Salem Straub
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Very good thread, interesting points all.
I've been thinking for awhile now that the custom knife industry is ready for advances in blade materials. Not that I want to work in anything other than steel, but that may be the future... I don't think ceramics, carbides, alloys like Tolonite and Stellite hold answers right now, but there are interesting things like age hardening non-ferric super-alloys (GNiCr40Al4 for instance, I have a chunk to play with) that may offer substantial improvements in important areas.
There are always aspects at odds with any blade material. Ceramic is super hard and holds an edge forever, like tungsten carbide, but is very hard to sharpen for the average person and brittle besides. In sporting knives, Talonite and Stellite are super tough and can be bent practically in a circle without cracking, but just don't hold an edge well enough. Some of the super steel alloys out there like CPM 3V and A11 are incredible for steels in terms of wear resistance and even toughness, but can tarnish. Add enough chromium and some nickel to make it stainless, and you've lost a lot of toughness and may get microchipping at the edge.
Most of us knifemakers have learned or are learning to successfully walk the line between the traits we want in the steels we use... but that's just like asking Henry Ford for a faster horse. We need to experience a paradigm shift for a true innovation in hand cutlery.
I'm happy to work with steels, indeed most of my shop (a significant investment, and years of my life to build) is equipped to deal with steel alloys. Maybe the next wave in blade materials will require tooling of a different type altogether, and maybe be cost-prohibitive.
I'll probably be a toothless old anachronism in a brave new world of zircon-encrusted miracle blades, still crying about carbon steels and forcing people to admire my neglected powerhammer. I've always admired the old way of doing things.
Obviously, the manufacture and use of high quality cutlery are subtle arts- subtle enough that it can take a lifetime of work and learning to achieve the results even of contemporary masters. Sure, in the information age we benefit from a wealth of shared "trade secrets," but putting them to practice is where the rubber hits the road. These things don't instantly come with having read internet text, or even being shown how by a master in person. To paraphrase a maker on another forum, "we all must toil alone in our caves of steel."
So, to make a blade that truly shines in its function and aesthetics is what I feel takes precedence. When a maker feels they can do this reliably, then perhaps it's time to try innovating. It seems that all too often people become instant experts after dabbling in a given field, then go on to shallow and ineffective efforts at innovation. This combined with effective hype or marketing, can make a quick bundle for a huckster.
It's a paradox that persons who are most intimately connected to their own arts are often so introspective or not naturally gregarious that they lead lives of relative obscurity and only ever attain modest means...
I've been thinking for awhile now that the custom knife industry is ready for advances in blade materials. Not that I want to work in anything other than steel, but that may be the future... I don't think ceramics, carbides, alloys like Tolonite and Stellite hold answers right now, but there are interesting things like age hardening non-ferric super-alloys (GNiCr40Al4 for instance, I have a chunk to play with) that may offer substantial improvements in important areas.
There are always aspects at odds with any blade material. Ceramic is super hard and holds an edge forever, like tungsten carbide, but is very hard to sharpen for the average person and brittle besides. In sporting knives, Talonite and Stellite are super tough and can be bent practically in a circle without cracking, but just don't hold an edge well enough. Some of the super steel alloys out there like CPM 3V and A11 are incredible for steels in terms of wear resistance and even toughness, but can tarnish. Add enough chromium and some nickel to make it stainless, and you've lost a lot of toughness and may get microchipping at the edge.
Most of us knifemakers have learned or are learning to successfully walk the line between the traits we want in the steels we use... but that's just like asking Henry Ford for a faster horse. We need to experience a paradigm shift for a true innovation in hand cutlery.
I'm happy to work with steels, indeed most of my shop (a significant investment, and years of my life to build) is equipped to deal with steel alloys. Maybe the next wave in blade materials will require tooling of a different type altogether, and maybe be cost-prohibitive.
I'll probably be a toothless old anachronism in a brave new world of zircon-encrusted miracle blades, still crying about carbon steels and forcing people to admire my neglected powerhammer. I've always admired the old way of doing things.
Obviously, the manufacture and use of high quality cutlery are subtle arts- subtle enough that it can take a lifetime of work and learning to achieve the results even of contemporary masters. Sure, in the information age we benefit from a wealth of shared "trade secrets," but putting them to practice is where the rubber hits the road. These things don't instantly come with having read internet text, or even being shown how by a master in person. To paraphrase a maker on another forum, "we all must toil alone in our caves of steel."
So, to make a blade that truly shines in its function and aesthetics is what I feel takes precedence. When a maker feels they can do this reliably, then perhaps it's time to try innovating. It seems that all too often people become instant experts after dabbling in a given field, then go on to shallow and ineffective efforts at innovation. This combined with effective hype or marketing, can make a quick bundle for a huckster.
It's a paradox that persons who are most intimately connected to their own arts are often so introspective or not naturally gregarious that they lead lives of relative obscurity and only ever attain modest means...