The "Ask Nathan a question" thread

Nathan,
Have you ever considered doing a take on a bowie type design? If you appreciate that design, just curious what are some examples of outstanding makers/models you admire?
Best,
~D

 

~ I am not Nathan.

 

Thanks! I look forward to reading all of this.

 

Nathan's comments on the Bowie are interesting. I appreciate his dispassionate analytical approach to what he does and agree that CPK shouldn't do a Bowie. I can have a shelf full of cool knives, but reaching for one to cut something, it will often be a CPK. On the other hand something like a Bagwell cable damascus Bowie (complete with debatable steel and unscientific heat treat) can speak to you, or at least to me, in a different way. It's best to have both!

 

I don't think he was expressing what you should have, only what he wants to concentrate on making.

 

Agreed. I agree with his approach for CPK, I just get excited about a wide variety of less functional styles also.

 

And I also have a number of "traditional" bowies in my collection. I think the main point with bowies is that they're dueling knives, but dueling with a knife is pretty stupid. Knives are only primary weapons where concealment and stealth are paramount, which is the opposite of dueling. Before firearms, they'd be combined with a primary weapon as a main gauche, or to dispatch an already incapacitated armored opponent.
I think the enduring appeal of bowies in actual use is for folks who like to carry a big knife in the field and are willing to sacrifice a bit of utility for pointy-ness, in case of that 1-in-1,000,000 circumstance where they're attacked by something on 2 or 4 legs, but don't have a more suitable tool to repel it.
Anyway, we're probably getting off topic.

 

I read some older threads about WIP on Shiv.
I want to ask if you are still machining the whole knife from a bar of steel, or did you switch to laser/water jet for cutting a blank and then machining?

Also, would you put a pink G10 on your personal knife?

 

no I do not use laser or water jet. I have experimented with that in the past but it is not a good process for me.

I have the steel made. It comes to me as raw plate. I process it here. My process has evolved some over time, naturally, but we started out as a machine shop before moving into knife production so we have a pretty good range of capabilities in-house. Our process has changed quite a bit since that WIP thread, but it is overall pretty close to how we do things here.

No, I probably would not use pink on my personal knife. Personally I tend to lean towards understated, not flashy. My personal Shiv has plain natural micarta. Micarta.

G10 isn't terrible, but it's heavy and despite being harder than micarta it doesn't wear as well.

 

Nathan, it's time to come clean...we know about the pink shivs!

 

"Pink shiv" sounds . . er . . unfortunate. Can we not use that expression?

 

Sounds like something that would be discussed in W&C

Add sprinkles and call it the Dessert Shiv!

 

How about "purple headed love warrior"?

 

If a pink shiv is the CPK PHLV, does that mean that the code name for the integral shiv is the love warrior? Do I need to add an entry to the encyclopedia? Is this the next insider 'fluffer' joke?

 

Sorry, no idea what that is.

Would you be referring to the Purple-helmeted Hussars? Famed for their handiness with Pork Sword or Spam Javelin, and commanded by the One-eyed General?

 

What is a trench sword?

I’ve googled and can only come up with trench daggers, and each seems to have different characteristics.

Are there any defining characteristics you could mention? And is there a rough length in mind?

I have no idea what it is or will look like, yet I already know I need it.

 

Hey Nathan, whatre the chances of doing the integral dagger for the general population here? Pre order? Now that you have the KOD piece under your belt...?

 

Some things are better if they remain elusive, Dan. The chase of the almost unattainable is the thrill. If there were a hundred of them out there, they would not be as special.

 

^ well that and they're a demonstration piece that I haven't figured out how to make a profit on. No one would want to pay what I would need to charge for those to make sense for me.