The "Ask Nathan a Question" Thread

TRfromMT said:
Nathan,
The logos and maker's mark on the FK look different, etched in finer detail than the previous version (on my EDC, for example). Just curious if you changed something up, or its my imagination.
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There is variation. The marks are all milled, which is pretty unusual. They are, nominally, about .003" deep. If a facemill is .0005" high or low and the engraving cutter is high or low they can be from .002-.004 in depth. Also, I hand grind the blades, including the flats, after heat treat which can reduce the relative depth. So, at the end of the day, there is variation. I figure as long as it's legible it's okay. *shrug* :thumbup:
 
khukoo head said:
Hi Nathan. I hope you (and Lorien) aren't tired of compliments on the LC. I received mine and love it. Very nice work!

My question is: is it stupid to heat up a LC with a hair dryer and put frog lube on it, and if not, would it be smart to remove the scales and put frog lube underneath them?
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it's not stupid, but it's not necessary either.
 
Dear Mr. Carothers,

Do you think it's possible to make a Chinese Sword (Jian/Gim) with Delta 3V? Will you ever do a custom like that? It would be awesome if it had the flex properties of the Light Chopper.

Best Regards,

Ernie
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
There is variation. The marks are all milled, which is pretty unusual. They are, nominally, about .003" deep. If a facemill is .0005" high or low and the engraving cutter is high or low they can be from .002-.004 in depth. Also, I hand grind the blades, including the flats, after heat treat which can reduce the relative depth. So, at the end of the day, there is variation. I figure as long as it's legible it's okay. *shrug* :thumbup:
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Thanks, Nathan.

On one knife it looks almost "embossed" into the surface, on another it looks laser etched. I thought they were all milled, so I was surprised at the difference. I'm fascinated about all of the details you implement, so I was just curious.

Best,
TR.
 
Erniewong said:
Dear Mr. Carothers,

Do you think it's possible to make a Chinese Sword (Jian/Gim) with Delta 3V? Will you ever do a custom like that? It would be awesome if it had the flex properties of the Light Chopper.

Best Regards,

Ernie
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We do take custom orders, but we're currently two years out so our books are closed at the moment. Thank you for your interest in our work.
 
Nathan, I saw your post about EDCs coming in D2 in the next few weeks. As someone who already owns an EDC in D3V, I'm very interested in the specs of that D2 (geometry particularly) and whether it is a thinner profile than the current D3V model? Care to inform us of the specs?
 
The D2 was made by Crucible and rolled by Niagara. It was heat treated first by me here in the shop where we dialed in the prequenching times and temps which varies from lot-to-lot because of normal variations in things like vanadium content before sending the batch to Peter's, who has run my D2 protocol for me in the past. Prequenching is an austenitization followed by a quench and another different austenitization which is done on this steel for grain refinement and to put carbon into solution, reducing the second soak time. This is the heat treat development and alloy I built my reputation on, and my D2 is very good. The final hardness worked out at HRC 62-63 which is a little harder than we run the 3V. The geometry is the same - 18 DPS and thin.

The blade are milled here, then heat treated, then hand ground after heat treat. This hand grinding is an importaint part of our process, but it's a bottleneck and would limit me to 400-500 knives per year. The only way to grow, without changing the product and process, was to hire some help, which we've done.

We hired an experienced knifemaker, Mark, to work here in the shop. He is an accomplished blade grinder with a lot of experience doing grind work a far sight better than mine. I gave him the D2 blades for this EDC project for him to cut his teeth on. So, the EDCs that are selling today were hand ground by me, but the D2 EDCs in two weeks will be ground by Mark. They're still milled here by us and conform to our process completely, but the hand grinding is Mark's. No knife is leaving this shop without meeting my standards, but there is normal variation in any hand made work and since he is just getting his feet wet they may not be 100% the same as mine. So, I'll explain this in the sale thread, there will be pictures and a satisfaction guarantee and a special reduced price on the D2 blades. So, this means that collectors might pass because it's not "my" work, but users should grab these up because the edge retention and performance is very good, and they're going to be a very good deal because of the discount.
 
