State of the Knife Collection, November 2020

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Top to Bottom:
1. Carothers Performance Knives Defensive Everyday Knife 1 in Delta 3V and tri-color rag micarta.
2. CPK DEK1 in AEB-L and black and green linen micarta.
3. CPK Utility Fighter in D3V and black G10.
4. CPK UF in D3V and antique edge-cut micarta over black micarta.
5. CPK UF in D3V and tri-color rag micarta.
6. CPK Boot Dagger in D3V and double black linen micarta.
CPK-Collection.jpg


Left to Right:
1. Alan Folts Harpoon Minimalist in black Gunkote CPM154 and black G10.
2. Joe Louie Knives Spitfire in CPM3V and blue burlap Shadetree micarta.
3. Vehement Knives Tunnel Bat in blackened CPM3V, blackened brass full guard, and brown stacked leather.
4. Vehement Knives Tunnel Rat in satin Tigerlypse CPM3V, brass guard, and Moran-style green linen micarta handle.
5. Dan Tope Knives kukri in CPM3V and desert ironwood with brass hardware.
Fixed-Collection-2.jpg


Top to Bottom:
1. Spyderco Darn Dao in CPM154 and black G10.
2. Spyderco Swayback in CTS XHP and titanium.
3. Spyderco Kapara in S30V and carbon fiber.
4. Spyderco Paramilitary 2 with Emerson Wave in S30V and black G10.
Spyderco-Collection.jpg


And here's a very interesting piece I've had more than ten years now. It's an interesting sword, but something of a jinxed blade. This is a fencing saber made by Tinker Pearce back in 2008. He is probably best known as a sword maker and historian and for his collaboration with Hanwei on a series of medieval sword reproductions. I ordered it probably a year and a half before that, but Tinker was having health problems and this was one of the last swords he made during that period, although he has been making swords again for several years now. He actually broke the first blade and had to reforge another. It was intended to cut my wedding cake in September 2008, and it arrived in my hands just a week before the wedding date. However, the bad luck continued, and I got divorced in 2017, and the sword is what I have left to show for all of that.

OAL: 38.5"
Blade: Satin-finish 5160, 33" long, 15/16" tall at the hilt, 1/4" wide at the hilt, 20" sharpened edge, 11" sharpened back edge.
Guard: Mild steel.
Handle: Black leather.

Pearce-Sword.jpg

Pearce-Sword-Blade.jpg Pearce-Sword-Guard-L.jpg Pearce-Sword-Guard-R.jpg Pearce-Sword-Guard.jpg Pearce-Sword-Handle-L.jpg Pearce-Sword-Handle-R.jpg Pearce-Sword-Point.jpg Pearce-Sword-Serial.jpg
 
Nice.

How do you like that AEB-L? What's RC?

John

Nathan from CPK runs it at RC61 the same as he does with his proprietary Delta heat treat for CPM3V. It keeps a nice edge and resharpens easily and is very tough for a stainless steel even at that high hardness. AEB-L saw a bit of a resurgence in knives lately. As I'm sure you know, it's an old, simple stainless that was first used for razor blades in the early 20th century, but recently it and the Sandvik equivalent, 12C27, have been available in stock thicknesses more suitable for knives, and people have discovered how tough it is at high hardness. I believe it's by far the toughest stainless steel currently used for knives at knife hardnesses and does actually peak in toughness at RC60-62.

It's not fancy though, no vanadian or niobium carbides or what have you. I have two more of the DEK1s coming from a preorder, one with tri-color rag micarta to match my Utility Fighter sets, and a special one with a swedge, satin finish, and wood handles. The ergonomics on them is unbelievable. They're exceptionally comfortable.
 
Sam and I are working on a compact fighter. My preferred steels for it would be
AEB-L
15N20
H1
3V

Hopefully you'll post sketches and pictures of the progress! I think 3V is best option with AEB-L as the stainless option. H-1 if you're doing like a pirate knife or something for saltwater buccaneering...
 
Hopefully you'll post sketches and pictures of the progress! I think 3V is best option with AEB-L as the stainless option. H-1 if you're doing like a pirate knife or something for saltwater buccaneering...
H1 is actually one of the tougher stainless steels.
 
BTW, aside from the handle being over polished (making it a little slippery), I would say the Darn Dao is an almost perfect example of a very large fighter.

The Dan Tope handle looks like it would raise some hot spots after a few minutes of work. I had a large HI kuk with a cracked handle rehandled with a guard. Looked cool, but there's a reason those kukris have a rounded handle.

Your thoughts/experience?

John
 
H1 is actually one of the tougher stainless steels.
It may be tough but there are plenty of others that take a better edge and hold it better. I have a few H1 Spydercos that I use diving and on the job in a marine environment so I like them because they don't rust but they need more attention / sharpening.
 
Considering this will be a dedicated fighter, not a "deployment knife" toughness is considerably more important than edge retention.

John
 
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