The "Ask Nathan a Question" Thread

Cap’n Smudge said:
Just asking. I’m mostly southpaw and I do like the axis lock a lot. I think a lot of my affinity for it is because it makes the knives fully ambidextrous.
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That's a big benefit of it, It could that I'm just more used to it, so I'm quicker to open and close an axis over other designs.

But I also think Frame locks are a bit easier to to make and have less parts and they work great, which are all good reasons to use it. However I don't like frame locks that also use a ball bearing, with those, when you reach across to the blade path to un lock it, if you're not careful, which I'm not, the blade an come down and bite your finger.
 
Cap’n Smudge said:
Just asking. I’m mostly southpaw and I do like the axis lock a lot. I think a lot of my affinity for it is because it makes the knives fully ambidextrous.
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Yup. I'm especially a fan of lock designs that are both ambidextrous, and allow you to keep your fingers out of the way when closing the blade.

The Axis lock and Demko's Shark lock are two good ones.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
... if you could have a Utility Fighter that has all of the geometry and balance right and in a good serviceable steel, at a price point that you could justify a few to keep in your glove box etc, doesn't that sound pretty reasonable? It will be good for the brand because it will help expand our audience into areas where people really have no other mechanism to have heard of us. ...and I have some college tuition coming up.
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You’re going to college? 🤨 You’re already a pretty smart guy. 😉

Seriously, congratulations on the collaboration with Boker! 👍
 
Blues said:
I was a good friend of the late Kit Carson. He and CRKT came to an arrangement to begin selling authorized versions of his Model 16 when they were not a big player in the market. (Far smaller and less well known than Boker.) It opened up a lot of eyes to his work, and...not unimportantly, put money in his family's accounts.
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Not trying to kick a hornets nest, but as a genuine fan of the company for many years and because I care I feel this is important to say, even if I get backlash.

This quote is a perfect example of why Nathan and co should be extremely careful with who they choose to partner with. When I read Kit Carson the first thing that unfortunately comes to my mind is a mass-produced cheap junky Walmart crkt knife. I’m sure I’m not the only one. This is sad because he made some truly beautiful and well executed custom knives, but because of crkt his name was diluted.

Id hate for that to happen to Carothers, a name that’s built itself on offering extremely durable, well designed and high quality knives for a reasonable price. When I hand someone a cpk everyone seems to know they’re holding a quality fixed blade. The fit & finish and well thought out designs are immediately obvious to people. The uf2 for example is perhaps one of the best designed fixed blades I’ve ever held. You can truly feel that some serious r&d time went into the knife when you hold it. Partnering with the wrong factory would absolutely fail to translate the passion behind the product and name.

Now to the part that may ruffle some feathers… I hope the partnership is with the Boker Germany factory to do your brand the justice it deserves, because all of the other Boker fixed blade factories have put out nothing but garbage for years. If it is indeed one of the latter, I hope you weighed your options before jumping on board the boker train. I have no doubt there’d be quite a few other manufacturers that would love to offer a cpk design if you reached out that would do the name justice.

All that said, I’m happy to see you guys looking expand. I think it’s great more people will be able to get their hands on a cpk design. Wishing you all nothing but success in expanding!
 
Cap’n Smudge said:
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But seriously, we are all snobs when it comes to knives. Most of the people I’ve worked with in construction carry big, clunky, cheap quality, cheap price, POS knives.
And they love them!
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ha! this is true, most people don't know how to sharpen, or don't want to sharpen, so they carry a cheap folder with replaceable utility blade!
 
The fact is, the folks like myself who were buying Kit's custom knives weren't going to be the audience buying the CRKT knives unless it was on a lark, as a gift or to get others interested in different knife designs by prominent makers. And I know lots and lots of folks who think that CRKT knives are just fine and who wouldn't really consider purchasing higher end or more expensive knives.

What it did accomplish, is that it provided financial security for a man who served his country in the military over a career, put his soul into the knives he made and was a great friend to those who got to know him.

