Spyderco in use, review/feedback thread

[ladybug93]

so what you're saying is i need some spy27?

[SubMicron]

so what you're saying is i need some spy27?

Need? Definitely! I'm really happy with it.

[SubMicron]

I've been able to complete testing of the Delica in M390, S90V, and K390.

I push cut brand new cardboard purchased from Home Depot until the knife no longer easily slices through paper both with and against the grain of printer paper.

I tested sharpness against the printer paper every set of thirty 9" cuts which is every 22.5 feet. In some cases I tested every 15 cuts or every 11 feet if I thought the end was near

Edge Bevel: appx 16 degrees per side
Sharpening freehand: 220 DMT - 400 Atoma - 600 DMT
Strop: 10 micron 5 passes per side, 3 micron 5pps, 1 micron 10pps, 0.25 micron 5 or 7 passes per side
Sharpness test: cuts magazine paper in both directions + splits and whittles a freehanging hair.

I taped off the blade and isolated a 1" section. When cutting I held the knife consistently at 90° to the cardboard, push cutting strait down with the 9" tall cardboard length hanging over the edge of a table to prevent the blade from impacting anything.

Two numbers are shown where two tests were done.

Delica K390 - 495ft & 540ft
Delica S90V - 371ft & 382ft
Para3 LW SPY-27 - 303ft & 315ft
Delica M390 - 258ft & 270ft
Benchmade Bugout S30V - 157 feet
Civivi Shredder D2 - 117 feet

[TkoK83Spy]

Very impressive!!! That's some accurate testing right there. I'm surprised Spy27 outperformed M390 by that much.

[pantagana23]

Can anyone advise - just read in comments of a GITD Delica test on YT that the FRN with GITD properties would crack easier than standard FRN (not as elastic).

Ordered my first Delica, and of course it's the GITD version, so this just completely put my excitement down.

[SubMicron]

Very impressive!!! That's some accurate testing right there. I'm surprised Spy27 outperformed M390 by that much.

When SPY-27 was released I dismissed it after it was said to have comparable performance to S30V. Well that was based on CATRA. Good thing BBB was over on Bladeforums debating the merits of the steel. According to him, SPY-27 has finest microstructure out of all of the American made steels. He went in depth... SPY-27 has a lot going on.

CATRA is not wrong and CATRA results are extremely important. Through a more abrasive material, I'm sure SPY-27 will deliver results in line with CATRA, especially if used until dull like a normal person would. I maintain a very sharp edge and will sharpen daily if necessary and edge stability is of the highest importance to me.

When we cut a thing, we're combining abrasive forces with compressive forces.

Brand new clean cardboard is almost entirely free of sillica and is basically cellulose, a non abrasive material. This means that a cardboard test by hand is mostly a test of edge stability against relatively light and dynamic compressive forces. A CATRA test however is a test that is more balanced between both abrasive forces and controlled compressive forces.

That's my takeaway anyway.

[bobnikon]

Excuse my newness to the forum, hopefully I am not bringing up something that has been re-hashed endlessly. I see a lot of side-by-side or side-by-side-by-side comparisons, with exhaustive cutting and comparison of the resulting edges/damages. My question is this, given the different properties of the metals tested, do people usually just:
a. do the same edge angle and grit progression on each knife, or
b. sharpen specifically for the knife steel of each model to take full advantages of its own inherent properties?
Just trying to figure out which scenario is truly apples to apples and which is apples to oranges. I would tend to think the fair fight would be b... thoughts?

Cheers
Erik

[Albatross]

Excuse my newness to the forum, hopefully I am not bringing up something that has been re-hashed endlessly. I see a lot of side-by-side or side-by-side-by-side comparisons, with exhaustive cutting and comparison of the resulting edges/damages. My question is this, given the different properties of the metals tested, do people usually just:
a. do the same edge angle and grit progression on each knife, or
b. sharpen specifically for the knife steel of each model to take full advantages of its own inherent properties?
Just trying to figure out which scenario is truly apples to apples and which is apples to oranges. I would tend to think the fair fight would be b... thoughts?

Cheers
Erik

In my opinion, it's all comparing apples to oranges, but the only solution is to test each knife/steel on more than one material (such as rope and cardboard) , more than one edge finish (coarse and high grit/polished) , and more than one edge angle. That's a lot of testing, requiring a lot of time and a lot of money. Each test would need to be verified at least once, meaning a minimum of 16 tests per knife. Coarse finish on cardboard, verification test, coarse finish on rope, verification test, polished edge on cardboard, verify, polished on rope, verify, and so on. Each one would need to be verified, to ensure reliability and weed out any controllable variables, such as a burr. Even then, in order to rule out any outliers (such as normal vs abnormal HRC) the same tests would need to be run on multiple knives of the same model and steel. Additionally, sharpening skill will skew results one way or another, so these tests would need to be done by more than one tester, to eliminate even more variables.

