PM 2 MAXAMET review/rant

[Robishere]

So I read up on Maxamet wear resistance and wanted to try it. After ordering it I came across sone YouTube videos of it chipping badly being sharpened, while cutting, and minimal prying and cutting plastic. I also saw people taking hours to sharpen it.
Well, after receiving it I noticed some changes in the shape of the blade.
First off, the tip is very very thin. It is thinner than a regular pm2 at the end. It is all rounded on any edges, and it is finished much better than the s30v. This is not a knife to pry with in any way. I am nervous to drop it on cement. This knife is a slicer period.
The first thing I did was sharpen it to polish the edge. I started with a medium ceramic spyderco stone. It chewed in easily. It did not skate over the stone at all. I went to my DMT fine diamond for fun and it bit and chewed into the knife like was S30V. It was not needed but I used it 6 strokes on both sides. I went to the medium and fine stones (ceramic spyderco) bench stones and guess what. Even the white fine stone got a metal trail each stroke.
I used minimal pressure. No chipping. Why would I need harsh pushing and rubbing? With no hard side pressure I got no chips t all.
THIS METAL BURRS HUGE! There was a visible burr every time on every stone, easy to feel. To put the micro bevel I cheated and used the pointy end of the white sharpmaker stone and gently laid the knife down and back. It’s own weight would roll the edge. It came out razor sharp and I stopped there. I do not go beyond this as I like a working edge that’s lasts, rather than shaving hairs down and loosing that edge soon with practical work.
It was in no way harder to sharpen than S30V.
I do not predict chipping as I do not plan to open cans with it, or pry doors open, or whittle down other knives, or cut piano wire, or use it as a screwdriver. This is a slicer.
I own a hatchet so I do not to chop branches with it, I own pry bars, I own wood saws, I own wire cutters, I even own screwdrivers.
I cave cut a lot of nylon rope with it, plastic, cardboard, and a lot of vacuum packing plastic. That is about what a pocket knife is for. It does its job very very well. It does not loose the razor edge and go kaput. It keeps wanting to cut. It does its job well.
I wanted a S110v but the blurple was so disgusting I passed on it. I was happy they offered Grey with Maxamet instead of a super steel with rainbows and unicorns for a handle and not offer plain black scales for sale. I may buy the S110v one day, after I first buy scales I like. Titanium scratches and is slippery, same for aluminum, the cost of new G10 and a back spacer is most of the cost of the knife itself. Why do people have to buy the knife twice in cost to avoid a silly colour.
Anyways, sharpening is easy, it holds an edge forever, and if people use the knife as a knife like it is meant for, it is a dream come true. (And a manly shade of Gray). I say that this knife is a MUST HAVE for any Spyderco fan or knife collector.

[sovereign]

Agreed on the blurple. Horrible color. Never even thought about buying the S110V version because of it.

[awa54]

I sharpened my Maxamet N5 LW last week, it was as you described, no more difficult than one of the "standard" steels... I would actually say it's easier to get a fine edge on than S30V and no harder to do stock removal on.

As far as the S110V G10 color, we're all entitled to have favorite and least favorite colors, I happen to think that the translucent dark blue with a hint of purple is an awesome color, but I know lots of guys feel the same way about purple that I do about pink

[Evil D]

Sharpening and getting it to take an edge is pretty simple, it reminded me a lot of M4 in that regard but heavy reprofiling sucks.

[bearfacedkiller]

Welcome to the forum!

I agree, Maxamet is great stuff. Glad you like it. I do not find it all that hard to sharpen either. I am looking forward to the Maxamet Military.

YouTube is whack. There are a few good knife reviewers and some really bad ones. You need to be careful of people who stand to benefit from sensationalizing things. :rolleyes:

I would worry about dropping any knife on concrete, not just a Maxamet Para2. I have dropped a Para2 tip first on concrete before though and it didn't go too bad. I think I got lucky.

