Oh that 13 deg Fieldlore…damn. Thanks William for the overview and information, always helpful to hear it straight from the maker and it sinks in a little bit more each time I hear it. Very Best!
Super explanation of edge angle. FYI: To anyone who does not own a WCKnife. Even the thickest blade steel, like the Elite Chopper model, slice unbelievably well. The pleasure of a good tool comes when it does what it is supposed to do. So whittle on a stick.....you might even catch yourself smiling. 😊
Thank you for sharing your wisdom and experiences with us. In my humble opinion the sharpness degree other than the specific usage depends on how skilful some is with knives, what is the steel and structure of that knife, and how the blade has been heat treated and even by whom. In addition I’m strictly against batoning with knives unless some is in real need to do so.
For a comparison, a traditional scandi is actually only something like 12 degrees per side. Mora uses 11.5 for 23 degrees included. It's meant to be much like a chisel if it were a knife, very good for carving. Most blades use too thick a spine for any useful cutting, though. It's better with somewhat thinner stock.
There's a lot in here for both a knife/tool user and owner as well as the knife makers out there. Me being the latter mostly. Is that as a customer its pretty easy to be lit up with the marketing, aggressive knife profiles, the celebrity endorsements and quite a fair old mountain of bullshit to climb through. It's going to be a fairly tough old hike up that mountain if you don't have a material-engineering understanding or knowing exactly what you want out of a knife and how you're potentially looking to use or possibly abuse it. By far the biggest culprits of course are the mass manufacturers out there that need to sling a few to make a lot of money and they do have a place in terms of providing a cheap product to serve some kind of function for people in that price point. I mostly 90% occupy a market which is food prep cutlery and the odd butcher knives so its kind of tough there but once in a blue moon I do some bushcraft and outdoor stuff, its also a pretty tough sell out there when people will ask why my knife being 10x more than an off the shelf beater is better? Well that's quite simple, we're doing a complex marriage of material and edge geometry A manufacturer will sell you a material, a profile shape that looks purposeful and all the hype you need to be happy with your purchase, but down here in the back shed with the dirty grinders, things that spin around and things on fire- I'm really focusing at least 50% of my work on a knife being 'All about that Geometry'. With the rest being materials science, quality, heat processing, finish and the knife shape being fit for purpose. Now there's a lot of good metal out there in terms of the low end budget, the mid-range and the high end steels. Some of them will be carbon-alloy steels, high alloy tool steels and stainless steels but they all serve a fairly important development cycle in terms of how they're put together at a metallurgical level and also how they can be processed on an industrial scale. Its also important to note that material cost and processing cost are extremely important factors when it comes to metals because that' after labour and abrasives is your next big price point. Within those brackets I mentioned earlier: the difference between one steel and another isn't often that great to the point you're going to notice it very much. Like if we get say a couple of good high end stainless steels like Elmax and Vanax, or mid level like S30V or S45VN or AEBL and Nitro-V. They're all kind of a much-a-much at that point, the increments are pretty small to be frank so it mostly comes down to how much you want to spend and what the tool does. As the owner of such a tool, you're going to need to learn how to sharpen it and tune it up to how you like it as William says, straight out of the box its probably not going to be 100% how you like it, despite it being also 100% fit for purpose if you're really lucky. As a knife maker, its also important you find a place where your product is fit for purpose, it can't be too fragile or too axe-like, it'll need to be comfortable in the hand. But mostly it needs to cut! So knowing what you know about the materials science, the tool purpose, you need to find that happy medium where the geometry matches the material and purpose. Its really hard to do and it takes actually quite a long time to get really good at, hopefully though this and the video by William will set you on a course to study how you can basically make something that cuts better than something off the shelf, regardless of what its made out of.
Hello, Will great video as always but I wanted to ask you something Great Northern messaged me a couple months ago because I was on the list for the Blackbird and they only had the 3V so I got it but now to the Question do you do your Voodoo heat treatment on the 3V ? I saw one of your old vids and Peters did a 3V you had. The knife is great regardless I was just wondering. Thanks Will.
Intelligent and comprehensive explanation. Thank you!
Excellent presentation. A lot of good, every day man, info! Thank you William.
Oh that 13 deg Fieldlore…damn. Thanks William for the overview and information, always helpful to hear it straight from the maker and it sinks in a little bit more each time I hear it.
