Mike Andriacco

I would actually love to see @James Helm do a take on Cloud Cutter. I think his style would pair really really well with the overall shape. Love the neo tibal look. @Alan Longmire, do you remember if the handle on Cloud Cutter was a Japanese tang style, stick/hidden tang, or full tang (I guess or just a wrapped bar of steel, but it didn't look like it in the photo)?

It's mostly a technique problem, but it varies with the competitor. The problem with the fish is that on the belly side, it's pretty "floppy." So when they come in with a horizontal strike on the belly side of the fish, it's just sort of compresses and moves out of the way, so the knife pushes it instead of cutting it. Not only that, since the fish has been gutted, approaching from that side means the competitor is trying to cut into two loose sides, one of which is close to the tip of the knife. All that has to do is slip out and you've already lost. I think the approach needs to be to cut at a downward angle from the spine. That way you're only biting into a single surface (and it's a supported surface at that, thanks to the spine bones), and the downward angle keeps you from pushing the fish away from the cut. As soon as the knife bites, the downward angle pulls the fish downward, keeping it from swinging and making it more "taut," if you will. The same principles apply for cutting a free hanging rope. If you watch a straight side cut vs. a downward angle cut, you'll see the rope get taut an instant before the complete cut through the rope.

My thoughts on "parang-like" cutter would mean that it's weight forward at the point of impact, based on the way it would curve when swung in that orientation. It made sense in my head. "Sword-like" cutter wouldn't be as weight forward. Maybe "kukri-like" would be a better descriptive question, now that I think about it. Either way, the orientation in the hand would obviously change the geometry.

I REALLY like Cloud Cutter. I have questions about its design, if anyone happens to know or wants to speculate. Is it sharpened on both sides? It looks like maybe the edge facing down in the photo cuts like a sword and the other side (if sharpened) would cut like a parang? I can see a lot of value in that design in a competition like we're talking about. Either way, it's now on my list of blade styles to explore and someday learn to replicate. Not to sell or make a profit, but just to cut with it. That thing LOOKS like it wants to bite something.

Quick question...is that just if you purchase it from a commercial source? I.e., would your fees be different if, say, a friend from the forum were able to chop some pieces of steel down and send them your way via international mail or DHL or something?

I'm not smart enough to interpret this exactly, but on a hunch I looked at solubility of carbon in pure nickel, and maybe carbon just doesn't go into solution in nickel until it reaches a much higher temperature than what we usually work with? I know the attached reference starts at 700C (a touch over 1200F), but that doesn't mean the migration is significant at that temp. It's just where the formula starts. Keep in mind, I really do no nothing about this and my metallurgy knowledge is minimal at best. Like I said, it was just a hunch as I'm slowly learning more. https://aip.scitation.org/doi/abs/10.1063/1.1702064

It's an auto shutoff timer. Most frustrating part of trying to fry a turkey is realizing you forgot to reset it and let it run out and cut off the gas. It's supposed to be for safety but I feel the absolute least safe when I'm reaching around hot metal with a stick lighter under a couple gallons of 325 degree oil because the %^#*ing timer ran out.

The giveaway is that if you look real close, the groove has the same finish grit as the rest of the blade.

I am WAY late to the party on this because I've been getting settled in my new home in Illinois and haven't been online much, but I had something exactly like this happen to me and I figured out what it is (at least for me). Take off your belt and look at your platen. Chances are really good that right where you held that knife against the belt, you're going to find something stuck to it. For me, it looked like a bead of black tar. I assume it's some adhesive or something from the belt and metal dust. It was stuck on there real good and didn't want to come off. So when the belt was running and I pushed the knife against that one spot, the belt followed the contour. Then when I dragged the knife across, it created that line. Scrubbed my platen down and chipped off all that stuff, touched it up with sandpaper, and it fixed it. Now I clean the platen pretty thoroughly every few weeks to keep it from happening again.

I think Gil Hibben was injured really bad (nearly died from bleedout, I heard) when a buffer threw a blade into his thigh and nicked his femoral artery.

1. Brian Dougherty 2. Wesley Alberson 3. George Ezell 4. Doug Crawford 5. JJ Simon 6. Karim 7. Aiden Carley-Clopton 8. Michael Lenaghan 9. Dan Bourlotos 10. Pieter-Paul Derks 11. Emiliano Carrillo 12. Mike Andriacco

I'm good either way. It's basically done so I can send it or wait. Let me know what you decide.

Very exciting, Matt! Nothing like seeing your name in print! I actually think I wrote an article for them but never saw it since I didn't grab a copy. It was a coauthored feature with Nate Bocker about Resilience Forge.

I'll have to look, but there are probably a few local (or at least semi-local) smiths you can talk to about the pros and cons, and maybe let you try theirs. Also, look at the ABS website for their lists of smiths. You might find some in your area that way. I know there are at least a few in the Shreveport area you could reach out to who might know someone. This is a pretty close community.

Glador, where in Louisiana are you?