Tradional Group Buy

I think there are 2 distinct type of uses that are in fact being implied here: biased to outdoor/field and biased to home/kitchen. Field serviceability, toughness, additional thickness, larger blade are the bunch of specs related to the outdoor. Thin, stainless belong to kitchen. It is not that I am urging Chris to consider making both versions, but I think that these 2 sets of requirements could be not really compatible.

Or they could be?
 
I do not want it to sound like I am pushing for 4V, I just do not want it to be dismissed because of the lack of information or because of bad information.
I would be just as happy to make the knives from 3V if that is what the consensus is.

It does seem to me though that these are the 2 most popular steels at this point.
 
ma tumba said:
I think there are 2 distinct type of uses that are in fact being implied here: biased to outdoor/field and biased to home/kitchen. Field serviceability, toughness, additional thickness, larger blade are the bunch of specs related to the outdoor. Thin, stainless belong to kitchen. It is not that I am urging Chris to consider making both versions, but I think that these 2 sets of requirements could be not really compatible.

Or they could be?
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You'd be surprised. From what I can tell the Nessmuk is a kind-of outdoors kitchen knife. It does need to be able to skin, clean, and quarter game effectively as well as endure "reasonable" woodworking. Overnights do involve fires :) I'm not a knife historian or expert, so I'll defer any further commentary to someone else. That kind of use does imply thin geometry. Thus a reasonably tough steel would be needed to support such a geometry. So here we are, CPM provides that. I suppose it comes down to which one?
 
Big Chris said:
Here is a little bit of what I know and have gathered through conversations with others.
3V found a place in the tool and die industry to bridge the gap between D2 and M4. M4 was sometimes a little too costly and the extra edge holding was not really needed. A steel with a greater toughness and slightly better wear resistance is what 3V brought to the table. It was never designed nor intended for fine edge cutting tools, the intent was for high stress bending and shearing in industrial applications. 4V brings to the table an ideal marriage between 3V and M4. 4V has edge holding very close and almost on par to that of M4 with a toughness close to 3V. 4V does have a tendency to want to rust if not cared for but is no worse than that of O1 or 52100 that I have experienced. I really do not feel that this should be a reason to not consider 4V.

As for resharpening, it is subjective. I will run the 4V at 63 Rc and grind the edges as thin as is reasonable. Touching up the edge should not be a big issue, but resharpening from dead dull would not be a lot of fun without good quality stones. That is the exact thing I would say about most any of the steels I use.

4V has practically the same composition as Vanadis 4. The biggest difference is that Crucible is using a coarser powder than BU which gives the V4E a finer grain structure.
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I see... Thank you Sir.
 
And on another subject. I have seen some stnning burl handles in Chris' knives. To my taste if those burl scales are availabe fo the Nessmuks they would nicely match satin or even mirror blade
 
Chris, how long will it be before the project starts?
I'd be willing to let those that are on the fence with 4V to have the opportunity to see how impressive it is.
I have the test knife that Ankerson used in his testing.
 
3V or 4V would both be fine for me. Your knowledge of these steels weighs much more than my limiter (with 3V) or zero (with 4V) personal experience.
I would rather have a thinner (3/32") stock and full flat grind (both on a Kephart and a Nessmuk).
Wood or micarta would both work great for me.

:cool:
 
I would prefer 4V but have zero issues with 3V. 1/8". That is my final vote.
 
The Nessmuk knife is very much and outdoors, kitchen / camp knife. I believe that's what it was desined for. I have several different Nessmuk knives and other than one that is about 3/16" thick all the others are on the thinner side. All of my thin ones work great in my home and camp kitchen whether it's slicing, dicing, flipping food over in a pan very well and so on. I haven't had a chance to skin a moose with one yet but I believe with the belly it has it should excel at the task. The design also works great for processing out fish (salmon in my case). IMHO it's one of the few knife designs that actually crosses over exceptionally well from outdoor use to indoor use.
 
TLA said:
The Nessmuk knife is very much and outdoors, kitchen / camp knife. I believe that's what it was desined for. I have several different Nessmuk knives and other than one that is about 3/16" thick all the others are on the thinner side. All of my thin ones work great in my home and camp kitchen whether it's slicing, dicing, flipping food over in a pan very well and so on. I haven't had a chance to skin a moose with one yet but I believe with the belly it has it should excel at the task. The design also works great for processing out fish (salmon in my case). IMHO it's one of the few knife designs that actually crosses over exceptionally well from outdoor use to indoor use.
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Absolutely. This is why I am so excited about this knife. What I wanted to say was that if I should use it the most at home, I'd prefer a thinner stainless steel (so I could throw it to the sink and forget and also not worry if have a diamond stone with me). Actually this is my case so after reading this I would vote for 3V, if the choice is between 3V and 4V. Another reason why I'd prefer 3V for my mostly indoor kitchen use is because it would less likely chip when the blade hits a hard plate surface.
 
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ma tumba said:
Absolutely. This is why I am so excited about this knife. What I wanted to say was that if I should use it the most at home, I'd prefer a thinner stainless steel (so I could throw it to the sink and forget and also not worry if have a diamond stone with me). Actually this is my case so after reading this I would vote for 3V, if the choice is between 3V and 4V. Another reason why I'd prefer 3V for my mostly indoor kitchen use is because it would less likely chip when the blade hits a hard plate surface.
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This is why my wife doesn't get to use the good knives. :)
 
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You can get a nessmuk or kephart in a lot of different steels ,4v & 10v are extremely unique so I would love to have either of these steels,I mean some of the Survive knives are not that far off from a kephart and they come in 3v and 20cv already.........4v or 10v for me
 
You make a great point, sir. Plus the different, cool, high end steels are kinda like big chris' thing.
 
Being able to get a knife in thin stock and ground to a thin edge with a nicely contoured handle is also a Big Chris thing. :)
 
Hi Chris. I do 't have a nessy from you, I'd probably like to get in on this. Of course it'd have to come with a fold over (taco style) sheath like you made for me recently :)

I'd prefer 3/32 s90v or 3/32 4V steel.

Scales of micarta, not g10. Better "organic" grippy feel to them. Deeply contoured if possible, or thin to thick tapering from ricasso to pommel. For kydex some co toured that would help engage kydex would be best, though I'm not sure that goes with how a traditional nessmuk handle is shaped.

Lanyard hole.

Rough finish on flats for cost reduction/time saving. Squared off spine.

Grind up to you.

Happy New Year to you and the fam!
 
...full flat grind, 3/16" A2 steel ....oak wood scales.
 
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^^^

I think that would be another maker... :)

Well you had 1095.... So maybe... But oak? No thanks.
 
I would also be more interested in 4V than 3V... and definitely not interested in A2... Thin is great, and one of the best arguments for tough steels is that they can be run harder and thinner than lesser steels. Also with a deeper blade like a nessmuk, it can be thinner still without too much flex. I'd bet it could be .060 to .090 without any risk of serious damage, but it would cut better than anything.

If I want to chop wood there are plenty of other options than a small-ish (under 5" blade) traditional, so this can be run thin, I would consider 1/8" to be on the thick side for a knife like this. So thicker than that is waaaaayyy overkill. Of course I also carry a multitool so I'm not tempted o use my knife for anything other than cutting....
 
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