The "Ask Nathan a Question" Thread

Nathan, what are the chances of producing two different kind of hardwood, i.e, both American Osage and DIW if you have plenty of the material in stock, especially if the Osage ends up having a greater waste percentage as compared to DIW? I am well aware that ECAM is an option which I will be happy to order as an extra on the side, but to me, the ones in the wood handle are the truest to the original design which was so elusive for this past 10 years!

This is just a thought and y'all have a nice day 😁
 
Hello Nathan,

Once the current stock of 3V is used up, we will switch to European-produced 3V for subsequent production. Do we need to readjust the Delta heat treatment process? Will it increase the cost?

Also, how many different knife models can still be produced with the remaining 3V inventory?
 
Galaxx said:
Hello Nathan,

Once the current stock of 3V is used up, we will switch to European-produced 3V for subsequent production. Do we need to readjust the Delta heat treatment process? Will it increase the cost?

Also, how many different knife models can still be produced with the remaining 3V inventory?
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Yes
 
TommyGun56 said:
Nathan, I was wondering why ECAM, and Wooden handles were not offered for the Skinner Pre-order (Basic Model)

Is this going to become the "Norm" on future Pre-orders?

Thanks

Tom
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It's taking longer to complete pre-orders. Actually, it's taking longer to complete production runs. This is due to the size of them now. We have been trying to scale up to meet demand for a decade but one limiting factor here is a lack of duplication of roles. There's only one Nate and there's a number of responsibilities here that fall on me exclusively and I am a bottleneck. This has been a long-term issue that I keep trying to address. We take two steps forward and one step back.

Obviously, I'm getting more and better help from my crew as we grow, including a new production manager.

We're also duplicating manufacturing capacities so that projects that used to have to run serial can now run parallel. If a scale pattern has three operations, they run on three machines simultaneously.

We've upgraded our vacuum system and can run vacuum ops on two different patterns at the same time on different machine tools.

We're bringing two more machine tools online

We're bringing another Auto grinder online

An additional tempering oven

Getting the big tumbler back online.

With the additional machines we're having to bring more air online which required an overhaul of the power system

It's a lot man. These are painful growing pains. It's necessary but it's creating log jams and turbulence and pushing out delivery dates as everybody settles into their new roles and we shake out the bugs.

Edge cut antique comes from an already machined shape. It is a scavenged material from very old marine bearing stock older than I am. It has to be cut and sectioned and oriented and cut into blanks that are sized and flattened and laminated before it can be put into the process and that's a lot of disruption. (Also, half of it is gone, and once it is all gone there's not more of it. I'm becoming more selective of how I use it)

The original Skinner had Osage orange and I want that here for our signature series. The vast majority of Osage orange that you can buy is Argentine. This is a high quality material but it's not what I want for this application. American has better translucency, better more interesting grain, and develops a richer darker color. The material I had been using was from Osage from my aunt's farm from Oklahoma. That original material is gone but I have more material here that we need to process but it's really a handful to work with. Particularly for a metal working shop. The best looking material also has lots of cracks and voids and you can go through 100 lb of material to yield 10 lb of good scales material.

So I'm trying to streamline things here and remove disruption until we get things moving more smoothly. However, that doesn't mean I don't want the materials that we're known for unavailable for the signature knives. And of all the knives to deserve ecam, the Skinner ranks near the top so I'm going to offer it. But it needs to be limited.
 
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Nathan

Your above statement is the reason as to why I’m ordering the signature series as it keeps in the spirit of the original design.

However I know there is limitation in edge cut micarta, would you be willing to sell a set of scales in this material along with the signature order? Meaning if I order a signature in the beloved Osage Orange I could order ecam along with it as a secondary set.

I know we’re a ways out from receiving and things could change. So I’m not going to hold anything stated as a truism, just perhaps a consideration on your end.

Thanks
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
There's only one Nate and there's a number of responsibilities here that fall on me exclusively and I am a bottleneck. This has been a long-term issue that I keep trying to address. We take two steps forward and one step back.
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Ummm, you have a twin brother! Problem solved 😁
 
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JearBeatus48 said:
Nathan

Your above statement is the reason as to why I’m ordering the signature series as it keeps in the spirit of the original design.

However I know there is limitation in edge cut micarta, would you be willing to sell a set of scales in this material along with the signature order? Meaning if I order a signature in the beloved Osage Orange I could order ecam along with it as a secondary set.

I know we’re a ways out from receiving and things could change. So I’m not going to hold anything stated as a truism, just perhaps a consideration on your end.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Yes, if someone getting a signature wants to get an extra spare set for it, I don't have any problem with that
 
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