Graham Knives, Diamondblade, and what works

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alaskanativeson

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Does anyone here have actual experience with Diamondblades? I really like what I read about them but then you can read good things about '76 Pintos, McDonalds hamburgers, and the hildabeast. I'd like to know if the blades can hold up as good as their claims. I'd certainly like to hope they do.

Since I'm rather conservative by nature, I'm going to stick with what I know works. I just placed an order for a Graham Knives Drop Point with an S30V blade and a green/black linen micarta handle. I don't think it's going out on a limb to say I'll be pleased.
 
Ah yes, friction forging. Most of us are still trying to figure out what that means. There's a thread on USN about this and before turning raunchy and hilarious this bit from their website was posted:

Friction Forging® is a localized forging process using high temperatures and high loads to deform and rapidly quench the steel in the zone that will eventually become the knife edge. Friction Forging® uses a specially designed tool made from Polycrystalline Cubic Boron Nitride (PCBN), a material second only to diamond in hardness. During forging, the PCBN tool penetrates the blade while rotating, which creates frictional heating and plasticizes (not melts) the steel. When the tool is fully engaged, it moves along the eventual blade edge, creating dynamic microstructure shearing and high forging pressures that produce excellent blade microstructures. The tool's rotation speed, X & Y axis travel speed, Z loads, and blade temperatures are all computer controlled and monitored to insure consistency and repeatability for each blade.

The blade edge is brought above the transformation temperature by the rotating PCBN tool. As the tool moves, the knife-edge is continuously forged. The combination of thousands of pounds of downward forging force, tool rotation, and temperatures slightly above the transformation temperature produce dramatic reductions in austenite grain size. The grains are in effect torn apart and reduced in size by the combination of very high pressure and heat. Transmission Electron Micrographs (TEM) indicates that the grain size is reduced from 5-15 microns in typical heat-treated D2 knife steel down to 0.5 microns, a superfine "nanograin" size.

Have fun with that - none of us still know what it is but it seems like some new-fangled form of "hot" CNC. :)
 
I'd be surprised if you'll find anyone here that has shelled out for one yet.

I handled them at Blade and they were nice. I saw the endless cuts being made with the same knife on 1" rope and was impressed. That's about it.
 
<severly truncated>

Toss it in the same drawer as "Extreme Shock" ammo and the "Crossfire" 12ga/.223. Lotsa hype, no real use.
 
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Toss it in the same drawer as "Extreme Shock" ammo and the "Crossfire" 12ga/.223. Lotsa hype, no real use.
Click to expand...

Sooo, you've actually used one in the field and found it to perform no better than a standard D2 knife or a friend did? How far did it get before it had to be resharpened?
 
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