Who hasn't tried a high hardness carbon steel fixed blade knife?

trevitrace said:
Mecha, I concur. I was about to initiate a similar alert. What questions have ye, bodog?
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NJBillK already more or less alluded to something possibly beneficial to at least some to many people going on. Yes, he's a part of it and I'm glad he is. Same with several others. It's nothing more than a selectively chosen panel of testers of some high value knives that have had various heat treatments done on them. More will be coming soon in the testing and review section. I needed some people I thought would be good, honest judges of some uncommonly hardened blades. Sorry if I didn't clear my intentions with you first. I didn't go public with it because I haven't yet received the knives in hand. I was laying the groundwork. Nothing crazy, but no, it doesn't happen often. You were one of the ones I was trying to bring in and I tried contacting you here several times and on another forum. You declined to respond, so obviously you didn't want a part of it.

And yes, so far there is an experienced panel of judges in their respective fields covering a variety of work and environments suitable for thin high hardness blades. I truly look forward to hearing the judges' opinions. I haven't seen something like this happen on any forum yet where a knife maker offered not just one, but 4 knives in different steels at different hardnesses to be evaluated by specialists in their fields. I'm excited to see the results.
 
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bodog said:
NJBillK already more or less alluded to something possibly beneficial to at least some to many people going on. Yes, he's a part of it and I'm glad he is. Same with several others. It's nothing more than a selectively chosen panel of testers of some high value knives that have had various heat treatments done on them. More will be coming soon in the testing and review section. I needed some people I thought would be good, honest judges of some uncommonly hardened blades. Sorry if I didn't clear my intentions with you first. I didn't go public with it because I haven't yet received the knives in hand. I was laying the groundwork. Nothing crazy, but no, it doesn't happen often. You were one of the ones I was trying to bring in and I tried contacting you here several times and on another forum. You declined to respond, so obviously you didn't want a part of it.

And yes, so far there is an experienced panel of judges in their respective fields covering a variety of work and environments. I truly look forward to hearing the judges' opinions. I haven't seen something like this happen on any forum yet where a knife maker offered not just one, but 4 knives to evaluate by specialists in their fields. I'm excited to see the results.
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Hmmmm, somethin' just ain't addin' up. Yellow Alert status maintained until further notice.
 
Mecha said:
Hmmmm, somethin' just ain't addin' up. Yellow Alert status maintained until further notice.
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Cool. Right now I'm just waiting on the knives. Sorry you feel so suspicious about something youre not even involved in.

PS: Thanks for looking out for people. I don't think this thing will fall through but I can't guarantee anything. As I said I don't have the knives in hand. They should be here within the next several days. Since you're a knifemaker maybe you would offer up 4 knives in different steels at different hardnesses at approximately the same thickness for people to test? I mean, if you think what is going on now is shady, why not do something similar yourself? I think a maker is super ballsy to be doing this.
 
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Listen, I am all for it going to red status, and everything getting put on an indefinite hold, once I have the knives.


:D
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In all seriousness, I think this is going to be an interesting time for all of us testers.
Most of us don't have much, if any, experience with a knife (possibly) designed with taking a keen edge edge and maintaining that initial edge over most other attributes.

Given my work atmosphere, a few knives designed as these were are likely to be rather enlightening, as well as a Huge tease.
I guess I should start saving now...
 
Yep, M2 at high hardness is a sight to behold. The knife I made using it held up to some insulators for an hour or so, and I used it to cut insulation for testing and it was still sharp afterward. Not very sharp, but still enough to be useful. The tip of that knife also survived the concrete floor drop test and the accidental throwing into another piece of steel test. Bodog, email sent shortly.
 
bodog said:
Cool. Right now I'm just waiting on the knives. Sorry you feel so suspicious about something youre not even involved in.
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Curiouser and curiouser. I'm sure many eagerly await the chance to scrutinize the test results. Scrutinize them very closely.

Edit: bodog, it's not the test or the knives or maker that's suspicious, it's just you! :)
 
Mecha said:
Curiouser and curiouser. I'm sure many eagerly await the chance to scrutinize the test results. Scrutinize them very closely.

Edit: bodog, it's not the test or the knives or maker that's suspicious, it's just you! :)
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I honestly don't understand this concern over what he is doing. I trust that the people he is contacting are adult enough to make their own decisions about his intentions without people who aren't involved getting suspicious. After all, the ones he contacts are the parties that stand to gain or lose.

And as for scrutinizing the results, I don't understand why they should be subject to it being done "very closely" as opposed to the normal scrutinization. Honestly, provided the testers are willing to describe what they cut and give some generalities about the sharpness of the knife afterwards, I can't imagine it being any less useful than the standard review here.

In all honestly I see very few that offer edge thickness, edge angle, primary grind type, heat treatment, comparison to a commonly known value (like a mora or even box cutter to provide perspective) or any attempt to quantify sharpness before and after with any remote precision (like against or with the grain newsprint cutting...push cut...tree top...etc...usually just get it shaves...well that's a broad term). So unless we're willing to scrutinize all of those reviews very closely, I'm not sure why this one should be worth of greater than normal attempts to find flaws in it.
 
Camber said:
I honestly don't understand this concern over what he is doing. I trust that the people he is contacting are adult enough to make their own decisions about his intentions without people who aren't involved getting suspicious. After all, the ones he contacts are the parties that stand to gain or lose.

And as for scrutinizing the results, I don't understand why they should be subject to it being done "very closely" as opposed to the normal scrutinization. Honestly, provided the testers are willing to describe what they cut and give some generalities about the sharpness of the knife afterwards, I can't imagine it being any less useful than the standard review here.

