang transition is radiused? I've searched high and low, and can't find a pic or anything.

Also, what about the VG-1 San Mai III Trail Master. From what i've found, the corners are square, but are radiused on the newer model carbon steel versions.
 
The Nachez has a stub tang with a cable. It is the only thing that has kept me away from the design.

The Trailmaster I had in San Mai seemed plenty tough. I chopped and battoned for years with, and had no tang issues.

I though I heard they had radiused the tang, but don't know for positive.
 
Actually, the San Mai Natchez has a hardened steel rod, as does the San Mai Laredo. The carbon steel versions have cables.
 
The only pics I have seen are of the Laredo bowie and yes the blade to tang transitions are radiused.

About the stub tang on the Natchez. It is only a problem on the early wood handle version of the carbon steel model. That wood is weak and prone to splitting. However it will hold up to regular chopping (no batoning). The micarta handles on the San Mai III and newer O1 models are very strong even with the stub tang. The blade - tang transition would fail before the stub tang become an issue.
 
hermit dave said:
Does anyone know if the blade/tang transition is radiused? I've searched high and low, and can't find a pic or anything.

Also, what about the VG-1 San Mai III Trail Master. From what i've found, the corners are square, but are radiused on the newer model carbon steel versions.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I haven't heard about the SMIII Natchez or Trail Master blade/tang being radiused. I did read somewhere that the carbon steel TM is radiused. And I know that the Laredo in carbon steel is radiused. There is at least one thread in CS forums showing the radiused Laredo tang.
 
Man with no name said:
Wood handles may have cracked from time to time but the tang remained intact!
Click to expand...

Yeah, the cracks that everyone talks about are not that big a deal, IMO. They are just hairline surface cracks. I don't think they compromise structural integrity of the handle. You can keep using the knife hard. There is a thread in CS forums showing the Laredo being rehandled (by Picksmith, if I remember correctly). The pics show that the wood is very robust. The hairline cracks can also be easily repaired with sawdust and epoxy, if desired.
 
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