There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
Would anybody be interested in going in together on having a knife independently tested for hardness and composition? I'm willing to sacrifice my knife to the cause, the lab test itself would be $240 to get the Rockwell hardness and Steel Composition done by an accredited lab (http://metengr.com/)
Personally, if i have to go though the process myself, it will probably be the last massdrop/apogee collaboration I ever consider buying.
CC: @harveyfnj @JonasHeineman @AveryC @ajorcajada @HttpCasey @Mandrake @Deaomega1214 @faldor20
PS - I'm not sure who's charging you $240 for this test, we have gotten composition testing from Decisive with niton gun for $40 and destructive for $50. Rockwell tests should be practically free, but not more than $50.
For anyone interested in the breakout. I was wondering why there was a milling charge, but assume that's to cut a chunk out of the knife for testing. That being said, I don't have a lot of buying power. I think the main difference is between using a niton gun vs spectroscopy
$45 for hardness testing $37.5 for milling $85 for ASTM E415 or ASTM E1086 - Optical Emission Spectroscopy of steel. $75 for reaults prep and interpretation
While I agree with you that on the agregate the knife isn't overly impressive and is overhyped, we need to tackle issues with individual knives and general assurance of the manufacturer as separate items.
It seems than @JonasHeineman is directing people to support for individual knife problems.
That being said I feel that he has a direct responsibility to provide certain information to the community based on what we have seen and what has been promised.
Let's give it a few days, trust that I'm equally as concerned, but he has asked that the community wait until Monday, let's give him that time.
I've started reaching out to people who may be able to provide affordable testing if he doesn't provide the data, and may have a contact at carpenter I can engage.
Update on those lab results? You said you would have something by Monday. Looking forward to news, even if its that they lost the knife.
Thanks,
CC: @harveyfnj @AveryC @ajorcajada @HttpCasey @Mandrake @Deaomega1214 @faldor20