bob_loblaw

I am highly skeptical of any claims made by owners/teams about their profitability. Here's a quote from a former MLB executive[1]:

"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.

[1] - https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/why-small-market-excuses-... [2] - https://www.forbes.com/sites/danschlossberg/2020/06/03/cubs-... [3] - https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mets-offseason-already-ha...

I stole it from someone else, but I couldn't remember who. Pretty sure it wasn't Seinfeld, but I definitely didn't come up with it on my own.

Especially since this so very common in the sports world - Derek Jeter and the Marlins, George W. Bush and the Rangers (back in the day), etc.

But, professional sports teams print money. Most of the infrastructure is funded by tax payers. Salary caps (this includes baseball) keep expenditures down. Fans root for laundry, so rationality is out the window. Just look at baseball, you can pull down a healthy profit while having a dog-crap team (looking at you Pirates). As long as the team is a private entity, there is zero financial incentive to put a winning team on the field. Owning a sports team is a pretty sweet deal.

Yeah, I was wondering about the particle metallurgy process (or the equivalent from other foundries). I know that AEB-L and similar Sandvik steels are ingot steels. Would the added cost be worth it? What about something LC200N (Cronidur 30)? Great corrosion resistance and toughness. Comments here talk about corrosion leading to micro fractures. Not sure if traditional toughness in terms of cutlery applies here.

My current boss (I'm guessing I'm 7 years her senior, not going to ask her age) later told me that she was nervous hiring a subordinate older than her. I'm grateful for her open mind. This is a fantastic job and she is a terrific boss. So yeah, there is probably some unintentional aspect to ageism. Not saying all of it is unintentional though.

That's an interesting material. I'm not a knife maker so I can't really answer your question. I would imagine that this material would, initially, pose a problem for large-scale production. You would have to learn how to work with this material as it is not steel. Their current set of tools and techniques probably won't work well with a fundamentally different material.

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.

[1]https://www.kase-knives.com/home/english/

Intricate knives requires high precision manufacturing. There are lots of small makers out there. Sharp By Design[1] is a one-man knife shop. He operates a CNC machine out of his garage in New Jersey. while his designs may not appeal to you, he puts a lot of time and effort into his knives.

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.

[1] https://www.sharpbydesign.com/

I wasn't trying to do that so I should clarify. MagnaCut is, so far, a success because of his unique approach. I asked on another forum if MagnaCut is using some new process that makes the balance of properties so much better than other steels on the market. Most cutlery steel dates back decades. I thought maybe what MagnaCut is doing relies on technology that wasn't available back then. Larrin said no. He deserves credit for his fresh approach to making a cutlery steel, and I should not have implied otherwise.

My poorly worded response was more to Crucible taking a chance on somebody off the street. Larrin is not some unknown quantity. He has connections in the knife industry, including Crucible. He's also a metallurgist with accomplishments in his own right. Crucible still took a risk, but it wasn't a huge one.

I read that Victorinox regular tests their knives with a dishwasher. While knife people will cringe at this, to many a knife is but a tool. When the tool is dirty, throw it in the dishwasher with the other dirty kitchen tools. Makes sense, but I'd never do it.

The best part about the Victorinox line of knives is there handles. You can't ruin them with the dishwasher. Wood and other natural materials don't fare well in the dishwasher. Their steel (note quite sure what it is) is very corrosion resistant as well. It holds an edge long enough, and it is easy to sharpen. If you are a "knife is a tool" kind of a person, go with Victorinox.

Spyderco already announced MagnaCut in their 2022 catalog. However, they are backed up at the moment. I am not holding my breath for a release in the near future. Custom makers tend to be on the cutting edge (no pun intended) when it comes to using "odd" steels. I expect more and more people to use it. That said, will Crucible make enough for demand? There's not a ton of money in knife steel production. Right now, Crucible's latest cutlery steel is S45Vn. S35Vn and S30V are still widely used as well. 20CV has taken off a bit too. I don't think Crucible will start making large batches just yet. But, I could be wrong.

Spyderco, but I am a fanboy. Their forums are really insightful. If you do down the rabbit hole of knives and steel, Spyderco does a better job of catering to this market. They experiment with all kinds of steel that will never make it to another production company. It should be noted, Spyderco knives tend to be on the "ugly" side. It took me a while to get them as a company.

Benchmade, Hinderer, Chris Reeve, Spartan, Demko, etc. The list goes on and on. This is a great time to be a knife knut.