I like the blurple color and am sorry you do not. Certainly doesn't look like rainbows and unicorns to me. :)

[Bdubs808]

Indigo (Blurple) is definitely not for everyone. I got past the strange color for the benefits of S110V. I need all the corrosion resistance I can get, living with sweaty hands in a tropical environment. For these reasons I do not have any Maxamet blades, unfortunately. I do very much enjoy the gray G10 though.

[ross8425]

Of the PM2s that I have, my purple one is the smoothest of all.

Color of the handle doesn't bother me, I like that it is the only knife I have in that color. I can get black or gray handled knives all day long from tons of other manufacturers. Purple / blue stands out. Plus, really, it's just the handle. How well it cuts is what matters most to me.

I would buy the pink one if it wasn't in s30v since I already have the black one in s30v.

[swisspyder]

Excuse me if this question has been asked before: is there any information on when these will be back in stock @ retailers? Totally missed getting one.

[Robishere]

Warriors and Wonders in Canada has them still, they only ship to North America. For the U.S. I do believe they want paypal as payment. The Canadian dollar is very low now, so the price should be about the same.
Each day I use this it just seems to go on forever like it wants to cut. Maxamet is just amazing. I was very concerned that I made a giant error after all the chipping stories and demonstrations out there, but I did not make an error. I found only abuse and pushing down savagely while sharpening got any chipping on those demonstrations and I do not do either.
I did forget to mention, for diamond stones I have DMT coarse, fine, and extra fine stones in continuous cut finish in 8 inch stones, and for ceramic the medium and fine Spyderco bench stones.
I wanted to test all the hype about Maxamet skating over stones and be impossible to sharpen and found it was no different than S30V at all, and was very quick to react and leave steel on the stones. I could chase the burr easily even on the white ceramic.
It is already becoming one of my favourites as it seems to go forever and takes a couple strokes on anything to re sharpen.
That being said, I do have a DMT Extra fine steel on the way as I do not want to push this sideways onto a normal steel to see it it will align the very edge or if it will chip. I have wanted this steel for a while and now I can justify it to myself, the woman however....I will somehow explain how this steel will help her life as well but that could take some creative thinking!
I will keep using it for a few months as a primary EDC and keep everyone posted of any mis haps, but so far I can only rave over it.

[sal]

Hi Robishere,

Welcome to our forum.

sal

[Robishere]

Excuse me if this question has been asked before: is there any information on when these will be back in stock @ retailers? Totally missed getting one.

Warriors and Wonders in Canada, I believe they are oqned by blade hq. $250 Canadian. The Canadian dollar is really low now. They do want paypal to ship to the States. I got an email notification they were in and jumped on it. They still have them as I type this, I just checked for you.

[Deadboxhero]

So I read up on Maxamet wear resistance and wanted to try it. After ordering it I came across sone YouTube videos of it chipping badly being sharpened, while cutting, and minimal prying and cutting plastic. I also saw people taking hours to sharpen it.
Well, after receiving it I noticed some changes in the shape of the blade.
First off, the tip is very very thin. It is thinner than a regular pm2 at the end. It is all rounded on any edges, and it is finished much better than the s30v. This is not a knife to pry with in any way. I am nervous to drop it on cement. This knife is a slicer period.
The first thing I did was sharpen it to polish the edge. I started with a medium ceramic spyderco stone. It chewed in easily. It did not skate over the stone at all. I went to my DMT fine diamond for fun and it bit and chewed into the knife like was S30V. It was not needed but I used it 6 strokes on both sides. I went to the medium and fine stones (ceramic spyderco) bench stones and guess what. Even the white fine stone got a metal trail each stroke.
I used minimal pressure. No chipping. Why would I need harsh pushing and rubbing? With no hard side pressure I got no chips t all.
THIS METAL BURRS HUGE! There was a visible burr every time on every stone, easy to feel. To put the micro bevel I cheated and used the pointy end of the white sharpmaker stone and gently laid the knife down and back. It’s own weight would roll the edge. It came out razor sharp and I stopped there. I do not go beyond this as I like a working edge that’s lasts, rather than shaving hairs down and loosing that edge soon with practical work.
It was in no way harder to sharpen than S30V.
I do not predict chipping as I do not plan to open cans with it, or pry doors open, or whittle down other knives, or cut piano wire, or use it as a screwdriver. This is a slicer.
I own a hatchet so I do not to chop branches with it, I own pry bars, I own wood saws, I own wire cutters, I even own screwdrivers.
I cave cut a lot of nylon rope with it, plastic, cardboard, and a lot of vacuum packing plastic. That is about what a pocket knife is for. It does its job very very well. It does not loose the razor edge and go kaput. It keeps wanting to cut. It does its job well.
I wanted a S110v but the blurple was so disgusting I passed on it. I was happy they offered Grey with Maxamet instead of a super steel with rainbows and unicorns for a handle and not offer plain black scales for sale. I may buy the S110v one day, after I first buy scales I like. Titanium scratches and is slippery, same for aluminum, the cost of new G10 and a back spacer is most of the cost of the knife itself. Why do people have to buy the knife twice in cost to avoid a silly colour.
Anyways, sharpening is easy, it holds an edge forever, and if people use the knife as a knife like it is meant for, it is a dream come true. (And a manly shade of Gray). I say that this knife is a MUST HAVE for any Spyderco fan or knife collector.

