[PunchDrunk]

Wilhelm von Wänkensteïn,

As a former cutco hawker, I have a bit of insight to that. A flat grind basically looks like the letter "V".

The hollow grind basically looks like a quarter round in wood working.

You are correct that a flat grind is tough, and a hollow grind keeps metal out of the way of the cutting edge. There is also a concave grind which looks like a hemisphere cut out of each side of the blade just above the edge. That also helps break suction and leaves the edge free to do it's job.

[nbotary]

Gazelle - I haven't posted in this thread yet... I believe you have my avatar confused with Tease...

I'm actually a little surprised that Vladimir hasn't weighed in on this discussion yet...

Anyway to address the subject at hand...

Think Rambo, First Blood III. Don't forget the matches, sawblade, and compass in the handle!!! You can never go wrong with a Rambo knife...

[Gazelle]

Tease hasn't even posted in this topic, and i never mentioned his name. Although, i will admit that i have to look twice at each to make sure i distinguish them. However, in this case i think you yourself need to take a slightly better look at the page!

By the way, hope everyone had a good Valentine's day.

[Hengest]

In nbotary's defence, he hadn't posted on the thread; Tease did.

I'm not really up on tactical knives, but I swear by my seax. Why mess about with a karambit when you can hack their hands off at the wrist?!

[Gazelle]

Apologies, when i was flicking through the people who had posted, i must have accidently not have scrolled up far enough, and i missed Tease's name. But i still didn't mention him in my post.

[XmattyX]

would you guys mind posting soem basic steps to makeing a once piece knife

[samurai6string]

when you talked about curved knives, TTT posted about curved knives, not Nbot.

[PunchDrunk]

If you are cheep @$$ cuttlery of Nowhere Mass... then the answer is you blank the suckers out of a lousey grade of 200 Stainless.

If you are one step above, then you blank them and pass them over a grinding wheel.

Joe average knife maker out there uses J420 (softer than 440) and does a decent job of putting an edge on it.

If anyone uses 440, but doesn't say 440C, avoid it. 440A and 440B are too brittle for the strength of the steel.

Of course, any of the assumes that the knife maker actually does some tempering after the knife has been blanked out. Cold Steel uses 420J2, but they harden it up to the standard 56-58 Rockwells so that it's on par with the high end Henkles or Cutco 440C.

My rule:

440c at 57-60 Rockwells for the kitchen (does a great job of holding an edge).

420-J2 for throwing (The exception is that Cold Steel makes the True Flight thrower in Carbon V which stands up to lots of use).

If you want a killer knife, ATS-34 or Crucible Steel is great if the blade is very thick. Benchmade has been known to use these.

Carbon Steel is great for blades, but rusts like an SOB. 1095 is the most common variant. I saw some guys making throwing knives out of it (I'm assuming from old lawn mower blades). If you want to use it for general purpose knives, people typically treat it with some sort of coating.

Cold Steel has some good articles at: http://www.coldsteel.com/articles1.html

Benchmade does some really wild customer service things, and provides some good info on Steel:

http://www.benchmade.com/about_knives/materials.asp

And if you want to see some REALLY pretty steel...

http://www.twistednickel.com/damascus.htm

The guys over at Twisted Nickel make real (300 layer) Damascus with 1095 Carbon Steel and Nickel. Check out the prices on the finished product, and you'll see why it's not common.

And if you want to see some of the Corkum stuff, this is a good link:

http://www.bladeart.com/artists/stev...eve_corkum.htm

Check the prices and see why "Joe Average" doesn't buy good knives.

[nbotary]

John - is there something you're not telling us during our Tuesday workouts???

[PunchDrunk]

Like most guys, I tried to learn how to throw knives at one point in my childhood... I failed miserably. As an adult, I was lucky enough to meet someone who is truly skilled at it and also an outstanding teacher.

After spending several hours digging up his yard to retrieve his knives that I'd lost in (under) the grass, I opted to build my own target and buy some knives. At that time I did some research.

I might not have taken up the sport if he had told me that EVERYTHING in knife throwing is a consumable item. The targets have to be rebuilt as they get chewed up. I've wrecked and repaird knife edges many times, lost knives under grass, and snapped a couple of knives in two where the tang meets the blade.

All in all, it's MUCH more fun than darts! But don't get attached to your first set of knives or take too much pride in your first target (trust me, you'll be replacing them).