Steel FAQ draft: Comments/critiques please!

The FAQ is great. The internet is such a wonderful thing for an inquisitive mind. Thanks Joe.

The off topic part of the post is this:

How hard is it to learn Unix?

I regurlarly work in Mac OS 9 & X, Win 98/ ME/ XP and am fairly computer literate (build my own boxes / overclock/ network etc) and have always wondered about Unix. Can you do all the same stuff (web, email, word & XL docs, Music, Games, etc)as with the other OSs?

Do you need a specially configured machine (I know OSX is based on unix, so I'm pretty sure my Powerbook will run it).

Can you make a machine Dual boot with both Unix & Windows?

Is it worth the effort for a HiFi sales guy/ knife knut to learn Unix just for fun?

Thanks,

jmx
 
Unix isn't really meant for Games. Sure you could play Quake 3 on Linux (similar to Unix, not a clone though) but still there are not too many people who write games for unix/linux.
OpenOffice is the latest opensource solution for an office suite. It's not bad, but it has a fair share of bugs. So far I'm still not as literate on OpenOffice than MS Word.
Otherwise it does most of the other things fine. I'm using mozilla 1.0 now and it's pretty stable. It's available in Linux, and it's pretty easy to get it working in unix I suppose.
Don't forget that web and email were built on Unix servers. Of course Unix can handle those just as well.
If you want to run servers or tinker with something new (and have patience ;)) then unix is definately worth exploring.
 
Joe,

Thanks for your efforts in updating your already impressive FAQ. I noticed only a few things that I think that you might consider in the update.

On page 8 of the attachment 425M is identified as Buck's default steel. I think that they used 425M from around 1982 to 1994 at which time they changed to 420HC. Also, does the rough equivalence of 420HC to 440A still hold true considering the lower carbon and chromium content of 420HC? Should the comments concerning BG-42 now be updated to reflect its current general accecptance as a proven high-end stainless steel?

Thanks again for this excellent resource.
 
It seems very good, I would say.
You also produced some other FAQ:s. Do you have an estimate when those will be updated, if you decide to do so? :cool:
 
I've already taken a first pass through the Sharpening FAQ. Hope to do a second pass, or maybe a first pass on the Blade Geometry FAQ, Friday. I plan to post the rough draft of one or the other of those FAQs by Monday.

Joe
 
Long out-of-topic post!:D

jmxcpter,
OS X is a Unix clone and can do most of the stuff other "Unixes" can. Just start up the "Terminal" software and you're ready to go. You can find resources on the web, or from books. Look for ones written for Mac users who want to explore OS X from the "Unix side".

You can also get a set of tools called "cygwin" free from the net. Those tools run on Windows, and you get a lot of Unix functionality even though the OS does not change. Key tools like VIM or Emacs are available on Windows as well.

Using OS X, and cygwin on the PC, will give you a good idea what it's like to use Unixes, except you'll have your friendly Windows or OS X graphical interface present in the background. I find that most Unix systems' graphical interfaces suck, HARD. Even ordinary copy-paste between a text console and web browser often doesn't work.. why, beats me.

My guess is, you'll probably find things on the "Unix side" hard, and not very interesting. If you want an actual *nix on your PC too, get some Linux (Debian?), NetBSD or FreeBSD. You can make it dual boot with Windows. Dual boot systems have their "gotchas", re-installing Windows in a dual-boot system will screw the bootloader up, and then you have to fix it, etc. Recommend backing up your stuff before any of this...

I personally find that server admins should know their Unix well, good programmers should know a little bit, and the rest of the population has no need whatsoever for that knowledge. Administrating (owning) a Unix machine (other than OS X) is not suitable for anyone who doesn't wish to read many books' worth of stuff, and spend several weeks just to get the system working like Windows or OS X would "out of the box". At that point, there's still gonna be gaping security holes which require fixing. Other maintenance and tweaking has to be learnt and carried out as well.