Maxamet is sweet, I only had problems when I damaged the edge for abuse Testing and dulled it enough to put a plateau on the edge and chipped it while Sharpening on low quality soft abrasive.
Realistically, I've had zero problems with real use.

What's funny is that even when the edge was extremely damaged it kept cutting.

Cool stuff.

[ConspicuousConsumption]

I purposefully bought the Para 3 in S110V since I wanted to put some Putman scales on a military line knife. Since I didn't want purple but wanted some exotic steel, the S110V in blurple was the perfect pick. I got the blurple in the mail, didn't hate it, carried it for 2 weeks like that, and I kinda grew to like it a lot!

But then I put Putman scales on it anyway. :)

[ChrisinHove]

I purposefully bought the Para 3 in S110V since I wanted to put some Putman scales on a military line knife. Since I didn't want purple but wanted some exotic steel, the S110V in blurple was the perfect pick. I got the blurple in the mail, didn't hate it, carried it for 2 weeks like that, and I kinda grew to like it a lot!

But then I put Putman scales on it anyway. :)

Sweet para 3.jpg

Ooh, nice!

[curlyhairedboy]

I hear the blurple scales can be fairly easily dyed black....

[Robishere]

I think I will get the S110v and try the dye, and if all else fails buy another brand of scales. Why Spyderco does not offer G10 scales for sale is beyond me.
Titanium and aluminum scratch too much. They are pretty though I have to say.
So far I have met in person at least 20 people who refuse to buy the blurple knife and are buying other brands for that reason alone. A guy almost needs to pay twice for the knife if he doesn’t want blurple at which point why not get another brand?
The fact is a S110V with new tasteful scales costy way more than a Maxamet to start with.
I like the heat treat reliability with Spyderco though. You know you are getting something good each purchase. Some other brands have the same steel and it is way too brittle or too soft. Spyderco is always consistent and always reliable. Maxamet is fantastic, easy to sharpen and just wants to cut. Not for a first time knife sharpener but far from difficult.

[ross8425]

If they sold G10 scales, there would be a lot of people sending their knives in for work because they would strip the screws, not be able to get the lanyard tube off the original scales, lose parts, etc. I would venture to say that is why they do not sell them... but I could be wrong.

Just dye them.

[dsvirsky]

So far I have met in person at least 20 people who refuse to buy the blurple knife and are buying other brands for that reason alone . . .

Seriously??? It's a tool, not a fashion accessory. Do you/they pass on a hammer or a screwdriver because of the handle color? :rolleyes:

[Robishere]

Yes.

[jpm2]

The only way to have a knife steel like this is from Spyderco, or home made.
I suggest everyone who puts a premium on raw cutting performance try it, before it goes the way of the dodo.