Test knife for a new alloy

Matthew Gregory said:
I can totally respect and understand that. The fact is, steel development has been about incremental improvements, often pitched with a marketing campaign attached to sell it. Or, the hype train starts itself, with passionate makers and users touting benefits, real or not. Worse, knife companies may not do the steps necessary to actually make a knife in the new alloy that demonstrates or justifies these improvements, leading to backlash.

The thing to note is that none of this is the alloy’s fault.

A properly designed knife, with geometry based on the strengths and weaknesses of the alloy for the intended application, properly heat treated, is usually revelatory in use.


It’s also incredibly, incredibly rare to find all of these factors applied in a knife, made by a production company or independent maker.

If you’ve been underwhelmed by a knife made of a steel that, in educated theory, didn’t live up to your expectations, it’s entirely likely that somewhere in that development chain something wasn’t addressed properly.
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Man, well said.
 
I absolutely love that knife.
I'd love it if it was D2!

But a new super-secret super-steel from Larrin!?
And the wheel goes round and round.
 
Really well thought out and executed design.

I'm curious about the steel, especially given the type of knife you chose to make. Looking forward to more information.

Outstanding work.

If you're not careful, you're on pace to make 6 knives this year. 😁
 
J. Doyle said:
Really well thought out and executed design.

I'm curious about the steel, especially given the type of knife you chose to make. Looking forward to more information.

Outstanding work.

If you're not careful, you're on pace to make 6 knives this year. 😁
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That would sting a lot more if I knew it wasn’t true…


🤣
 
Matthew Gregory said:
This is a simple hunter profile that I came up with several years back, that is what I feel a hunting knife ought to be. In this instance, it’s used as a test mule for a new prototype alloy from @Larrin @nsm and Crucible Steel.


The chemistry hasn’t been finalized yet, and those of us that are in the beta test group have been asked not to speak about anything beyond having the alloy, testing it, and showing what we’ve made.


My knife is .140” thick, and features a deep, high hollow grind with super thin geometry to push the resilience of the alloy to it’s limits. With any luck, I’ll be giving it a ‘real world’ workout on a deer, soon.


DSC_1874-X2.jpg




The frame handle construction uses black G10 for the frame, with a stub tang to reduce weight. I chose some old, old Brazilian Kingwood that I’ve been saving for years for the handle scales. Seems like it was appropriate. Overall length is just over 8”, features a 3-1/2” blade, and weighs 3-1/8 ounces.



A quick video demonstrating how thin the edge is:










….hopefully DeadboxHero DeadboxHero will chime in with his blade in this new material.
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You tease.......

And I'm impressed at you not answering my barrage of questions at Nathan's about the steel and looking at me like an idiot hahahaha
 
What is your end game? If it passes muster, are you going to include this model in your catalog of knives? Or are you planning on selling the design to a manufacturer?

Looks good! Deer season for me expired last night. Our group harvested 7 deer this year. One of my jobs is to provide sharp knives. After a couple of deer, I would have to switch out a dull knife with a sharp one. If your super steel can gut out and split the rib cage on more than 2 or 3 deer, I'd be interested
 
Barry H said:
What is your end game?
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End game? This is going to come off sounding really bizarre, but it’s where I probably differ from most knifemakers. I make knives because I love making knives. In fact, I’d go once step further and say that it’s a compulsion. Much like the old John Lee Hooker adage, ‘it in him, and it got to come out’. I’m really flakey about stuff. For example, I strive to work to the capacity and tolerance of the tools I own (on this knife, the flats were surface ground to a flatness +/- three ten-thousandths measured on three points, with matching parallelism. Roughly three hours of work for two blades, not including the initial surface grinding pre-heat treat), then I throw all those tolerances to the wind by insisting on grinding everything freehand. For me, it’s about trying to balance all of that precision while also using and developing the skills to achieve it with my hands, and somehow do it all with an interesting and attractive form.

I don’t outsource anything. Everything I make is a one-off, although sometimes I’ll stick in a similar vein, such as the small kwaiken I make, or this hunter, a profile I’ve made a few of.

I do all of this because I WANT to. No other reason.

Barry H said:
If it passes muster, are you going to include this model in your catalog of knives? Or are you planning on selling the design to a manufacturer?
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I think my answer above sort of covers this. I’m not even sure I have ‘a catalog of knives’ 🤣. I just have knives I’ve made. I can’t foresee ever planning on selling a design to a manufacturer. The simple truth is that they won’t do it the way I’d insist. In fact, I’d say they can’t. Far too many corners need to be cut, processes compromised. So, this knife will most likely forever be ‘one of one’.

Barry H said:
Looks good! Deer season for me expired last night. Our group harvested 7 deer this year. One of my jobs is to provide sharp knives. After a couple of deer, I would have to switch out a dull knife with a sharp one. If your super steel can gut out and split the rib cage on more than 2 or 3 deer, I'd be interested
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Thank you! Sounds like a successful season! I’m beginning to fear that I won’t manage a deer at all, this year. Way too warm, and the lot I hunt doesn’t allow for the luxury of stalking. It’s just me out there, and if they don’t budge, I’m screwed. Perhaps later in December I’ll get lucky, as the temps are slated to drop, but the forecast for the next two weeks is looking bleak…

Hope this answers your questions while also not managing to offend. Like I said, I’m awfully flakey about this stuff. 🙂
 
seeing how i would have to order 250+lb of XHP to get more of it this new CPM steel if in this range might be right up my ally
 
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