I myself am a programmer / CS student, use my school's Unix machines, but don't know about administrating. My editor is VIM running on WinXP:)

- Gon
 
Originally posted by WrayH
On page 8 of the attachment 425M is identified as Buck's default steel. I think that they used 425M from around 1982 to 1994 at which time they changed to 420HC. Also, does the rough equivalence of 420HC to 440A still hold true considering the lower carbon and chromium content of 420HC? Should the comments concerning BG-42 now be updated to reflect its current general accecptance as a proven high-end stainless steel?
Click to expand...

Ah, thanks for the heads-up, I'll look again at 425M and 420 HC. My current draft has BG-42 as a high-end stainless, along w/ S90V and S30V.

Joe
 
Joe,
As regards the comments on BG-42 that I felt that you might want to reevaluate I was referring only to those on page 8 of the attachment.
 
Joe, I did send my marked up Word document to your HP address. Would be glad to forward to your home if you wish... drop me a line at rdangerer@cox.net and I'll resend that and a spreadsheet I put together that hinges on the comments I made on ranking the various steels you mention vs. various attributes.
 
Joe, since you mentioned redoing the Blade Geometry FAQ, I remember reading it when I first got here and knew nothing at all. You mentioned grinds and blade shapes, but since I didn't already know what you were talking about, I couldn't picture it. You mentioned certain knives as being examples of certain types of grinds, but since I didn't know what those knives looked like, I had no idea what you were talking about. If it's at all possible, could you add pictures? I know it doesn't seem that important to focus on the difference between a clip point and a drop point, from where we stand now, but someone who doesn't already know the difference needs pictures. At least put in links to pictures. I haven't read it in a very long time, but I seem to remember you mentioning a Mad Dog knife as an example of a certain type of blade shape. A newbie who doesn't know one blade shape from another is not going to know what a certain Mad Dog knife looks like. I'm not sure who, exactly, is the target audience you're aiming for, but I do see how it would be very difficult to write something that would be interesting and educational to seasoned knife knuts while still being comprehensible to utter newbies. Maybe I'll read it again and come back tomorrow or something and be more specific. Keep up the great writing though, you've taught us all a lot.
 
I'll second Jason's comments. First time I read it I didn't get much of an idea. I've re-read it recently and it all made sense.
Pictures would be nice, very nice indeed ;)
 
Joe,
Very informative, it answered some questions I didn't even know I had!!!
Thanks,
Rob
 
Thanks guys! I agree pics would be great on the Blade Geometry FAQ. Since it's text-only, I didn't have any way to include pics. However, what I can do is stick URLs for pics of the various shapes.

Or, I could just bite the bullet and do the whole thing in html, I suppose

Joe
 
Joe,

Excellent FAQ. I have only one comment regarding corrosion resistance.

In section III, you say that it is probably incorrect that nickel plays a role in corrosion resistance. Nickel is widely used in corrosion resistant metals used to make equipment (tanks, heat exchangers, distillation columns, etc.) for the chemical industry. For such equipment, the 400 series stainless steels are rarely used, due to low corrosion resistance. The 300 series are used instead, with the low end being type 304, or 18-8 stainless. It has a nominal 18% chrome and 8% nickel (actual composition will be different, often less than this). The next step up is 316, which adds a few percent molybdenum, which improves the corrosion resistance, especially in pitting environments. For very aggressive environments, the nickel based, rather than iron based, alloys are used (various Hastelloy alloys). Here I am talking about environments that are far more corrosive than a knife will ever see.

Perhaps nickel will not dramatically add to the corrosion resistance of a knife if only present in small quantities, but it does help.

Other notes:

Higher nitrogen content in a 300 series steel improves pitting resistance.

Titanium is actually a very reactive metal (as are zirconium and tantalum, the high end of corrosion resistant metals used in chemical plants). But it forms a very tough oxide layer that prevents further corrosion, much like chromium does with steel. You only need a small amount of oxygen present to maintain the oxide layer (aerated acid has enough). But in reducing environments, with no oxygen, titanium is rapidly attacked.
 
Boy has this thread ever been informative. Even for a guy that thought he knew quite a lot about steel. These types of discussions add a great deal to the knowledge base of this forum. Thanks Joe.
 
The other way to incorporate pictures would be to make it into a .pdf file. Adobe Acrobat readers are available for most common platforms now and Acrobat has become a psudo-standard for platform independant document distribution.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top