Thank you Nathan. I am not a hunter / skinner of game but I use my user D3V EDC in eviscerating cardboard boxes. I tried to use the D3V in some limited capacity in the kitchen, but found out that it was not meant for that purpose, which it was never claimed to have been! How would you assess the use of your D2 version in such limited capacities? It may be deemed as an overkill for such gratuitous purpose, but I've never been famous for my sensibilities!
 
Casinostocks said:
Thank you Nathan. I am not a hunter / skinner of game but I use my user D3V EDC in eviscerating cardboard boxes. I tried to use the D3V in some limited capacity in the kitchen, but found out that it was not meant for that purpose, which it was never claimed to have been! How would you assess the use of your D2 version in such limited capacities? It may be deemed as an overkill for such gratuitous purpose, but I've never been famous for my sensibilities!
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They have similar corrosion resistance. D2 has better abrasive wear resistance than 3V in a knife edge (despite what Crucible says) and an inherently toothy edge that cuts hide and meat even when blunted. 3V has better edge stability and better toughness, which means better edge retention in rough use, but in "normal" use you'll find the D2 stays sharp longer, particularly in abrasive materials, making it a good fit for a small thin knife. And although D2 is not as tough as 3V, you'll find it's more durable than most of the stainless steels you may have experience with. It's a great all around steel, particularly for a small knife that will see a lot of use. You'll be amazed how well it holds an edge.

The biggest down side to D2 is reduced edge stability due to the large amount of carbide and retained austenite, which necessitated a cutlery specific heat treat for good performance in a knife. If you've ever used a D2 knife that didn't hold an edge as well as you thought it should, it probably has the industry standard HT which was developed for stamping tools that minimizes distortion and risk of cracking and dimensional changes, but doesn't work in a knife. Learning to get the most out of D2 taught me a lot about edge stability that I applied later to 3V.

Interestingly, I feel the conventional D2 works better than the PM D2. I'm using Crucible steel, but not their CPM version. I didn't do this as a cost savings (amounts to ~$1 per blade difference) I did this because the larger carbides in conventional electric arc melt steel don't fall out of the edge like the small rounded carbides in the CPM version and allow it to stay sharp longer in real use in a knife edge.
 
Thank you again Nathan for the always detailed and thorough explanations and the information which you provide about your patterns from the cradle to the end user :thumbup:
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
The blade are milled here, then heat treated, then hand ground after heat treat. This hand grinding is an importaint part of our process, but it's a bottleneck and would limit me to 400-500 knives per year. The only way to grow, without changing the product and process, was to hire some help, which we've done.
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Nathan,

Thank you for your very detailed responses. This part of the process interests me. I assumed the hand grinding was done to the final edge only. If that is not the case what other part of the blade/handle needs refinement that cannot be obtained during the machining processes? Just curious.

Thanks,
Jim
 
heat_treat said:
Nathan,

Thank you for your very detailed responses. This part of the process interests me. I assumed the hand grinding was done to the final edge only. If that is not the case what other part of the blade/handle needs refinement that cannot be obtained during the machining processes? Just curious.

Thanks,
Jim
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The primary grinds are completed by hand to remove tool marks and convex the bevels.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
The primary grinds are completed by hand to remove tool marks and convex the bevels.
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Well the final results are very impressive. I just took my two field knives and tried to find any noticeable differences in the grinds. None that I could see, at least to my untrained eyes.

Thanks for the reply!
Jim
 
I'm curious to know how you feel regarding the differences between your 3V and your D2. Do you find one is a better slicing steel than the other, or one is better for chopping than the other?
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
This is the heat treat development and alloy I built my reputation on, and my D2 is very good.
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Pretty sure that's not what your reputation is based on. At least, not the stuff I've heard about you...

Nathan the Machinist said:
We hired an experienced knifemaker, Mark, to work here in the shop. He is an accomplished blade grinder with a lot of experience doing grind work a far sight better than mine.
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Mark's a machine. He's shown me photos of what he considers his 'bad' work and it makes me want to punch him. In fact, I'd be pretty damn resentful of his skills if I didn't like him so much. Awesome addition to the CPK team!!!
 
Anybody know what the edge angle is on the Potato Knives? I know they were hand honed, so approximate is fine :)

Thanks,
~Chip
 
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