In all honestly I see very few that offer edge thickness, edge angle, primary grind type, heat treatment, comparison to a commonly known value (like a mora or even box cutter to provide perspective) or any attempt to quantify sharpness before and after with any remote precision (like against or with the grain newsprint cutting...push cut...tree top...etc...usually just get it shaves...well that's a broad term). So unless we're willing to scrutinize all of those reviews very closely, I'm not sure why this one should be worth of greater than normal attempts to find flaws in it.
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There must be some mysterious reason for why this one would get suspiciously scrutinized.
 
Camber said:
I honestly don't understand this concern over what he is doing. I trust that the people he is contacting are adult enough to make their own decisions about his intentions without people who aren't involved getting suspicious. After all, the ones he contacts are the parties that stand to gain or lose.

And as for scrutinizing the results, I don't understand why they should be subject to it being done "very closely" as opposed to the normal scrutinization. Honestly, provided the testers are willing to describe what they cut and give some generalities about the sharpness of the knife afterwards, I can't imagine it being any less useful than the standard review here.

In all honestly I see very few that offer edge thickness, edge angle, primary grind type, heat treatment, comparison to a commonly known value (like a mora or even box cutter to provide perspective) or any attempt to quantify sharpness before and after with any remote precision (like against or with the grain newsprint cutting...push cut...tree top...etc...usually just get it shaves...well that's a broad term). So unless we're willing to scrutinize all of those reviews very closely, I'm not sure why this one should be worth of greater than normal attempts to find flaws in it.
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He's heavily into the whine and cheese scene. He's bringing the same mentality here. I've done nothing to him to cause him to be suspicious. That's why I was trying to keep it under wraps for as long as I could. Some people try to bring good things down without cause. I'm not worried about it. I don't think many others are, either. This wasn't for a normal passaround and it's not a normal test and review, either. I had to try to figure out the best way to do it. The maker makes some strong claims about is hardening methods so I wanted to bring in a variety of good guys who can confirm or dispell those claims. I had to be picky. Right now I'm waiting on two more people to confirm their participation. This will be a hell of a test thread with the guys involved, I hope. Considering the guys who've already signed up and the last two I'm waiting for there won't be much room for debating the maker's claims once it's done with. Like I said before, he's ballsy as hell for doing this.

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Sorry bodog, I don't want to bring your experimental testing down. :[

Yellow Alert status continues.
 
Mecha said:
Sorry bodog, I don't want to bring your experimental testing down. :[

Yellow Alert status continues.
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No worries man. I think you were just messing around but it's hard to tell over simple text so I wasn't going to address you directly until I could tell for sure. No big deal.
 
At the very least this should be a interesting mule test.
I think the hardest I have is 1095 @ 60. I have some custom blades in o1 of unknown RC.
 
bodog said:
No worries man. I think you were just messing around but it's hard to tell over simple text so I wasn't going to address you directly until I could tell for sure. No big deal.
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Yep I just took the mysterious nature of your email posts and amplified it in hopes you would reveal the secret plan. Success: knife tests! :)

However I think saying "heavily into" the "Whine & Cheese" scene and "mentality" unfairly implies that the subforum is negative. Perhaps an apology to W&C is in order. :)
 
Mecha said:
Yep I just took the mysterious nature of your email posts and amplified it in hopes you would reveal the secret plan. Success: knife tests! :)

However I think saying "heavily into" the "Whine & Cheese" scene and "mentality" unfairly implies that the subforum is negative. Perhaps an apology to W&C is in order. :)
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So you gonna make four test blades and have some people you don't know test them or what? Put your reputation on the line for the sake of everyone's knowledge? Maybe this was some elaborate plan to get YOU to make some test blades...muahhahaha
 
Camber said:
I honestly don't understand this concern over what he is doing. I trust that the people he is contacting are adult enough to make their own decisions about his intentions without people who aren't involved getting suspicious. After all, the ones he contacts are the parties that stand to gain or lose.

And as for scrutinizing the results, I don't understand why they should be subject to it being done "very closely" as opposed to the normal scrutinization. Honestly, provided the testers are willing to describe what they cut and give some generalities about the sharpness of the knife afterwards, I can't imagine it being any less useful than the standard review here.

In all honestly I see very few that offer edge thickness, edge angle, primary grind type, heat treatment, comparison to a commonly known value (like a mora or even box cutter to provide perspective) or any attempt to quantify sharpness before and after with any remote precision (like against or with the grain newsprint cutting...push cut...tree top...etc...usually just get it shaves...well that's a broad term). So unless we're willing to scrutinize all of those reviews very closely, I'm not sure why this one should be worth of greater than normal attempts to find flaws in it.
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I understand Mecha's concern. You post in the GENERAL forum with an insanely vague message and when people ask you questions about it you avoid direct answers.

Usually stuff like this is described as:

"Testers needed, people with experience. Please let me know if you're willing to put some serious effort into testing a couple of unusually hardened "carbon steel" blades. I'll make a selection for the testers"


This current message reeks of intrigue and Koolaid.
 
given bodog's history of hard use knife reviews, I for one am really looking forward to the results! I see no downside here😀
 
dogrunner said:
given bodog's history of hard use knife reviews, I for one am really looking forward to the results! I see no downside here😀
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Don't know if I'm looking forward to sharpening out all the dings they're sure to have once I'm done with em. And I'm just a little afraid I might break em. I don't want to and will try not to but personally I've never used a thin knife at work, especially ones with fairly high hardness readings. Just the other day I needed to use a small sledge hammer to baton my knife through some 4x4s and then use the split 4x4s to baton through some 12 ft long planks of 2x4s. I'm gonna have to tread carefully, I think. I'm gonna be last on the list, I don't wanna ruin anything by breaking them on the first testing. There are some, I think, really good guys who are gonna put these knives to some really good use.
 
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