  Binding energies and other global properties of nuclei in the middle of the
$pf$ shell, such as M1, E2 and Gamow-Teller sum rules, have been obtained using
a new Shell Model code (NATHAN) written in quasi-spin formalism and using a
$j-j$-coupled basis. An extensive comparison is made with the recently
available Shell Model Monte Carlo results using the effective interaction KB3.
The binding energies for -nearly- all the $1f_{7/2}$ nuclei are compared with
the measured (and extrapolated) results.
