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The "Ask Nathan a Question" Thread

^ I would luv to have Cocobolo with one of my FK2 preorders. Please let us know if/when you offer those choices, same as the UF/DEF when the PITA preorder versions came up for fulfilling, which you had said a week or so ago to be done when the current old shop is fully moved over to the new shop.

Speaking of, is the new property still located in Moorseville or are you moving quite a few miles elsewhere. As always, asking for a friend :)
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
You can't get really good black blackwood anymore. It's protected and the stuff you can get now is brown. Even really good ABW is brown (dark brown), but the stuff you can get today would be better descried as African Brownwood. I have some old stash I've been using, but once it's gone it's gone.

Good Cocobolo is getting hard to come by too, they're not importing any more of the good stuff of that either. Some of that last batch was bought from some guy who'd been sitting on it for 30 years.
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My only prior experience with ABW was one which Justin had sent me to sell for him. Those were on his Fiddleback Forge knife, the pattern name I've forgotten. It looked cool but also it looked like dark rubber, almost ebonite. I like yours much better, because there are those streaks in 'em which look really nice as light reflects on them :thumbsup:

gusbuster said:
Yeah I was just messing with you Mat. I guess they’ve gotten a little darker, but it really just depends what light you photograph it in. I could catch some brown figuring in the DEF too if I catch it in the right light.
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Gorgeous stuff my friend. Yup, like Nathan has explained above, I really dig the ABW over the ABBW :)
 
Hey Nathan, I know you have offered thinner grinds on some Field Knives ... and if I remember correctly you have even offered a few hollow ground knives for fun Friday sales. My question is how does your D3V hold up with a high hollow grind on it? I was considering trying it on one of my EDC2s or a FK2 (having multiples and having more time on my hands than brains at the moment) but I wanted to get your thoughts on doing it as I really like the knives as they are and I didn't want to do something I might regret. So any thoughts you would share on it I would appreciate.

Thanks - JJ
 
JJ_Colt45 said:
Hey Nathan, I know you have offered thinner grinds on some Field Knives ... and if I remember correctly you have even offered a few hollow ground knives for fun Friday sales. My question is how does your D3V hold up with a high hollow grind on it? I was considering trying it on one of my EDC2s or a FK2 (having multiples and having more time on my hands than brains at the moment) but I wanted to get your thoughts on doing it as I really like the knives as they are and I didn't want to do something I might regret. So any thoughts you would share on it I would appreciate.

Thanks - JJ
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It will do just fine with a tall thin hollow grind. No problem.
 
JJ_Colt45 said:
Now you have me very curious as to what properties may be different compared to a stock AEB-L heat treat? As in how your tweeks may affect the edge holding or sharpening?
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I would love to hear your impressions

The goal with the heat treat tweaks is to reduce un-helpful structures that effect edge stability. If I've done my job right I have addressed issues present in the steel as it comes from the mill that create flaws in the structure that lead to issues with rolling and flaking of the edge, particularly at narrow angles or in rough use.

It's a fantastic steel. It's well designed and well made and is capable of the fine edge stability of a simple steel but with enhanced corrosion resistance. It comes from the mill with a nice uniform highly spheroidized annealed microstructure than benefits from a normalizing before attempting a heat treat and the specific parameters of our heat treat and cryo are optimized for edge retention. To answer your question, a "stock" HT simply hardens and tempers and skips the pre and post heat treat steps of pre-HT normalizing and a developed post HT cryo. Our pre HT process could be described as a pre-quench and our cryo is not just a dunk in LN. I believe we've done our homework and I would like to think we're not leaving anything "on the table" with this excellent material.

AEBL is a relatively simple steel that has a lot to offer. I feel our heat treat allows it to show its full potential. It's not as tough nor as wear resistant as Delta 3V, but the edge stability is there and the corrosion resistance is a little better and it costs less, so it's an excellent value for folks who want a good steel in a good design and don't plan on wailing on it or using it in highly abrasive applications. It's easily re-sharpened. Who doesn't like a simple low maintenance material with good performance characteristics?
 
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