Maniago and Sharp Blades

[jdw]

Some of the sharpest blades that I have ever received from ANY manufacturer come from the Maniago factory. I just bought a Pattada and it may be even sharper than the K390 Urban, which was the previous sharpest knife out of the box that I have received. Would someone mind explaining to me what is different about their grinds/level of sharpness out of the box? Attention to detail, machining, hand sharpened?? Thanks much!

[twinboysdad]

Pingo is my only specimen and it was sharp but thick edged so hard to compare to ZDP Manbug, my sharpest ever.

[JRinFL]

I can’t speak to relative sharpness, but I do feel that overall build quality is very high. Perhaps the top quality of all Spydercos, though I expect fans of Taiwan made Spydercos to put up excellent counter arguments.

[TomAiello]

Does anyone know who the contractor in Maniago is?

I think the LionSpy is actually produced by LionSteel, isn't it?

I'm not sure that I have enough Maniago blades to compare, but I'll say that the K390 Urban was both super sharp out of the box and had great fit and finish. Ditto for my LionSteel SR-2--fit and finish on that is super nice. I just ordered a close out Lil LionSpy, and I'm excited to see how it compares when it gets here.

[zhyla]

It's hard to judge a factory by one model. And "sharp" can mean different things. There's the fineness (polish) of the edge, the geometry of the secondary bevel, and the geometry of the primary bevel. That geometry matters a lot unless you're slicing thin things like paper.

The steel can make a bit of difference too. Some steels are very fine in their grain structure. Others have a larger structure (I think due to the presence of carbides, mainly) and can't physically be sharpened to as fine an edge (but trade that for other properties like edge retention and toothiness).

I'm still kind of undecided on the proper sharpening of an EDC knife. Some people go nuts with very high grits and a mirror bevel. I do that on my straight razors and it works great. But on the rare occasion I find a plain edge in my pocket I've found I'm always wishing it would dig into the material better. I sharpen my kitchen knives to 600 to 800 grit for this very reason, the cut starts easier. I haven't played around too much with this on plain edge EDC, but it makes a difference -- which is why I bring it up. The factories may be making different choices based on the blade steel and possibly the use of the knife (a Manix 2 is not the same as a Nirvana) with regards to sharpening procedure.

Overall I haven't been impressed with factory sharpness on any PE blade from Spyderco. I had a ZDP-189 Dragonfly that was quite sharp but I don't recall if it was a factory edge when I got it. They're serviceable but you can do better yourself, and you're going to resharpen it at some point, so I don't have any problem with that.

Anyway, there's a lot of factors and some tradeoffs. Unless a knife were made by two different factories I think it would be hard to say anything about one factory doing a better job at sharpening than another.

[Doc Dan]

My Pingo was very sharp but it is so thick it does not glide through material as easily as it could otherwise do. My K390 Urban Light Weight, on the other hand, came extremely sharp and it glides through everything I have tried to cut without effort. It will pick up hairs and shave them off at the top. That is pretty sharp. Having said that, my Golden made Manix 2 Back Lock was also about that sharp when I got it.

[ThePeacent]

well,
Maniago is to Italy
what Sheffield is to England, Solingen to Germany, Seki to Japan or Taichung to Taiwan...

la crème de la crème of knife manufacturing and peak of blade engineering in their own countries :rolleyes:

I have also been surprised by Maniago blades

[twinboysdad]

well,
Maniago is to Italy
what Sheffield is to England, Solingen to Germany, Seki to Japan or Taichung to Taiwan...

la crème de la crème of knife manufacturing and peak of blade engineering in their own countries :rolleyes:

I have also been surprised by Maniago blades

You forgot what Golden is to the US!!

[Eee]

I don’t think there’s a definite pattern to it.
My Elmax Urban was one of the sharpest and definitely the sharpest spine and spyderhole I’ve ever touched and my Hossom Forager one of the bluntest. The K390 Pingo was somewhat thicker edged than the Urban, but still sharp.

[BIGSTRETCH]

2 Pingos, 2 Spy-DK's and an Urban k390. They all have a very similar edge and came very sharp. Maniago is doing a good job with them. The K390 is noticeably grabbier when you run your finger along it. It's really an awesome steel.

[TomAiello]

FWIW, my Lil' Lionspy arrived today and is pretty much 10/10 for out of the box sharpness.

[ThePeacent]

well,
Maniago is to Italy
what Sheffield is to England, Solingen to Germany, Seki to Japan or Taichung to Taiwan...

la crème de la crème of knife manufacturing and peak of blade engineering in their own countries :rolleyes:

I have also been surprised by Maniago blades

You forgot what Golden is to the US!!

well I was going to say Portland, OR for the US,
but now you got me thinking :spyder:

[timlara]

Totally agree on the quality coming out of Maniago. All the models I've had from there have been excellent, and neck-and-neck with Taichung in my experience. I would probably have to give a slight edge to Taichung just based on the amazing variety and high output they're somehow able to achieve while still maintaining high standards, but I am always happy when I learn a model will be made by either factory.

I have a "factory second" Pattada that I literally cannot find a single flaw with.

[SpyderEdgeForever]

You are so right. Italian knife making is very top quality. Fox and Spyderco could make a whole range of new knives together if they wanted to.

Also Spyderco and Antonini would make good collaborative designs:

http://www.antoniniknives.com/

[Larry_Mott]

well,
Maniago is to Italy
what Sheffield is to England, Solingen to Germany, Seki to Japan or Taichung to Taiwan...

la crème de la crème of knife manufacturing and peak of blade engineering in their own countries :rolleyes:

I have also been surprised by Maniago blades

You forgot what Golden is to the US!!

well I was going to say Portland, OR for the US,
but now you got me thinking :spyder:

My first thought was Oregon as well :)
Bless me for being an infidel..