When I think of maintenance, I think more about corrosion resistance. Is the knife 100% dry when I put it away? Do I want to take the time to wipe down the blade when I cut acidic food items? Then I think about sharpening. How long can I wait between sharpening? How long must I sharpen the knife? VG10 is a good knife steel for the kitchen. It is a Japanese stainless cutlery steel. You can find this steel on mass produced knives (Tojiro) and on many custom knives, which can be quite expensive. VG10 has good corrosion resistance, decent toughness, sharpens well, and can hold an edge a decent amount of time. An inexpensive combination King water stone is up to the task of sharpening VG10. It also does not take an inordinate amount of time to sharpen VG10. As a comparison, Magnacut will do everything VG10 does but better.

Another benefit of VG10 is that you often find it in knives from Japan. They understand that geometry cuts, so they tend to use thinner blade stock (but their knives are not brittle) and they tend to heat treat to 59-60 HRC. I think these knives are a good all-around package. Again, Tojiro is a good brand to start with.

It is hard to make comparisons like this. I know that is a crappy answer. But geometry by far the most important characteristic. How thick is the overall blade stock? How thick is the knife behind the edge? Those two things will matter more than steel composition. Then you have heat treat. A great steel with a crappy heat treat is going to make for a lackluster knife.

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.

Steel chart - https://www.spyderco.com/edge-u-cation/steel-chart/

I will say that hard, thin knives have a reputation for chipping. Triple B Handmade Blades is a custom maker that focuses on maximizing cutting performance. So he uses high-carbide, high hardness, thin (like crazy thin) edges. You would think that his knives would shatter, but they do surprisingly well in his testing. Here's a short video of Rex 121 (has the highest percentage of carbide volume) heat treated to over 70 HRC. He is performing twisting cuts with a hard wood. At the end, the knife still cleanly cuts paper. You don't see/hear any chipping.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAPMXGvrJ1I

All the research I have seen says vanadium is harder. That said, Sandrin Knives makes cutlery with a blade of nothing but tungsten carbide. This will outperform any steel easily. I have not seen a blade of nothing but vanadium. No idea if that is even possible.

https://usa.sandrinknives.com/

Sorry, I stepped out to see the new Matrix film. I like the method of Murray Carter. He put out a DVD on blade sharpening, but has since released the entire thing on YouTube[1]. I have modified it a bit over time. I free-hand sharpen, but am not that great. You really only need a three-stone setup (coarse, medium, and fine) and a leather strop with diamond spray/paste. While diamonds or CBN are only really required for certain steels, I find diamonds to work wonders on a strop. You can get some quality stropping compound for cheap. I wouldn't worry about buying all of that at once though.

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.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk3IcKUtp8U

When we think of knife performance, it is the geometry of the blade that is the most important. I can give you a knife in MagnaCut with a thick edge. It won't cut for crap. So you want a nice, thin edge. Thin edges tend to roll/chip more easily. That is why you want a harder steel.

So if MagnaCut is run hard, it will most likely dull before rolling or chipping. It will still cut, especially if you have think geometry. Once a blade starts to roll/chip, performance really suffers. That's when you need to sharpen.

I have never sharpened MagnaCut, but it only has 4% vanadium (the hardest carbide) and 2% niobium (another hard carbide). You can probably get away with something like the Shapton Pro line of stones. They are readily available.

The thing is, there's no such "best" steel. It all depends on what you want to do with the steel. I'm sure a custom maker will make a MagnaCut chef's knife, but I don't think you'll notice much of a difference. The corrosion resistance should be great, and that goes a long way with easy of maintenance, especially when cutting things like tomatoes. But most kitchen work is done on a cutting board (hopefully plastic or wood), and the material is quite soft. You can make a good argument that MagnaCut isn't needed in the kitchen.

MagnaCut wasn't developed for the kitchen. Even though I am a self-professed "knife person" I just don't rely on a knife all that much where I would notice the difference between MagnaCut and VG10. So, on paper, MagnaCut is a big step forward compared to pretty much every steel. But that doesn't mean every steel is not obsolete. And, of course, we all have preferences. We like what we like, even if another option is "better" in some way.

52100 is a great steel. Sharpens like a dream. Sometimes, that's all that matters to a person.

Elastic ceramic is a pretty wild material as well. You can do stuff with it that seems impossible with steel.

The first batch was given to smaller makers, often custom makers. Right now, Tactile Turn is offering a couple knives in MagnaCut (change the option in the drop down). I've seen people say they have used up their MagnaCut already. The steel will probably trickle into the market.

