Knifemaker DJ Urbanovsky

[Barbarian]

DJ: Those are some slick blades, brother. I especially like the three big ones on the left. They remind me of the Greek kopis.

x SF med: Cardboard?

[DJ Urbanovsky]

Glad you guys dig those bigguns. Got some more on tap. But in the meantime, here's the result of the last three months of stress, work, stress, and constant work related stress: The Colubris mid-tech/semi-production knife. A little more practical for most guys than a Tacopis.

A huge departure for me, and a huge learning experience. You build knives for six years and you start to think you know a little about manufacturing, and then you do something like this and you realize you DON'T!!!

These have flat V-ground bevels, CPM-S35VN, hardened at 58-60, tumbled finish. Handles are G10. 100% USA made out of USA made materials. 9" OAL, 4" of blade, 0.187" thick. Weight is 8.3oz.

I didn't cherry pick the best three, I just reached in, grabbed up three sets of parts, and ripped these first three out as fast as I could.

I'm really happy with how this project came together, and the knives will shave packing peanuts. Hope you guys like 'em, and thanks for all of your support and patience. Greatly appreciated.

[tonyz]

Those look awesome - where can I purchase and do they come with a sheath?



ETA: I found your web page address/link in your profile - very nice work.

[Team Sergeant]

Very nice work indeed!

[DJ Urbanovsky]

tonyz: You can send me a private message here and I'll get you taken care of.

TS: Glad you like! Goal with this was to create an everyman's knife. Something that could be carried all the time, that would be equally at home in the kitchen, around the house, in the woods, on the street, or on the battlefield.

[swatsurgeon]

So a folder with this blade style is next???:roll eyes: hey, a guy can dream.....
Great geometry, I am really liking the wider blades lately (since using a knife to cause internal injury to animals!!) The 'wider' permanent cavity makes a difference when you don't have a precision shot....

ss

Originally Posted by DJ Urbanovsky

Glad you guys dig those bigguns. Got some more on tap. But in the meantime, here's the result of the last three months of stress, work, stress, and constant work related stress: The Colubris mid-tech/semi-production knife. A little more practical for most guys than a Tacopis.

A huge departure for me, and a huge learning experience. You build knives for six years and you start to think you know a little about manufacturing, and then you do something like this and you realize you DON'T!!!

These have flat V-ground bevels, CPM-S35VN, hardened at 58-60, tumbled finish. Handles are G10. 100% USA made out of USA made materials. 9" OAL, 4" of blade, 0.187" thick. Weight is 8.3oz.

I didn't cherry pick the best three, I just reached in, grabbed up three sets of parts, and ripped these first three out as fast as I could.

I'm really happy with how this project came together, and the knives will shave packing peanuts. Hope you guys like 'em, and thanks for all of your support and patience. Greatly appreciated.

[DJ Urbanovsky]

First off, hope your hand his healing up well!

On folders: Mmmmmmaaaaaybe... Sometimes dreams do come true, you know.

Let me get a few more runs of fixed blades under my belt first. Once I decided I was going to embark down the production road, folders were a foregone conclusion, but building a production run of those is way different than doing 10 or 20 by hand, from scratch. I'm definitely going to take my time with that project, so I don't end up with 200 sets of parts that don't go together. Hell, there was a lot of stuff that I thought I had under control with these fixed blades when I started this run, and that just wasn't necessarily so. HUGE learning experience.

If you've looked at my previous work, well, you already know my feelings about big fat blades. One of the reasons for that is my meager knowledge of human physiology as it pertains to cuts and punctures. I'm sure I'm not telling anybody here (especially you) anything they don't know already, but we have two primary ways of ending an attack with a blade. 1) Neutralizing physiological structures that enable our attacker to harm us (including difficult ones like CNS). But mostly structures that enable motion. And 2) Loss of hydraulic pressure. The first one, the knife needs to be of an appropriate sharpness and design that it can reach structures that enable locomotion. The second one, any wounds we create by cutting or stabbing need to stay open. Which means that in both cases, the fatter the blade (and the larger the wound channel), the better, because the body has this tendency to want to be self sealing. If I'm wrong about any of this, please correct me.