Beyond that, when he developed Parkinson's and his health began to decline, whatever financial remuneration he received from CRKT, (and I never asked him about any of the details, as it wasn't my business), would have been a boon to him and his family both for taking care of any personal needs, as well as making sure that his wife and family were provided for.

So, while I understand Sharpoholic Sharpoholic 's points, in the end, I don't think it will detract one iota from the quality or interest in CPK's knives...though I do hope that anything that Boker might produce would be at a level that would make Nathan and Jo proud.

All I care about is their success. (And maybe a folder someday. 😊 )
 
Dave Wenger just had to deal with tolerance issues on a model Boker is making for him. It caused the handle scales to be loose…maybe one of the traits that would make Nathan bristle the most to have issue with?! He did say they were responsive in addressing it. But time, energy, social media to communicate with customers, etc.

Just a heads up. You know I’m happy to see all things CPK success-related.
 
Cap’n Smudge said:
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But seriously, we are all snobs when it comes to knives. Most of the people I’ve worked with in construction carry big, clunky, cheap quality, cheap price, POS knives.
And they love them!
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Yep. Tell a 'normie' how much a CPK costs, and they go, "How much?!!!".

Then it's about a 50:50 chance whether they show off their beat up 'Walmart special' EDC butter knife (because most of them can't sharpen a knife, and if they balk at the price of a CPK, there's absolutely no question they'd choke on something like a Wicked Edge Pro/TSPROF etc. 😂) *** or the edge looks like a kid got hold of an angle grinder, because the only thing they can try to sharpen a knife with, are the $7.99 pull-through sharpeners.

Show them a video of what CPKs can do, though...and you see a small spark in their eyes... and mayyyybe that spark might turn into a flame 😏
 
I will add that anybody I’ve handed my EDC2 to is really impressed. Their first comment is always an astonished sounding, “That’s really comfortable!” and then they check the edge.
I recently cut a couple steel bands holding a commercial dishwasher to its pallet. As I went to cut them the installer said “those are steel”, and then watched on in amazement as I cut them. He then asked to see the knife.
 
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I preface this first by saying, it doesn’t really matter what any of us think as far as the pros or cons of CPK working with Boker, or any maker for that matter. It’s CPK’s call, and we have to trust the best is being done for the business and brand as they see fit.

With that out of the way, I can shitpost too. I am torn between it being a positive and a negative, meaning it will likely fall somewhere right down the middle. The exposure to a wider audience can be great, for sure, however, Nathan already could sell more knives than he can currently make. So, the downside to possibly more attention back to the mothership will be more folks bitching about how hard it is to get a CPK from the source.

Yes, I suspect aside from whatever exposure it offers to other markets, there will be some sort of compensation for the use of the design. How much, I have no idea? Making my own assumption, I can’t image it will be enough to put Abby through college. I also don’t think that is really the motivator to move forward with the arrangement as if Nathan needed more money, he could charge more for his knives that many claim are being undersold for the quality and value they provide.

Finally, as others have said, Boker can make and offer a stellar knife for the money. I have some. Opposite side of that coin, is they can really drop a turd at the same time. I have some. How much control Nathan will have over which side of the coin it will land on, I don’t know, but I am confident he will do all he can to aid in the product being a success.

My main hope is that Nathan does everything to protect his design and his name, and I have no reason to think that he won’t. So, I am pessimistically optimistic this will be a great thing, and I am optimistically pessimistic that it will be a bad thing, so, it will probably be alright. I just hope Nathan is rewarded with the outcome he desires and it causes him no stress in achieving it.
 
This still ANAQ thread?

Here is a Q Nathan: will the collab CPK, say of that UF variety, have some sort of Carothers name stamp? I assume that you are very guarded about the signature Carothers but will there be a simple CPK or something familiar on the collab blade, similar to Lorien's LA on that Böker Roundhouse folder collaboration in D2?
 
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