The Science Behind The "Light Brigade" Series. . . . . (Cool Pics)

Bloody awesome Jerry!!!! I'm keen to compare models in the hand to feel the difference. Very cool!!!
 
The good news is you've sold me another Steel Heart II. The bad news is I need more money. I hope the Light Brigade Steel Heart will have a Nuclear Meltdown. The tuning fork comment tells me that you're going to use it on the big chopping blades.
 
fbusmc said:
Did I hear OLD SCHOOL???? Like Steel heart II, Badger Attack, Battle Mistress, Mean Street, and some of the earlier cool models???
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That looks pretty cool Boss, :thumbup: and i like the way you think. ;)

Doug
 
Demonic1 said:
I'm wondering about what happens when water gets behind the slabs as well? Are the slabs gonna be sealed some how or a drain hole put in?
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Me three.

Maybe losing the permanent tubes fasteners and reverting back to removable screws is the answer? So that one can easily take the slabs off to clean...

Going back to screws would also be pretty cool considering the Boss hinted at rereleasing some oldies that had said removable handle fasteners... :)

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Very interesting and potentially a huge leap forward on certain models. :cool:

I like the idea of being able to clean under the scales due to the design, but the old screws are not easy to change. This leads to burring the head of the screw and can create a sharp edge if done improperly, especially, in the field without good tools. I like a chicago screw or something with a torque head for a removable application.

THe machete, sounds great as well as some of the other models mentioned. THe gladius would become incredibly blade heavy and would loose a lot of balance imho.

How much will this procedure add to cost Boss?

EDIT to add: I love the hollow grind!:thumbup: woo! hoo!
 
It would be cool if the underside of the handle slabs could be contoured to fill the voids in the tang, although that would negate some of the weight reduction. I am interested to what extent, if any, lateral strength will be changed on LB knives vs. regular.
 
knife hunter said:
Very interesting and potentially a huge leap forward on certain models. :cool:

I like the idea of being able to clean under the scales due to the design, but the old screws are not easy to change. This leads to burring the head of the screw and can create a sharp edge if done improperly, especially, in the field without good tools. I like a chicago screw or something with a torque head for a removable application.

THe machete, sounds great as well as some of the other models mentioned. THe gladius would become incredibly blade heavy and would loose a lot of balance imho.

How much will this procedure add to cost Boss?

EDIT to add: I love the hollow grind!:thumbup: woo! hoo!
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Good points on the fastener methods and being able to remove scales. Makes you wonder if Jerry's design genius might be applied to a new kind of fastener altogether.

I agree also on the Gladius and other large, heavy-blade models. The extra weight in the handle actually helps with control during "loading" under rotational momentum in knives with 10" and longer blades. I'd hate to have a lighter handle on an NMFBM, for example. To me, it's the 8" blade and shorter knives that would gain "liveliness" in feel, with the 5-8" blade models especially benefitting from a balance shift that would enhance chopping. I've always thought the Basic 5 and Basic 7 have greatly enhanced feel (from reduced handle weight) over full-tang models in this size range--also helpful in the sub-5" category, but since these aren't choppers, the SLUT construction is obviously the way to go on those. It's exciting to see Jerry experimenting on a TG--perfect size to gain from the INFI-beam construction, IMO.

As for lateral strength, even the reduced tangs on the Basic/Scrapper models have proven to be strong enough for their length that failure under lateral loads occurs out on the blade on those knives with the tang maintaining integrity (as shown by Noss's destruction tests), so the I-Beam construction should pose no strength issues.
 
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Excellent points Will, which I agree with. The SLUT design seems to be the best way to go for a 5" and smaller knife. I would hate to have a lighter handle on any of the battle mistresses but with the hollow ground treatment on the blade the balance should be restored to it's ideal ratio. It seems that the "light brigade" treatment would most benefit medium sized blades to make them more lively but they would not be considered choppers to me. And since Jerry has referenced chopping specifically I would have to guess that this would be done to larger blades giving them a "machete" feel when being used.
 
This looks ground breaking for your line of knives ;) Nice thinking.
 
oeser said:
It seems that the "light brigade" treatment would most benefit medium sized blades to make them more lively but they would not be considered choppers to me. And since Jerry has referenced chopping specifically I would have to guess that this would be done to larger blades giving them a "machete" feel when being used.
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I agree that medium blades are not ideal choppers, but when carrying a do-it-all knife in the 6-8" blade range, having chopping ability is a welcome plus. I've always been impressed with how well a Basic 7 chops considering its size, and yet it feels agile enough in hand for anything but the finest point work. I've also trimmed up branches using chopping strokes with a Basic 5 when that was all I had on me, and there again the balance made the job impressively do-able. I'm hopeful we'll see some of this agility combined with chopping power from the new design. The idea of the I-beam construction on something like a Sarsquatch, for example, to me sounds like an amazing performer.

I agree also that it will be interesting to see the results of combining the new hollow grind with the I-beam on many of the older models/chassis--certainly expands possibilities for enhanced feel/balance over a wide range of sizes and designs. I hope they continue to experiment and incorporate both these features on larger designs, and I'd love to see more SLUT models in the sub-5" blade class. also. :thumbup:
 
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knife hunter said:
Very interesting and potentially a huge leap forward on certain models. :cool:

I like the idea of being able to clean under the scales due to the design, but the old screws are not easy to change. This leads to burring the head of the screw and can create a sharp edge if done improperly, especially, in the field without good tools. I like a chicago screw or something with a torque head for a removable application.

THe machete, sounds great as well as some of the other models mentioned. THe gladius would become incredibly blade heavy and would loose a lot of balance imho.

How much will this procedure add to cost Boss?

EDIT to add: I love the hollow grind!:thumbup: woo! hoo!
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The light brigade shown isn't just a handle treatment, it's also a hollowing out of the blade. Though a lot of metal would be taken out of the handle, a lot of metal would be taken out of the blade as well. I don't know if it would be enough to keep it from becoming blade heavy, but it might be less severe then just removing metal from the handles. In the case of something like the boss jack proto, there is a ton of metal removed by switching from a super-thick convex to a hollow grind.
 
This is an excellent idea. Now all those who complained about hefting a 2 lb knife while hiking and backpacking are going to be able to work their way to the trough. brilliant jerry.
 
You could put drain holes, but thats aditional machining and wouldn't work if rust/corosion/dirt clogged the drain hole. If you made it large enough so drainage couldn't be blocked, it would let more dirt in then necessary.

You could make the slabs removable, or you could apply a layer of ruberized material as a spacer/gasket on the bottom side of the slab. That would help seal the edges as long as the handle scales were solid. The issue of removable scales is fair even when it's not a Light Brigade hollowed out form, if your tubes get bent your going to have to send them back to the shop anyways, there will be little change with the Light Brigade treatment. If there was a rubberized spacer/gasket in place, the only way water would get under the handles would be through the scales skewing or lifting up off of the tang, which would indicate damaged tube fasteners which would require shop treatment (as it stands with tube fasteners anyways).

The issue with removable scales is when customers remove them and can't get them back on right. It's easier to get the scales slightly off set and then to blame the shop for not making them flush when they were flush at the initial manufacture. Or they remove them and then lose the screws.
 
Buck_110 said:
This would be great on all models; especially if a variety of different scales can be purchased separately. There would be no need to sell and repurchase soley for scale material/color.
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Now that would be a brilliant idea. Kind of like swapping the scales on a folder like an XM-18 for example. You could switch things up to suit your preference or need.
 
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