As far as geometry, I say that I spent six years designing this knife. I wanted this to be the best compromise of a blade that could do anything you might want for an everyday-carry-sized knife to do. And I spent a lot of time thinking about compromises, because that's a big part of knife making. I'd be happy to share my ideas that lead to this knife, but I'm warning you now, it'll be wordy. (As if this isn't already!)

Originally Posted by swatsurgeon

So a folder with this blade style is next???:roll eyes: hey, a guy can dream.....
Great geometry, I am really liking the wider blades lately (since using a knife to cause internal injury to animals!!) The 'wider' permanent cavity makes a difference when you don't have a precision shot....

ss

[swatsurgeon]

Like everything else, the creator of a tool tried to accomplish one or more goals: appeal to the masses with a generic/make a lot of people happy design or appeal to fewer with more highly refined designs that suit a particular need/use. Marketing 101.......
Sell few with higher prices or sell more with lower prices...enough to make your margin where you want it. But the appeal of individual makers, rather than mass producers is that despite the lower numbers sold , the end product is fulfilling a niche that could not otherwise be filled. It took many years of dream, design, refine and redefine to satisfy the artist/creator. You have a vision and put pencil to paper....or fingers to computer keyboard and some even listen to their intended audience for suggestions. It comes down to trying to please the most while still enjoying your passion and making a living at it. Special order designs are great, cost the end user more but take you away from your larger quantity production.......
I appreciate you're even thinking about it.
ss

[DJ Urbanovsky]

In reading that, I'm humbled.

The economy of scale is just one of the many questions of business. That and figuring where in the market you want your pricing to sit. It's a balancing act. Case in point with these mid-techs - I wish I could blow them at $100 each, because honestly, I'd kind of like to have one of my knives in every household in America. But logistically and economically, that simply isn't possible. And if it were, it would also detract from the ethos of what me and guys like me do, which is one of the special things about custom knives. The beauty of the mid-tech is that, despite the "production" nature of it, it is still an inherently bespoke product. And the quantities are still very small, because as we know in business, rarity breeds desirability.

I think one of the coolest things about this project was the speed at which everything came together and made it to market. Another would be simply learning as I went through the process and the pushing of my performance envelope.

Originally Posted by swatsurgeon

Like everything else, the creator of a tool tried to accomplish one or more goals: appeal to the masses with a generic/make a lot of people happy design or appeal to fewer with more highly refined designs that suit a particular need/use. Marketing 101.......
Sell few with higher prices or sell more with lower prices...enough to make your margin where you want it. But the appeal of individual makers, rather than mass producers is that despite the lower numbers sold , the end product is fulfilling a niche that could not otherwise be filled. It took many years of dream, design, refine and redefine to satisfy the artist/creator. You have a vision and put pencil to paper....or fingers to computer keyboard and some even listen to their intended audience for suggestions. It comes down to trying to please the most while still enjoying your passion and making a living at it. Special order designs are great, cost the end user more but take you away from your larger quantity production.......
I appreciate you're even thinking about it.
ss

[mcarey]

DJ - Great job, You may not make a knife for every household, but I am sure everyone of your customers will be happy. That is our goal and I know you share that goal.

[Bill Harsey]

Dj,
Great milled pattern in those handles!
That will make a positive difference when keeping the knife in the hand.

[DJ Urbanovsky]

Thanks so much, guys!

Mark: Hell yeah. Happy customers is the name of the game. We get to build cool stuff AND we get to make people happy? How awesome is that?

Bill: Once blasted, it ended up affording just about the perfect amount of traction. Super grippy, but it doesn't abrade you or your clothing. I'm really happy with how they came out.

[DJ Urbanovsky]

Those of you going to Bladeshow, do try to stop by the table and say hi!

Table 18E.

And in case you can't make it, here are some more knife pics. Couple of nature shots, and one on the bench.

[Team Sergeant]

Very nice looking piece of steel you have there!

[DJ Urbanovsky]

Thanks, TS! Glad you approve.