Very Best!
Super explanation of edge angle. FYI: To anyone who does not own a WCKnife. Even the thickest blade steel, like the Elite Chopper model, slice unbelievably well. The pleasure of a good tool comes when it does what it is supposed to do. So whittle on a stick.....you might even catch yourself smiling. 😊
Thank you for sharing your wisdom and experiences with us. In my humble opinion the sharpness degree other than the specific usage depends on how skilful some is with knives, what is the steel and structure of that knife, and how the blade has been heat treated and even by whom. In addition I’m strictly against batoning with knives unless some is in real need to do so.
For a comparison, a traditional scandi is actually only something like 12 degrees per side. Mora uses 11.5 for 23 degrees included. It's meant to be much like a chisel if it were a knife, very good for carving. Most blades use too thick a spine for any useful cutting, though. It's better with somewhat thinner stock.
I know you’re really busy and I can respect that but I’m glad you take the time to make these videos
There's a lot in here for both a knife/tool user and owner as well as the knife makers out there. Me being the latter mostly.
Is that as a customer its pretty easy to be lit up with the marketing, aggressive knife profiles, the celebrity endorsements and quite a fair old mountain of bullshit to climb through. It's going to be a fairly tough old hike up that mountain if you don't have a material-engineering understanding or knowing exactly what you want out of a knife and how you're potentially looking to use or possibly abuse it. By far the biggest culprits of course are the mass manufacturers out there that need to sling a few to make a lot of money and they do have a place in terms of providing a cheap product to serve some kind of function for people in that price point. I mostly 90% occupy a market which is food prep cutlery and the odd butcher knives so its kind of tough there but once in a blue moon I do some bushcraft and outdoor stuff, its also a pretty tough sell out there when people will ask why my knife being 10x more than an off the shelf beater is better?
Well that's quite simple, we're doing a complex marriage of material and edge geometry
A manufacturer will sell you a material, a profile shape that looks purposeful and all the hype you need to be happy with your purchase, but down here in the back shed with the dirty grinders, things that spin around and things on fire- I'm really focusing at least 50% of my work on a knife being 'All about that Geometry'. With the rest being materials science, quality, heat processing, finish and the knife shape being fit for purpose.
Now there's a lot of good metal out there in terms of the low end budget, the mid-range and the high end steels. Some of them will be carbon-alloy steels, high alloy tool steels and stainless steels but they all serve a fairly important development cycle in terms of how they're put together at a metallurgical level and also how they can be processed on an industrial scale. Its also important to note that material cost and processing cost are extremely important factors when it comes to metals because that' after labour and abrasives is your next big price point.
Within those brackets I mentioned earlier: the difference between one steel and another isn't often that great to the point you're going to notice it very much.
Like if we get say a couple of good high end stainless steels like Elmax and Vanax, or mid level like S30V or S45VN or AEBL and Nitro-V. They're all kind of a much-a-much at that point, the increments are pretty small to be frank so it mostly comes down to how much you want to spend and what the tool does. As the owner of such a tool, you're going to need to learn how to sharpen it and tune it up to how you like it as William says, straight out of the box its probably not going to be 100% how you like it, despite it being also 100% fit for purpose if you're really lucky.
As a knife maker, its also important you find a place where your product is fit for purpose, it can't be too fragile or too axe-like, it'll need to be comfortable in the hand. But mostly it needs to cut! So knowing what you know about the materials science, the tool purpose, you need to find that happy medium where the geometry matches the material and purpose. Its really hard to do and it takes actually quite a long time to get really good at, hopefully though this and the video by William will set you on a course to study how you can basically make something that cuts better than something off the shelf, regardless of what its made out of.
Hello, Will great video as always but I wanted to ask you something Great Northern messaged me a couple months ago because I was on the list for the Blackbird and they only had the 3V so I got it but now to the Question do you do your Voodoo heat treatment on the 3V ? I saw one of your old vids and Peters did a 3V you had. The knife is great regardless I was just wondering. Thanks Will.
I do all heat and cryo treat myself in shop. I tried Peters years ago while I was waiting on my first kiln but that was only a couple blades.
I was honestly hoping that's what you would say. Nothing against petters but rather it was you that did it. Thanks Again. @@wcknives