The "Ask Nathan a question" thread

Definitely in on an sdfk. Axe too. Im gonna be broke...

 

Nathan, can we get an update on projected/estimated times some of the future products will be available or where you are in the process?

 

Nathan, how about just making an axe / SDFK combo offer? Saves on shipping and you know we are all going to want both anyways

 

Nathan, what causes the yield to drop so much? Is it human error, HT is off or something in the machining process? To an untrained person like me that number seems high.

I am pretty confident that if there aren’t serious deformities you could easily sell them as "Factory seconds" and mark them accordingly so it wouldn’t tarnish your reputation.

 

Sorry about the back to back questions.

How much trouble would it be to do the DEK1 in D2? I think it would be a great fit. Your thoughts?

 

Nathan, why is your inbox so full?

 

If I came across some Osage being sold as follows: “1 1/2” thick - 2” thick. 14-18” wide. 8’ long. $6 per board foot” what should I be looking for to make sure it’s legit? As best I can tell that’s a really good price but it’s not a wood I’m familiar with and I don’t want to buy it and find out it’s junk quality.

 

Making some bows?

 

I don't know the answer to that. I am not a wood expert. I know that the best Osage that I have had was wood that I processed myself personally from a farm in Oklahoma. The Osage that I have had that warped on me was material supplied by a formite. I'm not sure where he got it but I think it may have been imported from Argentina.

 

I appreciate the response. I’ll do more research and buy (or not buy) accordingly.

 

Other than being a $#!t ton of material for knife blanks... it sounds like about 16-20 BF. Do you have to buy all of it? What is the moisture content? Are there visible checks/cracks?

 

I believe there are multiple boards. Is there a way to check MC without a meter? All I’ve seen is pics at this point I’ll go check in person and see about the cracks or checks. Thank you!

 

Ask the seller to tell you m.c. -you need a meter. If you can see it, few checks would be a good sign that it was aged slowly (I assume it is not green, is it?).

 

Some woods it is difficult to check the moisture. I measure the weight of a piece of wood on a high precision scale and then keep it in a cool dry place and come back and measure it again. As it loses weight you know it's drying, if it ever stops losing weight or starts to gain weight some days you know it's done drying.

 

So @Nathan the Machinist ....what can I expect from v4e at 60hrc compared to d3v?

 

V4E has a number of different heat treats, there are no good heat treats for V4E at 60. That is an inappropriate hardness for that material in a knife application. V4E should be at least 62, we run our comp choppers at 63.5 to 65.5. There is no good reason to run V4E at 60, you should be using a different alloy at that hardness.

 

I ask because I brought a trc,and was suprised by the hardness (or not in this case)

 

Some manufacturers will run high performance steels soft because they are heat treated as a blank and then ground hard on a Berger grinder and the high hardness steels erode the grinding wheels too fast so they run them softer. Kind of defeats the purpose of the steel.