bob_loblaw

"Anyone who quotes profits of a baseball club is missing the point. Under generally accepted accounting principles, I can turn a $4 million profit into a $2 million loss, and I can get every national accounting firm to agree with me."

There are all kinds of financial tricks one can play. I'm a baseball fan, so I'm going to lean on that sport, but I assume other sports do similar things. Let's say you are the Red Sox. Your parent company also owns 80% of the regional sports network (NESN) that broadcasts the bulk of your games. If you sell that TV contract to NESN for $1, then you just "lost" a hell of a lot of money. Except that money isn't lost at all. It just moves from the right pocket to the left pocket. Same thing with parking cars. Just start an external company to park the cars. Profits go to the company, not the team.

That's the real crux of the problem. Revenue not generated by the team isn't counted toward profitability. That's why most sports teams are advocating for mixed-use facilities. All of the profits from the surrounding businesses go to the owners, but are not reported on the teams financial books. This explains why the Red Sox and Cubs are investing so heavily in real estate around the stadiums instead of say locking up Betts, Bogaerts, and Devers to build a core around which to build. Or why the A's are balking at renovating their current location in Oakland instead of getting new land to build a mixed-use facility.

Then you see the expanded playoffs. Playoff games are sold as a separate TV deal, and all money (in baseball at least) is divided equally between the teams. It doesn't matter if your team is good or not, the owners share in bounty. The modern sports franchise sees profits independent of on-the-field performance. Separating revenue streams from the team itself means that you can paint a bleaker financial picture that isn't tied to reality.

A few teams (Packers and Braves) are public. Look at their financial accounts. Again, lots of legal (and commonly used) accounting practices will obfuscate the picture a bit, but these teams serve as a blue print for what is actually happening. The financial situation is never as bad as they say. Well, there have been a few exceptions like the Dodgers under McCourt or the Rangers at the end of the Hicks era.

I could keep going, but I'll end with this. Owners lie. The Cubs said they were facing biblical losses[2]. Yet, the same family was considering purchasing Chelasea FC. So much for being poor. More than just lying, the owners expect their colleagues to adhere to this lie. MLB owners are already angry with Cohen and the Mets [3] (I'd lump the Padres in here as well). Read the quotes from unnamed sources. The owners can afford to raise payrolls, but they don't want to. The party line is to cry poor. Owners who step out of line will face some sort of fallout from this.

If anybody were to try this, I would suspect that it would be easier for a customer knife maker to do so. Kase Knives[1] has messed around with elastic ceramic before. He's always pushing boundaries. He might try something like what you suggested.

It would be incredibly expensive though. I wonder if you could laminate some slabs of mild steel around a carbide core. This is done with steel all the time (especially in Japan). Not sure you could do this with steel and carbide though. You only really need enough carbide to form the apex. The rest of the blade stock is there for lateral strength.

But his knives are expensive. He can only work so fast, and he has to charge a living wage for his time. Many people will scoff at paying several hundred dollars (perhaps over one thousand) on a knife.

The rise in high-precision manufacturing in China means that Sharp By Design can partner with Reate (a well known Chinese knife manufacturer who does very good work) and offer his knives at a much more affordable price. He doesn't have to simplify his designs either. Other Chinese companies like We and Kizer are doing similar work. More and more custom knife makers are getting a deal with a company that allows their designs to be purchased by more and more people.

Hell, there are people who are making a living as a designer partnering with Chinese manufacturing. They don't have the knife maker background. They have a good eye for design and understand the market.

Thanks to Larrin and other prominent knife people, knife users have a better understanding of knife performance. We now know that geometry and hardness are important. Companies are slowly responding, Companies across the board are upping their game. Civivi (owned by We Knives) makes budget knives. Their quality, fit and finish, and steel choices are great for what you pay. You don't have to spend a lot to get a good knife. Everywhere you look, people and companies are getting better and better at making knives. Titanium used to be an exclusive material. Titanium frame lock knives are everywhere, and they have a price that is not prohibitive.

Finally, Triple B Handmade Blades (Big Brown Bear on YouTube) is importing some of the highest quality diamond stones (not aluminum plates, but actual resin-bonded stones) available. They are very pricey (start at $350), but they allow you to easily sharpen high-hardness, carbide-packed steels.

But, regarding tungsten. There is a steel called Maxamet, and it is used in several knives by Spyderco. It should be noted that I am a Spyderco fanboy, so take my recommendation of this company with a grain of salt. I like them more than any other production knife company, perhaps to a fault. Anyways, Maxamet is run really hard, like 67 HRC. Most production companies will run their knives in the upper 50's so the knives roll instead of chip. Quality production companies (Spyderco, Benchmade, Hinderer, Chris Reeve, etc.) will run most of their steels to around 59-60 HRC. Maxamet can cut for a long, long time. This steel has 2.15% iron (which helps with attaining a higher hardness), 10% cobalt, 13% tungsten, and 6% vanadium. I can't think of another steel used in cutlery with as much tungsten as Maxamet. The cutting numbers from this steel are near the top of the charts. So Maxamet will blow MagnaCut out of the water when it comes to edge retention, but it was designed as a high speed tool steel. MagnaCut was designed to be a "jack of all trades, master of none". Steels like Maxamet require skill and some special tools as a sharpener. It's all about choosing the right steel for the job. Often tradeoffs are involved.

There are so many different methods and tools you can use. I say find a well regarded technique and stick with it. Sharpening takes time. Sharpening can be distilled down to forming an apex and removing the burr. It doesn't matter if you use soaking stones, a fixed-angle sharpener, splash and go stones, sharpen with both hands, etc. You need to build muscle memory so there is as little change in angle as you sharpen. That will develop the apex. Then you need to remove the burr. You'll use different strokes, different pressure, and different tools. Focus more on the technique and worry less about the tools. Maybe Murray Carter doesn't appeal to you. Take a look at Big Brown Bear and Michael Christy (also on YouTube). Find a method that makes sense to you and practice a lot. Start with a simple technique with fewer grit jumps. You can add complexity over time.

The best thing I got was a jeweler's loupe. You need to understand what you are doing (or not doing) at the apex to improve. Take your time and evaluate your work often. Even an inexpensive USB microscope is helpful.