The "Ask Nathan a Question" Thread

Burke said:
FWIW the handle on the K20 is one of my favorite handles ever. It has such incredibly effective contouring and texturing. I would love to see other iterations of it scaled up / down / differently.
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I agree. The K20 handle is amazing. I really like it choked up, one handed. Feels great. It is tapered towards the middle from all directions.
Excellent job on the K20, Dan and Nate👍
It is addicting to hold😁 and the balance is perfect imo.
Edit to add: "Excellent work" to everyone involved👍
 
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azwelke said:
I agree. The K20 handle is amazing. I really like it choked up, one handed. Feels great. It is tapered towards the middle from all directions.
Excellent job on the K20, Dan and Nate👍
It is addicting to hold😁 and the balance is perfect imo.
Edit to add: "Excellent work" to everyone involved👍
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Thank you. I'm delighted with how it turned out. We always try to do our best work. But very seldom to you actually achieve your best work. But this is our best work. Not flawless but close.

It is challenging keeping these long skinny blades straight with our particular heat treat because the quench rate and depth are pretty drastic. They all have some marks on them from the fixturing we used. So they are all slightly flawed in a few spots, but I'll bet most people don't notice it.

The look, the fit and feel and function of these are exemplary. I am very proud of the work.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
Thank you. I'm delighted with how it turned out. We always try to do our best work. But very seldom to you actually achieve your best work. But this is our best work. Not flawless but close.

It is challenging keeping these long skinny blades straight with our particular heat treat because the quench rate and depth are pretty drastic. They all have some marks on them from the fixturing we used. So they are all slightly flawed in a few spots, but I'll bet most people don't notice it.

The look, the fit and feel and function of these are exemplary. I am very proud of the work.
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They are special. I ordered two in the preorder and although they appear identical they feel a bit different in hand. Not tremendously and if you don’t pick them up back to back you wouldn’t notice a difference but it is there - one feels just slightly livelier and the other slightly choppier. I don’t get very mystical about this stuff but it is enough to make me from a modern perspective “get” all the myths and legends about weapons. They are some of the very favorite material items I have owned.
 
azwelke said:
I agree. The K20 handle is amazing. I really like it choked up, one handed. Feels great. It is tapered towards the middle from all directions.
Excellent job on the K20, Dan and Nate👍
It is addicting to hold😁 and the balance is perfect imo.
Edit to add: "Excellent work" to everyone involved👍
Click to expand...
Yes, the handle is great. It seems close to one of the classic traditional shapes called Haichi. I made a katana a few years ago and choose that style also as it looked the most sensible just going from photos. Grenock posted a good photo to see the comparison.
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Nathan the Machinist said:
I think the first will start to ship in four or five weeks
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So around Saint Valentine's Day ? ... Is when you will start to ship them out?!?!?...also how are you going to ship them ? Meaning are you going down the preorder list and shipping them in order of the list?... Or are you maybe going to start with the guys who only paid for one Shiv and then ship out the guys who pre-ordered more than 1?... Thanks again for all your time and help!...
I can't wait to have my Shiv in my hands !

NMFrank87 AKA Frank Cervantes from New Mexico
 
"We have about 30 swords remaining from a heat batch that was exposed to oxygen at the wrong part of the process that resulted in some surface decarburization."

Will the steel for the upcoming decarburized/rework "Ninja Swords" perform to a similar standard to all the previous (more normal) K20 pre order stock that didn't have that issue during heat treat? Are there any other visual differences between a Ninja Sword and a standard K20?
 
PolRoger said:
"We have about 30 swords remaining from a heat batch that was exposed to oxygen at the wrong part of the process that resulted in some surface decarburization."

Will the steel for the upcoming decarburized/rework "Ninja Swords" perform to a similar standard to all the previous (more normal) K20 pre order stock that didn't have that issue during heat treat? Are there any other visual differences between a Ninja Sword and a standard K20?
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The geometry is changing a little bit because we're reworking them

The performance will be very similar because it's very similar geometry and, in the core, it's the same steel.

The decarb only affects .005-.010", with the worst of it on the surface. We are removing most of that.

The surface finish will be different and the shape will be a little different but they are very similar swords.
 
amflud said:
Hi Nathan. Do you have any updates on your collaboration(s) with Boker? I snoozed through any sales/pre sales for the UF2, but I’d be happy to have one from Boker.
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Last I heard they were going to release it at shot show?

I kind of forgot about it lol!
 
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