Spyderco announced that the Native 5 Salt will come in MagnaCut. No date has been given for that.

https://tactileknife.co/products/rockwall-thumbstud

If you look at White/Blue/Super funny they will rust. HAP40 is a high-speed tool steel. CPM M4 is a good comparison to it. MagnaCut will offer corrosion resistance that you don't tend to see in Japanese steels. MagnaCut will have better edge retention than White/Blue/Super. Those steels are low-alloy and rely on high hardness for wear resistance. MagnaCut has vanadium and niobium plus it can get pretty hard as well. MagnaCut is so far ahead of White/Blue/Super in this regard. Japanese steels are known for being great to sharpen (even HAP40). From what I have read, MagnaCut sharpens well.

If we say that MagnaCut = stainless 4V and HAP40 = CPM M4, then HAP40 should have some more edge retention but less toughness when compared to MagnaCut. The differences aren't all that great. Corrosion resistance is the real difference maker.

MagnaCut is the first knife steel that does the best job of balancing edge retention, toughness, and corrosion resistance. It is basically a stainless 4V (if that means anything to you). Larrin focused on reducing the amount or chromium needed. Lots of steels will dump chromium into the steel to help corrosion resistance. This only helps if chromium remains in solution and not forming carbides with the iron. Chromium carbides don't offer much in the way of wear resistance (unless you have a ton of them like in ZDP-189) and they are large carbides (relatively speaking) even after the particle metallurgy process. Basically, you give up toughness when helping corrosion resistance (ignoring steels with nitrogen). Larrin uses a lower amount of chromium than you would expect, but it remains in solution. So you get the stain resistance you want without the chromium carbides.

Other benefits of the steel include grindability, which means makers can spend less time and abrasives on shaping the knife. You can obtain higher hardness than a standard stainless steel, which helps with forming an apex and removing the burr (sharpness for lack of a better word).

Spyderco, a major player in the knife world, has a line of knives called their Salt series. These knives are supposed to be as rust-free as one can make. MagnaCut will first enter their catalog as a Salt knife. This was a big shock given how well LC200N (nitrogen-based steel used by NASA for ball bearings) can resist rust and remain tough (wear resistance isn't anything special though).

Bottom line, Larrin built a well-balanced steel exclusively for knives. Many steels are adopted from other industries or were "knife-specific" but based on something like 440C, which was never intended for cutlery. So MagnaCut is upending the knife steel market by offering something you can't get elsewhere.

Larrin's father is a famous custom knife maker who worked with making his own Damascus-style steel. Larrin, though his father, is well-known among the knife community.

Very cool to see this pop up on Hacker News. I'm into pocket knives, and Larrin's new steel is generating a lot of hype among knife users and makers.

But passing this tax will affect all future IPO's. If the city wants to take a hard line with Uber, then do that. But don't pass a tax that affects all companies going public. That just puts an incentive for startups to move outside the city before going public. Is that a good thing? Is that what the city of SF wants? I don't know, but giving a reason for all these workers to commute up and down the peninsula seems silly. Especially because CalTrain is already insanely crowded as are the roads.

It has been my experience that school officials will offer some coding if that is what parents want. Coding, programming, and CS are used so interchangeably that often meaning is lost. So the bare minimum of coding classes will be presented as this massive shift toward STEM/CS, and parents will go along with it.

Bootstrap does not promise that these math teachers are now proficient coders, but they do walk the teachers through the entire curriculum from start to finish. The teachers act as the students so they get a feeling of what is being asked of the kids. This curriculum is like 25 hours long. Most math teachers use one day a week to work on coding. So I wouldn't call this program CS in the classic sense. Rather it is a brief introduction to coding and how it relates to algebra.

I'm right there with you, but the real trick educators have to pull is integrating coding into their content (math, science, history, language arts, etc.). These learn to code solutions teach as if there is no overlap with other subjects. I don't see this as the case.

A better approach is that taken by the Bootstrap World curriculum (http://www.bootstrapworld.org/). They align their curriculum around algebra. That way you don't have to find time to make a CS class in an already busy schedule. Bootstrap trains Math teachers to use the curriculum. Again, the school doesn't have to hire a CS teacher. The program is entirely online, so the district IT departments don't have to approve/install any software. They are also moving into physics and data science to expand student exposure to programming.

Bottom line, putting pressure on schools to find time and money for a discrete CS offering is challenging. I tend to think of programming as a tool; don't teach programming for the sake of programming, but as a tool to enhance other subjects.

Dan Shiffman has a great YouTube channel on Processing stuff (mostly P5 these days).

https://www.youtube.com/user/shiffman/

My wife previously worked at Harvard Business School and currently works at Stanford. One of the big differences she noticed is that Stanford encourages students to start their company, while HBS steers their grads towards Wall Street.