February EDC Challenge

[The Meat man]

The rules:

1. Carry only one Spyderco knife the entire month of February. No rotating different knives or carrying backups.

2. If possible, do not sharpen or touch up your knife at all during the month. Sharpen it up before you start and see if you can make it last through the entire month with no touchups.

3. Make it the only knife you use during the whole month. No kitchen knives, no supplementary fixed blades or backups. (Within reason.) The point is, force yourself to use your EDC as much as possible.


I've decided to use my CPM REX 45 Military for the challenge. I want to use it exclusively so I can get a better feel for the performance of the steel. It's sporting an aggressive 240 grit edge (15 dps) and is a top performing slicer right now. I've already cut up some cardboard and did a fair bit of food prep. It's still shaving sharp.

Are you game for the challenge? What will you EDC for the month of February?

[Evil D]

I pretty much already do this as it is, with the exception being kitchen use and not sharpening. I'm not sure if I can make it without touching up my edge but we'll see. I just sharpened my Autonomy so that'll be my entry. I'll see if I can get some photos of what I cut if I'm not too busy, my work gets pretty hectic sometimes.

[Daveho]

Sure-
Ukpk in BD1

[Jazz]

Not gonna happen. My work knife needs steeling, and gets used a lot.

[zhyla]

No kitchen knives? That’s crazy talk. Use knives in ways that make sense.

[SF Native]

Ok, I’m in. Will carry the Rex 45 para 3 all month. I might cheat in the kitchen for some things but otherwise, will give the rex45 a real work out.

[Mstach07]

I am in. PM2 in 52100. Was shaving sharp this morning but had to some zip tie work taking down the Xmas lights. Also broke down about half dozen boxes this afternoon. Haven’t tested the edge afterwards. Full disclosure, I am unable to carry the PM2 at work due to a 2.5” max blade policy. I normally carry a lil native in the suit pocket. This will be my only exception.

[The Meat man]

No kitchen knives? That’s crazy talk. Use knives in ways that make sense.

I guess it depends on how much food preparation you do. That's why I said within reason.

For me though: I don't usually spend much time in the kitchen, but I've always found that my longer bladed knives like the Military or Police work absolutely fine in the kitchen. They're both sharp knives that can cut things - not so very different from a 4" kitchen knife.

Never underestimate even the lowly Manbug for food prep: :p :D

[The Meat man]

I am in. PM2 in 52100. Was shaving sharp this morning but had to some zip tie work taking down the Xmas lights. Also broke down about half dozen boxes this afternoon. Haven’t tested the edge afterwards. Full disclosure, I am unable to carry the PM2 at work due to a 2.5” max blade policy. I normally carry a lil native in the suit pocket. This will be my only exception.

Nice! It will be interesting to see how 52100 holds up.

[Mstach07]

I am in. PM2 in 52100. Was shaving sharp this morning but had to some zip tie work taking down the Xmas lights. Also broke down about half dozen boxes this afternoon. Haven’t tested the edge afterwards. Full disclosure, I am unable to carry the PM2 at work due to a 2.5” max blade policy. I normally carry a lil native in the suit pocket. This will be my only exception.

Nice! It will be interesting to see how 52100 holds up.

Well to date, I have been disappointed with the edge retention and stability. A few months ago sharpened this at 17 DPS. I soon began noticing significant edge chipping that began as small divots and became very large fractures (1/4” long). To prevent from recurring I resharpened at 20 DPS. The zip ties today made small chips and some rolling. I will keep an eye on the chipping to see if expands to fractures. I wish I had taken a picture of this before resharpening.

I hope this February exercise provides more insight to 52100.

[Mr Blonde]

It's a great challenge, I used to do this all the time in my early days of knifecollecting. It's very educational. Nowadays, I get most of my fun by rotating knives a lot.

[Larry_Mott]

Easy peasy. I will just repeat January and carry Calypso Jr for this month too. No drama here :)

[The Meat man]

Yesterday evening, cutting up lemons for some fresh-squeezed lemonade:

[Nice marmot]

Sure. I'll go with my carbon fiber zdp caly 3. A three inch blade is all I need and if I am supposed to only carry one for a month I might as well make it a classy one.

[standy99]

delica wharncliffe SE , Will be easy with SE

But kitchen knives will be used as I’m the head cook. Have a Japanese butchers knife I bought in Japan a few months back and it’s my favourite part of the day still a few months in.

[Bloke]

Fairly easy challenge for an office worker like me who usually looks for stuff to cut. I can carry near anything and not need to touch it up for a month or more.

Anyhow, I’ve been carrying my Rex45 Millie since I got it and I will for awhile yet. It still has the factory bevel and I’ve touched it up twice so far. :)

[The Meat man]

Cut down a cardboard box the other day.



It probably amounted to 70 or 80 feet of cutting. The edge definitely lost some of its bite after that, although I can still slice phonebook paper at 90° with care. It doesn't glide through quite as effortlessly.

Today I was using it to cut some pork loin for supper, and the edge accidentally slipped off the meat and slammed pretty hard into the ceramic plate. I did not notice any immediate damage but after I cleaned the knife off this is what I saw:



It is minor enough that I can't really feel any rough spots when slicing phonebook paper. However it does require more careful effort to start the cut in the damaged area.

It's not too bad but it is going to be hard to not touch up the edge for a month. :rolleyes: :D

[Bloke]

it's bad enough smashing your edge Connor but hows the plate? :p

[The Meat man]

it's bad enough smashing your edge Connor but hows the plate? :p

:D

[SF Native]

it's bad enough smashing your edge Connor but hows the plate? :p

:D


Broken-Plate.jpg

I was expecting a cleaner cut through that plate. Maybe it was all the cardboard that dulled it.