It has been relatively easy for a person with a phone to send out images and low quality video to a website or their friends via e-mail. On the other side of equation is more refined and produced video content. Usually this content is used for promoting your business or showing your videographer/editor skills.

There is a new trend that brings together aspects of both of these quality levels. Thanks to the easy to use and upload Flip-Cam some entrepreneurs are adding content to their web sites directly or via YouTube to promote their brand and their products. In the best case scenario it is not just a simple flash of product, but an informative “snapshot” of the business, their employees, their products along with substantive information.

So, what does this have to do with knives? Well, I have a flip cam on the way and plan on adding daily videos that can be accessed by this Knife Notes blog, the World Knives website and my YouTube worldknives channel.

The videso will cover a variety of knife related topics. I will show pieces from my collection that I think may be of interest, new World Knives products, knife care and sharpening, knife maker shop interviews etc.

Keep an eye out as the first vids will come to the big screen next week!

Thanks for looking,

Chris Hyde

People often ask me “What’s the best steel out there?”. It is like the other question I get a lot “What is the best knife out there?”. There is no easy answer to that question (as much as many manufacturers wish there were).

As far as knives go there are a lot of considerations and an easier approach might be to start by dismissing the knives that are poor in quality and design. You could start with anything that you get from the cheesy knife shows on cable TV. The price point of $1.23 per knife is a dead giveaway. Besides red herrings like garage sale scores, good knives cost good money. And good knives have to have good steel. But what is good steel?

There are a lot of good steels, but it is more complicated than that. The question is what will you be doing with your knife and will you have access to the type of sharpening equipment that will work with the that given steel.

There are some steels that are super hard. They can be tempered to reach in the area of 62-64 on the Rockwell hardness scale (HRC). A common steel that can attain this hardness is D2. Is this good? Sure, if you need a knife that will skin 3 deer without resharpening when you are out in the field. The problem is that a steel of this hardness is very difficult for your basic user to sharpen. So, when it does lose it’s edge you either take it to a pro to sharpen or spend a long time on it yourself.

Most of us use kitchen knives more than any other knife. Having a knife that is always sharp is a joy to use and safer all the way around. Sharpness equates to control and control equates to safety. So, you need a knife that is always sharp which means a knife that can take an edge easily enough that you don’t have to send it out to a professional sharpener.

So here are three steels that I favor for their overall qualities of attaining a sharp edge, keeping that edge and being easy enough for your basic user to sharpen themselves:

HIGH CARBON STEEL: A good quality high carbon steel can attain a razor sharp edge with fairly good edge holding capacity depending on it’s chemical make up and how it has been heat treated. It is not stainless steel and will discolor. But I would rather have an effective knife than a pretty knife.

VG10 (TRIPLE LAYER  CORE): This one is a bit more complicated as it involves two steels and a process. Many of the better Japanese knives, for example, have a core of VG10 (a hard steel) with softer steel on the exterior. This design adds overall strength and flexibility to the blade and also contributes to edge holding capability. These are a little harder to sharpen than carbon steel knives, but still doable and worth the extra effort.

SANDVIK 12C27 SWEDISH STEEL: Sandvik steel has a lot of the qualities of high carbon steel, but with the ability to resist corrosion. Originally developed for scalpels and medical implements in Sweden it has become a popular steel especially in Europe. It can attain a razor sharp edge, will hold it longer than carbon steel, is stainless and easy to sharpen.

There is an ongoing debate between a lot of people who know the science of steel better than I do. But, for my needs I don’t have to venture far outside these three fine steels.

Finally, when I met Sal Glesser a few years ago and got to know him and his approach I did a full 180. In fact, I have several of my own and often carry a Spyderco. I consider my Delica to to be one of my top “go to” knives.

The predominant reason I have become a Spyderco fan is the quality of materials, construction and the razor sharp edge. I have never seen a flawed Spyderco knife. I have bought and sold a few hundred of them and examined them closely. They have all had superb fit, finish and lock-up.

Beyond the quality of Spyderco I have also gained an appreciation for their design innovations.

Sal created a simple, elegant solution for one-hand-opening with the trademarked Spyderco hole. Rather than adding material and expense this unique innovation embraces economy of material and design.

Looking through the catalog of Spyderco knives past and present is a study in design innovation. Pay special attention to the many locking mechanisms and specialty purpose knife designs.

For those of you who have not taken a closer look at Spyderco knives because they are not a traditional knife I would suggest to approach them with an open mind. You just may end up being counted as a fan of Spyderco knives.