While I would love to find out the answers to all my steel questions, it would be an overwhelming undertaking.

This is why I haven't done any controlled testing, and probably why no one else is doing it either. Being so meticulous certainly isn't necessary, but it would eat away at me, until I had all the answers and knew they were as accurate as possible. With a toddler, work, and everything else, there's not enough time (or desire) for me to do controlled testing.

Every tester I've seen, uses the same grits/# of passes/etc for each test they run. One might use 1500 grit every time, while another might use 600 for each test. Cedric & Ada on YouTube used to do coarse vs fine grit finishes, but now sticks to mirror polished edges. It's too bad, because I don't know of anyone else who does these types of tests with more than one edge finish. Supersteelsteve has also done some coarse vs fine finish testing, but he's been MIA for a while on YouTube.

I think all steel data, regardless of the testing methods, is at least somewhat valuable. Anecdotes and loosely run tests, still show the steel's capabilities, even if not in full. Ive found most info to generally be quite accurate, or at least fairly accurate, but I've also tried many steels on my own to find out for myself.

I think everyone who has taken the time to test steels and knives, has done a great job, but it is only part of the picture. Until catra can expand their testing to accommodate everything I've mentioned (and probably more that I left out), I suspect we will have to stick with specific tests, showing only some of the attributes of the steels.

[bobnikon]

Thanks for the comprehensive answer. I am certainly not knocking any of the testing that has been done. Far from it. I can get stuff sharp enough for me, but I am nowhere near the guru that many on here seem to be. I am trying to learn a little more all the time, and need to do a lot more research about all this stuff. My mind just tells me that all of these factors must make a difference to optimize the characteristics of the steel, but my knowledge isn't sufficient to know what that is yet.

Been carrying for 40+ years, but only now have the money and time to better appreciate what I am carrying.

Cheers
Erik

In my opinion, it's all comparing apples to oranges, but the only solution is to test each knife/steel on more than one material (such as rope and cardboard) , more than one edge finish (coarse and high grit/polished) , and more than one edge angle. That's a lot of testing, requiring a lot of time and a lot of money. Each test would need to be verified at least once, meaning a minimum of 16 tests per knife. Coarse finish on cardboard, verification test, coarse finish on rope, verification test, polished edge on cardboard, verify, polished on rope, verify, and so on. Each one would need to be verified, to ensure reliability and weed out any controllable variables, such as a burr. Even then, in order to rule out any outliers (such as normal vs abnormal HRC) the same tests would need to be run on multiple knives of the same model and steel. Additionally, sharpening skill will skew results one way or another, so these tests would need to be done by more than one tester, to eliminate even more variables.

While I would love to find out the answers to all my steel questions, it would be an overwhelming undertaking.

This is why I haven't done any controlled testing, and probably why no one else is doing it either. Being so meticulous certainly isn't necessary, but it would eat away at me, until I had all the answers and knew they were as accurate as possible. With a toddler, work, and everything else, there's not enough time (or desire) for me to do controlled testing.

Every tester I've seen, uses the same grits/# of passes/etc for each test they run. One might use 1500 grit every time, while another might use 600 for each test. Cedric & Ada on YouTube used to do coarse vs fine grit finishes, but now sticks to mirror polished edges. It's too bad, because I don't know of anyone else who does these types of tests with more than one edge finish. Supersteelsteve has also done some coarse vs fine finish testing, but he's been MIA for a while on YouTube.

I think all steel data, regardless of the testing methods, is at least somewhat valuable. Anecdotes and loosely run tests, still show the steel's capabilities, even if not in full. Ive found most info to generally be quite accurate, or at least fairly accurate, but I've also tried many steels on my own to find out for myself.

I think everyone who has taken the time to test steels and knives, has done a great job, but it is only part of the picture. Until catra can expand their testing to accommodate everything I've mentioned (and probably more that I left out), I suspect we will have to stick with specific tests, showing only some of the attributes of the steels.

[Cycletroll]

Excuse my newness to the forum, hopefully I am not bringing up something that has been re-hashed endlessly. I see a lot of side-by-side or side-by-side-by-side comparisons, with exhaustive cutting and comparison of the resulting edges/damages. My question is this, given the different properties of the metals tested, do people usually just:
a. do the same edge angle and grit progression on each knife, or
b. sharpen specifically for the knife steel of each model to take full advantages of its own inherent properties?
Just trying to figure out which scenario is truly apples to apples and which is apples to oranges. I would tend to think the fair fight would be b... thoughts?

Cheers
Erik

Welcome Erik and thanks for a very perceptive and pertinent question!
I've been meaning to do some optimal angle/fiish tests but rarely have a big enough block of time. I just moved and have tons of cardboard available right now. Serendipity?

