Cutting rope.

[ShawnKirkpatrick]

At work the past 2 days we've been putting sediment ponds in on the job site. I don't know if anyone knows what I'm talking about but in those ponds we have to put "baffles" which is this real coarse burlap rope fence. Anyway I've had to cut it a bunch and after about 100ft cutting a straight line my edge has lost a lot of sharpness. I used my yojimbo yesterday and my para2 today which both have S30V. I didn't know if this was normal or not. Thanks.

[farnorthdan]

Doesnt sound too unusual to me, I've had to build a few SWPPP's on jobs and some of those materials can be very abrasive, i.e. straw wattles, silt fence etc., especially if it has a bunch of dirt on/in it. Also kinda depends on what your edge angle is, obviously too fine an edge will peter out sooner, also blade material would come into play. Sounds like you have things covered though with a nice back up. I would also consider throwing a plain old utility knife in your work bag, much easier sometimes to just change out a razor blade.

[Water Bug]

Sounds like a combination of the potential abrasiveness of the material being cut plus the presence of dirt and/or sand in that material since it is located in an outdoors situation... so, at least to me, it's probably not out of the ordinary to have a knife blade dull quicker than expected in such an environment. Also, as Farnorthdan noted, blade steel type and edge geometry could play a factor.

[bearfacedkiller]

Rope is abrasive and dirty rope is even more abrasive. Sounds normal enough.

[ShawnKirkpatrick]

I was running a highly polished edge (white sharpmaker rods) on the yojimbo. But today I was using my para2 with about a 360 grit backbevel along with a 360 microbevel.

[Water Bug]

I was running a highly polished edge (white sharpmaker rods) on the yojimbo. But today I was using my para2 with about a 360 grit backbevel along with a 360 microbevel.

How did it do?

One of the beauties of the Spyderco Tri-Angle Sharpmaker is that you can stop your sharpening process at the Spyderco Brown Tri-Angle Stone for a utility edge versus a fine edge with the Spyderco White Tri-Angle Stone.

[ShawnKirkpatrick]

I was running a highly polished edge (white sharpmaker rods) on the yojimbo. But today I was using my para2 with about a 360 grit backbevel along with a 360 microbevel.

How did it do?

One of the beauties of the Spyderco Tri-Angle Sharpmaker is that you can stop your sharpening process at the Spyderco Brown Tri-Angle Stone for a utility edge versus a fine edge with the Spyderco White Tri-Angle Stone.

It was pretty good. You can definitely tell the coarse edge is more suitable for that type of work. The coarse edge just bit into the rope and cut more aggressive.

[sal]

If you use a serrated Pacific Salt and sharpen it (slowly to get inside the teeth) about 20 or 30 strokes on the corner of the white stone, it may serve you better. The sharpening greatly improves the edge's ability to avoid snagging.

sal

[Bodog]

At work the past 2 days we've been putting sediment ponds in on the job site. I don't know if anyone knows what I'm talking about but in those ponds we have to put "baffles" which is this real coarse burlap rope fence. Anyway I've had to cut it a bunch and after about 100ft cutting a straight line my edge has lost a lot of sharpness. I used my yojimbo yesterday and my para2 today which both have S30V. I didn't know if this was normal or not. Thanks.

I'd be curious to hear how a steel like S110V or 10V did in that type of situation.

[VashHash]

For the rope I'd use a coarse finish or serrated H1 is hard to beat for that job as Sal mentioned. The sharpening rounds the teeth slightly so they don't snag.

[ShawnKirkpatrick]

At work the past 2 days we've been putting sediment ponds in on the job site. I don't know if anyone knows what I'm talking about but in those ponds we have to put "baffles" which is this real coarse burlap rope fence. Anyway I've had to cut it a bunch and after about 100ft cutting a straight line my edge has lost a lot of sharpness. I used my yojimbo yesterday and my para2 today which both have S30V. I didn't know if this was normal or not. Thanks.

I'd be curious to hear how a steel like S110V or 10V did in that type of situation.

I was curious of the same thing also.