Sam Wilson
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2012
- Messages
- 3,090
Most of what Gaston says has been thoroughly addressed and essentially debunked in the Hollow Handle thread linked to above. To recap for those that havent read through that long and winding thread, Gaston essentially believes that Vaughn Neeley, Jimmy Lile, and other well-known and accomplished makers dont really know what theyre doing when it comes to edge geometry and even heat treating of a knife. I mentioned that he should start making his own knives, and show everybody how its done. He doesnt seem to be too interested in that route, for some reason.
A large part of his hangup seems to be the edge geometry that they put on survival knives. Apparently Gaston prefers geometry closer to that of a fine chef knife. Regardless, I am not here to argue about it. I do this for a living, so I have no desire to come to the internet and argue endlessly over how it should be done. I certainly have plenty to learn myself, but ones perspective tends to change when they actually make the knives from scratch, as opposed to going on the internets and telling the whole world how wrong they are based on sharpening a few knives over the years.
Just my opinion, obviously.
As to the knife in question (the Vaughn Neeley SA9), in the HH thread, Gaston was ready to throw it away, and offered to send it to me for free just to get rid of it. I convinced him to wait and see if it could be repaired. When I got the knife, this is the state of the edge, as it was expertly applied by Gaston:
At this point it became clear why he was having trouble with the edge breaking down. This edge is not only hideous, it is totally inappropriate for a knife of this size/type/steel. As you can see, the edge bevel is very nearly 3/16" wide! I would expect edge fragility if I put that type of edge on there myself. I found no evidence of a bad heat treat in the brief inspection I performed, but it is possible. Everybody makes mistakes, but in this case the weight of available evidence pointed much more to inappropriate edge geometry as inexpertly applied by Gaston. At that point, I had spoken with Gaston over the phone and told him I was going to send the knife to Vaughn Neeley for repair/inspection and that pretty much ended my involvement with it. Its between him and Neeley now.
If Gaston doesnt want to contact Neeley, that is his business and I couldnt care less. But I am no longer part of the equation, as the knife has made its way back to the maker and I have informed Gaston of this multiple times. I guess this is what I get for trying to help out.
Also, I dont know where the $800 figure came from, as I would imagine Gaston paid less than $500 for the knife, but whatever. Consistency doesnt seem to be Gastons strong suit.
I am mainly posting this for anyone who stumbles across this thread in the future anyway. I dont want someone to see Gastons ramblings and think that he knows what hes talking about when bashing Vaughn Neeley's knives. Or at the very least to see another side to the story. I hope this has been helpful for somebody, and I would like to add that Vaughn is a very nice guy and a great knifemaker. You have to see and hold his knives to appreciate the precision and consistency in the way theyre made. Also, his leather work is superbly done. I never said that he was infallible, just that the evidence in this case pointed far more to Gaston screwing things up than Neeley messing up the heat treat (of which I found no evidence. Evidence that Gaston is clueless abounds, though.)
Sam Wilson :thumbup:
A large part of his hangup seems to be the edge geometry that they put on survival knives. Apparently Gaston prefers geometry closer to that of a fine chef knife. Regardless, I am not here to argue about it. I do this for a living, so I have no desire to come to the internet and argue endlessly over how it should be done. I certainly have plenty to learn myself, but ones perspective tends to change when they actually make the knives from scratch, as opposed to going on the internets and telling the whole world how wrong they are based on sharpening a few knives over the years.
Just my opinion, obviously. As to the knife in question (the Vaughn Neeley SA9), in the HH thread, Gaston was ready to throw it away, and offered to send it to me for free just to get rid of it. I convinced him to wait and see if it could be repaired. When I got the knife, this is the state of the edge, as it was expertly applied by Gaston:
At this point it became clear why he was having trouble with the edge breaking down. This edge is not only hideous, it is totally inappropriate for a knife of this size/type/steel. As you can see, the edge bevel is very nearly 3/16" wide! I would expect edge fragility if I put that type of edge on there myself. I found no evidence of a bad heat treat in the brief inspection I performed, but it is possible. Everybody makes mistakes, but in this case the weight of available evidence pointed much more to inappropriate edge geometry as inexpertly applied by Gaston. At that point, I had spoken with Gaston over the phone and told him I was going to send the knife to Vaughn Neeley for repair/inspection and that pretty much ended my involvement with it. Its between him and Neeley now.
If Gaston doesnt want to contact Neeley, that is his business and I couldnt care less. But I am no longer part of the equation, as the knife has made its way back to the maker and I have informed Gaston of this multiple times. I guess this is what I get for trying to help out.
Also, I dont know where the $800 figure came from, as I would imagine Gaston paid less than $500 for the knife, but whatever. Consistency doesnt seem to be Gastons strong suit.
I am mainly posting this for anyone who stumbles across this thread in the future anyway. I dont want someone to see Gastons ramblings and think that he knows what hes talking about when bashing Vaughn Neeley's knives. Or at the very least to see another side to the story. I hope this has been helpful for somebody, and I would like to add that Vaughn is a very nice guy and a great knifemaker. You have to see and hold his knives to appreciate the precision and consistency in the way theyre made. Also, his leather work is superbly done. I never said that he was infallible, just that the evidence in this case pointed far more to Gaston screwing things up than Neeley messing up the heat treat (of which I found no evidence. Evidence that Gaston is clueless abounds, though.)
Sam Wilson :thumbup:
