Spyderco Forums

Gonna have to be k390 for me, if I had to pick one. The way it sharpens, the edge stability, the edge retention, it's just amazing. 15v is a close second but k390 takes one of the stickiest edges of any steel I've ever sharpened.

Spyderco's Chinese knives are generally kept at less that 10% of our sales. We continue with the Chinese models to serve the market that cannot afford our models made in Golden, Seki, Taiwan and Italy. Also, they have capacity, so we can fill in with some models that we cannot squeeze into other ...

S90v and CF is a special combo on Spyderco knives and a favorite of mine. We don"t need Magnacut on every model, S90v has better edge retention and is plenty corrosion resistant for most folks.


MagnaMax should give S90V a run for its money, similar performance from those steels. I am super ...

Using the Tenacious as an example -

8Cr13MoV FRN Tenacious = $56.25 MAP
S35VN FRN Tenacious = $120.00 - About 113.33% increase for S35vn.

G10 8C413Mov Tenacious = $64.50
G10 M4 Tenacious = $142.50 - About 120.93% increase for M4.

I understand it's not trendy Magnacut but what is it about ...

I asked because I have an s110v in g10 with liners. I think I would prefer liners. But I get it … it’s cheaper to make and lighter.

Sorry I have not seen it until recently.

I was thinking another in 15v or pay an extra $40 for S90v? (I guess it matters if I want stainless)


The g10 BBB ...

Rex 45. The fine grain structure and extremely high hardness gives it a very long lasting super scary edge in my experience. Rex 45 is pretty much all fine edge.


I have heard of rex 45 holding a good edge for a long time before, but only once. Have you used hap40 before? composition wise ...

Rex 45. The fine grain structure and extremely high hardness gives it a very long lasting super scary edge in my experience. Rex 45 is pretty much all fine edge.

If I had to pick one, Maxamet. It's just incredible.

If I had to give a list of my top 5 it'd be
Maxamet
10V/K390 (these two are quite similar)
Rex 76
Rex 45
M4

Interestingly enough, I find Rex 45 at 66-67 hrc is a totally different animal from ~62 hrc M4. M4 has a very long lasting working ...

I use my knives hard and have no issues with frn or frcp. Even linerless versions with no washers like the dragonfly or native 5 lw, heck someone even used the dragonfly to pry a door open. I also do prefer it over g10 or micarta, it's super grippy when my hands are covered in grease, brake fluid ...

For me it has resisted a patina to the point of even cutting raw bloody steak hasn't caused a patina, or not a lasting one. I'll see a rainbow effect on the blade but even days later it just wipes off.

Rust is another story. My Shaman developed some pretty deep specks that did pit the steel and ...

Nothing is hard to sharpen if you use diamonds, the exception being maybe Maxamet or Rex 121. Both of those require care to avoid chipping when sharpening, and you can't use very coarse stones to apex. Steels like Maxamet and Rex 121 take a long time to reprofile the edge, but once you've hit the ...

In response to the original post, there's definitely something wrong with the performance you're getting. If you are positive you are completely reaching the apex and properly deburring, there might be something wrong with the heat treat. I have a few years of experience using and sharpening k390 ...

Man, I'm late to this thread, but I do love me some s90v. My experience is it's actually quite nice to sharpen, tough enough for a pocket knife, and against abrasive material will hold an edge LONGER than 10v. Compared to 10v and k390 it doesn't have the edge strength of it's non stainless cousins ...

In my personal opinion, "work one side until you raise a burr along the entire length of the edge" is the worst sharpening advice ever given. But what would I know, I've only been sharpening knives for sixty years. There is a reason I don't watch YouTube.


Agreed, I switch sides every 20-30 ...

Can I just get a 15V Bodacious out of all this? I don't care if it's standard production or a sprint or dealer exclusive.

And I don't mean to hate on Maxamet but I'd trade it for 15V as a standard production option.


How much experience do you have with Maxamet? I honestly thought 15v would ...

I like her, I’ve been a subscriber since cedric and ada gear shouted her out (so like 2 or 3 years ish). I’ve seen her tastes grow and change (from the days when magna-cut first arrived on the scene), what I find really cool about her love for steel is that she arrived at her conclusions kind of ...

It's really disappointing that in 2025 we still have to hunt for bonded diamond and cbn stones. I guess you have the CGSW stones now, but nothing really coming from a "big" manufacturer (I think Naniwa is the only big company). DMT, the "better" of the plated stones, aren't really that great ...

I would also like to point out that there is CPM-15V and there is BBB CPM-15V, which has a specialized attention to batch and heat treat.

sal


Whatever's been done to it, this stuff is special. Is it more expensive to produce than Maxamet? I would happily see Maxamet be replaced by BBB 15v, it ...

I've found that folks that are obsessed with sharpening and using their knives are often the folks that may engage in deeper discussions about PM tool steels.

I feel sharpening is a pretty important skill to be able to put some of these differences between these materials into context.

Yeah ...

My experience with k390 is that much like m4, it will take any edge you want to put on it and cut well. I usually do a semi mirror edge at 2 micron but I've gone as high as 0.1 micron and it's still sticky.

Maxamet and Rex 121 do well with a semi fine edge, either a 1200 or 600 grit finish ...