Passed the next milestone this morning :) Less than 2 years, but lots of progress. from 120 alloys to over 3000.
Monday, September 19, 2011 23:37:59
Sprint run SPyderco Manix 2, back from 2009. Missed it then, since i wasn't very interested in Spydercos back then, and now I had to pay the hefty premium for a very rare specimen :) Nice little knife. I really like it. Strange a bit, but hey, it's a Spyderco, so what do you expect. Super comfy handle design, very good steel, and I have a few good mods planned for it. Hopefully all goes as planned. Details in the preliminary review. After modding obviously things will change and I'll update the review accordingly.
Saturday, September 17, 2011 18:12:35
Updated the carbon steel section of the Kitchen knives steel FAQ. To be precise, Aogami Super Steel section.
Friday, September 16, 2011 16:55:43
AISI 4130 steel is in the database now. Low alloy Cr/Mo steel, aparently used in swords and large knives, although given it's relatively low Carbon content I wouldn't consider it equal to other popular choices like AISI L6 and AISI 5160. Also added its German equivalent W-Nr 1.7218 steel with exact composition from DIN standard, which has even less allowed Carbon spec.
Thursday, September 15, 2011 06:53:01
This time, it's the Crucible CPM S90V steel and Latrobe DuraTech 420PM steel. Not so sure how did they ended up in different reference groups, note on DuraTech 420PM said it was an equivalent of CPM S90V. Fixed now.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011 21:10:36
After publishing the review, I was contacted by Spyderco fan, who had a few interesting comments regarding that particular review, and a few others things. I've updated the review with the information regarding one handed operation of the lockback mechanism, and added corresponding link with instructions and illustrations from Spyderco. I'm till not too hot on using one handed method myself, but the way I see it, it's better to know than not to ;) Who knows when it might become handy(I hope not).
Saturday, September 10, 2011 16:53:28
Crucible CPM S90V steel and Carpenter CTS-20p steel are in the same reference group now, compositions are prety much identical. Same holds true for the Carpenter CTS-BD1 steel and Hitachi Gin-1 steel.
Thursday, September 8, 2011 17:53:45
The other day I was going through my flashlights, and realized that I haven't had a new flashlight for ages. Unlike knives, flashlights involve electronics, chips and circuits, technology in other words, and those things progress much faster compared to metallurgy, at least as far as knives are involved. Sad but true. Did some research and picked up a few new lights. NiteCore EX 11.2, NiteCore IFE2, from LNFLUX series, 4Sevens QMini on CR2 battery and couple other lights that haven not arrived yet. LEDs are mucho better compared to few years back, and as you'd expect with tech based items, you get much better stuff for the same price. One thing I was really surprised about, how expensive some of the custom flashlights have gotten. Although the designs are more sophisticated and refined compared to few years back. Still, 500-600$ for a pocket light seems a bit steep, but hey, it's a custom, if you want something special may be it'll be the one ;)
Wednesday, September 7, 2011 11:44:46
Back then I was using Add This widget to allow sharing, but eventually I figured it was slowing down page loading, and there are quite a few scripts running on the pages besides sharers. Now all of them are static, except for the Google +1.
Monday, September 5, 2011 11:44:34