The "Ask Nathan a Question" Thread

Hi Nathan,
looking at the new signature and D3V logo you shared in yesterday friday sale post, will part of the signature be covered by front end of the scale? (i would really love to see casinostocks face seeing this 😁)
the space between plunge line and front end of scale looks a bit too narrow to fit a normal size carother signature.
not sure about the D3V logo, looks the same as the old one to my eyes.
what do you think about flipping the triangle upside down? do you think it will look and assist better to differentiate them?
 
But a genuine question: corrosion resistance aside, is it fair to day that the resulting blades made with tweaked Delta 3v fit between OG D3v and Magnacut in terms of toughness vs wear resistance? Or is that reducing it too much?
 
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gunslinger387 said:
Nathan,

What is the benefit of making the K18 so wide?
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For chopping/slicing, the cross section matters.

Think of 2 blades of the same thickness; 1 that is wider, and 1 that is narrower.

The wider blade will be the better slicer/chopper.

We can see this in HEMA cutting competitions. The Albion Crecy had been a popular option for many years, but the Albion Principe will beat it. Look at their cross sections.

The K18 was also made with a tougher, more obtuse edge on one side, and a thinner more acute edge on the other side, out of discussions here on what would be optimal to beat that competition.
 
bluemax_1 said:
For chopping/slicing, the cross section matters.

Think of 2 blades of the same thickness; 1 that is wider, and 1 that is narrower.

The wider blade will be the better slicer/chopper.

We can see this in HEMA cutting competitions. The Albion Crecy had been a popular option for many years, but the Albion Principe will beat it. Look at their cross sections.

The K18 was also made with a tougher, more obtuse edge on one side, and a thinner more acute edge on the other side, out of discussions here on what would be optimal to beat that competition.
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Isn't that basically what I said? 🤣
 
And ideal blade would have been a little less wide, viewed from a resistance to whip in impact perspective on the hard targets. It was wider than it needed to be for that.

However, the primary grind angles required for these cuts are relatively narrow and they stack up to a wide blade. And it needed to be double-edged with the leading edge used on hard targets and the trailing edge thin and very sharp and used for things like meat. The ideal blade would have actually needed to be even a little bit wider than it was to have the ideal primary grind angle that we use in cutting competitions. The only fix to address that would have been thinner stock, or the width that we had.

Thinner stock wouldn't have been better.

It's a balancing act that involves cutting geometry, durability and kinetics. The geometry is what it is because it was the best balance that gave the power and cutting capability that we needed in a good form factor and weight with the perfect combination of weight and length for the application, while being very close to ideal on the grind angles. Within one degree of optimal.

There were no aesthetic design considerations. It is a pure high performance competition cutting sword and it's one of the most powerful cutters you will ever come across. There are very few swords that can cut through a 2x4 in one hit without being damaged or destroyed, and this sword can do it all day long.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
There were no aesthetic design considerations. It is a pure high performance competition cutting sword and it's one of the most powerful cutters you will ever come across. There are very few swords that can cut through a 2x4 in one hit without being damaged or destroyed, and this sword can do it all day long.
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Although I have not seen it in person, it looks like the most awesome blade ever made. If there was ever a blade made to just destroy things while howling it is that one.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
And ideal blade would have been a little less wide, viewed from a resistance to whip in impact perspective on the hard targets. It was wider than it needed to be for that.

However, the primary grind angles required for these cuts are relatively narrow and they stack up to a wide blade. And it needed to be double-edged with the leading edge used on hard targets and the trailing edge thin and very sharp and used for things like meat. The ideal blade would have actually needed to be even a little bit wider than it was to have the ideal primary grind angle that we use in cutting competitions. The only fix to address that would have been thinner stock, or the width that we had.

Thinner stock wouldn't have been better.

It's a balancing act that involves cutting geometry, durability and kinetics. The geometry is what it is because it was the best balance that gave the power and cutting capability that we needed in a good form factor and weight with the perfect combination of weight and length for the application, while being very close to ideal on the grind angles. Within one degree of optimal.

There were no aesthetic design considerations. It is a pure high performance competition cutting sword and it's one of the most powerful cutters you will ever come across. There are very few swords that can cut through a 2x4 in one hit without being damaged or destroyed, and this sword can do it all day long.
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Torque vs horse power!

I dig it!
 
Hi Nathan, first time posting on this thread - long time fan of CPK! I see Ultem knife scales and handles popping up around the knife community and was curious for your thoughts on the qualities/detractions of the material specifically for that purpose? How do you see it comparing to micarta or g10?
 
YeahBuddy! said:
Hi Nathan, first time posting on this thread - long time fan of CPK! I see Ultem knife scales and handles popping up around the knife community and was curious for your thoughts on the qualities/detractions of the material specifically for that purpose? How do you see it comparing to micarta or g10?
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I've worked with the material before, as a machinist not a knife maker. I'm familiar with it, it's a high temperature tolerant plastic.

Just about anything this side of a baked potato could be used to make knife handle scales. It never struck me as being particularly suitable for the application but there's nothing wrong with it.

I'm wanting to say it was Chris Reeves that was using it first? I could be wrong about that. But I don't recall it being used commonly until I saw Chris Reeves bring a bunch of it to blade show about 10 years ago.

I figured somebody came across a bunch of drops and decided to use them. It is kind of cool looking. And then it caught on as a handle material?

Idunno. There's nothing wrong with it I don't figure. It might be a little bit plasticky feeling, and it's not particularly durable if you drop it compared to other alternatives but it would be just fine for the application.

It is very dimensionally stable, it ages well, it's cool looking and relatively strong. Compared to other plastic options such as polycarbonate, glass reinforced nylon, and delrin, I would probably choose it first.
 
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