We have added a video feed to the Knife Notes blog spot! As you can see in the upper right hand area of this page there is a small video box. We may increase the number as we go. But this box wil allow you to watch a small version of the given knife related video while visiting this page. Also, click the screen while the video is playing and you will be taken to YouTube and a larger version will appear automatically.

This was the last major element for the Knife Notes blog. I think this makes our blog the most up to date, interactive knife related blog around.

Thanks for reading!

Chris Hyde

Click here to see the AK&TI article

A couple of weeks ago I noticed that they were no longer putting out culinary knives. At the same time I also noticed that the usually ample supply of golf clubs had totally dried up.

The knife selection there was always fairly good and I have pulled out everything from antique Henckels, Cutco, Old Gerbers and even an old Remington skinner one time. I always look for good cheap golf clubs with graphite shafts as I use the shafts for a new sport that I am developing.

I asked one of the employees why the golf clubs were gone and he told me that the managers heard that they could be used as weapons and decided to stop offering them. It was not a big leap to guess that if they were scared off by golf clubs that they were really scared of knives.

So, I looked around and saw an arsenal on the shelves. Baseball bat clubs and garden tool spears and imagine what you could do with a tent pole!

The NRA guys are always throwing around the saying “Guns don’t kill people. people kill people.” They ignore the fact that guns just make it a whole lot easier to kill people. That’s the problem with these simplistic sayings; they always make good soundbites and bumper stickers, but don’t really stand up to scrutiny. To someone like me who advocates the responsible use of guns and gun ownership (as it is our right to do) I dislike this type of misleading message.

So, why do I seemingly veer off course? Because this saying has a valid kernel of truth. As with guns you could more accurately say “Golf clubs don’t kill people. People kill people. Golf clubs just make it easier to kill people. But so does a knife or a baseball bat or a pitchfork or a lamp or whatever anyone can pick up to amplify their strength when they are choosing to take the life of a fellow human!” Okay, it would be harder to fit this saying on a bumper sticker, but bumpers have never been an effective means of communicating the intricacies that separate truth from fiction.

I have written a lot about knives and encouraged people to refer to them as tools rather than defaulting to the term “weapon”. Considering the huge number of day to day practical tasks that a knife is used for there is no good reason for people to think “weapon” when they think “knife”.

A big part of the reason for this mindset is that “Man butters bread: film at 11:00″ is not nearly as sexy a title as “Man stabbed in kitchen: film at 11:00″. You just don’t hear about the hundreds of millions of practical knife uses that take place every day on the planet. We always have to keep in mind that the media is an amplifier for the negative and always skews the truth.

So, I was at Goodwill yesterday as usual on a Monday afternoon and found that there were fresh stores of culinary knives and golf clubs. I’d like to think that people came to their senses, but mysteriously there was not a baseball bat to be seen – anywhere!

Thanks for reading,

Chris Hyde

Like anything else it is a mixed bag. While it can be used by commercial entities strictly as a means of advertising, it can also be a way for entrepreneurs to share their ideas, educate others, answer questions, get to network with others and promote their companies.

I was talking with a friend who has done very well with social networking and has a small store that he and his wife run. We came to the conclusion that for small business owners who are doing what they love there is no way to separate themselves and their business. This has created a phenomenon in which the new means of social networking allows a synthesis between the individual and the business they own.

So, as I write about my personal experience buying, selling, researching and filming knives this dovetails with my business which is buying, selling, researching and filming knives. My business is a direct offshoot of my interests and my interests are embodied in my business.

This means that the content of my Twitter entries, Blog postings, Facebook entries, YouTube videos, Solingen Knife Forum contribution etc. cannot be primarily a means to drive traffic to my World Knives website. I need money to get by like anyone else, but selling knives is not the nexus of my interest in our oldest tool.

I am not alone in this. I meet other entrepreneurs all the time whose companies have risen from their passion and use these new ways to communicate to educate as well as promote.

In it’s best incarnation social networking can work as an open format for entrepreneurs to teach, learn, communicate and hopefully generate some interest in their companies.

All of you who are interestd in knife related subjects are encouraged to follow me on Twitter, “friend” me on Facebook, join our forum and e-mail me directly.

For my part I will make every effort to answer questions as quickly as possible and communicate in a direct and transparent way.

Let’s talk!

Chris Hyde

It went out of business about 5 years ago.

Current “Schrade” knives are made in China.

Older USA Schrade knives are increasing in value.

With this in mind a lot of people are putting them on ebay and the market is saturated.  If you are in a position to hang onto your old Shrade knives for a few years I would suggest that you do so as they will only increase in value as the supply starts to dry up.

[Goins Encyclopedia of Cutlery Marking]