[TkoK83Spy]

Thanks for the comprehensive answer. I am certainly not knocking any of the testing that has been done. Far from it. I can get stuff sharp enough for me, but I am nowhere near the guru that many on here seem to be. I am trying to learn a little more all the time, and need to do a lot more research about all this stuff. My mind just tells me that all of these factors must make a difference to optimize the characteristics of the steel, but my knowledge isn't sufficient to know what that is yet.

Been carrying for 40+ years, but only now have the money and time to better appreciate what I am carrying.

Cheers
Erik




That's a fun part about this hobby, all the trial and error and different ways you can go about sharpening. I was very novice 3 years ago, but now I feel more than capable at sharpening just about any knife. Simply using the Sharpmaker, the rods themselves by hand or a couple different bench stones with coarser grits and a simple strop.

When I first got into the hobby and began to make a bit of progress sharpening, I'd always take my edges right down to the ultra fine stones, but it would take me quite a while to get there and for my work purposes found all that extra time to be a bit of a waste on a knife that was going to get thrashed around a warehouse.

I know some here can go right off low grit diamond or cbn stones for a very toothy finish, I've tried it and I like it. But I also like doing so, then maybe 25 passes or so on the brown rods to slightly smooth out the bevel a bit, and stop right there. I get great results that last. I've done this with a handful of knives, and plan on doing so with others now that I've done my own tests in this thread on many of my knives. I'll eventually get to new steel on all of them and enjoy seeing what finishes tend to work best for different steels and my uses. I find this part of the hobby just as, if not more exciting than all the knives themselves!

[bobnikon]

Absolutely. The collecting really is just stuff. The use and care are the interactions that make it interesting. I am now in the collecting phase of the sharpening equipment. I always overdo things, so will figure out what I actually like from what I end up with. But the cool thing is, that will almost certainly change with time and experience.

A guy at work a few days ago asked "what are you doing carrying such a sharp knife?"
I looked at him and asked "why would you carry a dull knife?"
I can only imagine what he would have thought of some of the edges I have seen on here.

Cheers

[Albatross]

I've given a rough review of Rex 45 in the past, but I have a little more to share.

Beginning October 1st, I began carrying a Rosewood Shaman as my main carry. Every day, I use it for all of my cutting needs, with the exception of kitchen work, because... well... it's a Shaman, not a Santoku.

It has cut open packages, trimmed some rough 2x4 ends, cut up a decent amount of cardboard, trimmed some carpet with dirt embedded in it, cut up milk jugs, and a whole lot more.

Here's the cardboard cutting aftermath in a standard 13 gallon bin...



So, how's the edge? Well, there are a couple spots that catch on printer paper a little, but the edge is otherwise pristine(no damage). I figured the bits of sand in the carpet would cause at least one small chip, but Rex 45 just laughed it off. I did this with V-toku2 a while back, and it took some edge damage. Obviously the Shaman's edge isn't crazy sharp anymore, but it will still "scrape" shave arm hair. I did examine the edge with a 10x loupe and saw no visible edge damage.

I have come to realize that Rex 45 is fantastic steel, but for edc, there are much better steels, in my opinion. I prefer the aggressive edges I get with S90V and K390 for edc.

Anyhow, once the Shaman's edge is dull, I'll do the same daily carrying/testing with my Para 3, which has a 13 dps edge bevel on it, as opposed to the Shaman's bevel, which I have kept as close to factory as possible. Maybe 20 dps?

For now, I'll work on my patience, try to ignore my OCD, and let the knife truly dull. Normally if a knife won't cut printer paper, it needs to be sharpened. If I'm feeling especially neurotic, a knife must be sharpened if it won't cut phonebook paper cleanly. I hope people can appreciate the sacrifice I'm making here. :D :p

[Cycletroll]

Thanks for the sacrifice and report!
I too have a hard time leaving an edge alone that won't slice phone book paper.

[JuPaul]

I've given a rough review of Rex 45 in the past, but I have a little more to share.

Beginning October 1st, I began carrying a Rosewood Shaman as my main carry. Every day, I use it for all of my cutting needs, with the exception of kitchen work, because... well... it's a Shaman, not a Santoku.

It has cut open packages, trimmed some rough 2x4 ends, cut up a decent amount of cardboard, trimmed some carpet with dirt embedded in it, cut up milk jugs, and a whole lot more.

Here's the cardboard cutting aftermath in a standard 13 gallon bin...



So, how's the edge? Well, there are a couple spots that catch on printer paper a little, but the edge is otherwise pristine(no damage). I figured the bits of sand in the carpet would cause at least one small chip, but Rex 45 just laughed it off. I did this with V-toku2 a while back, and it took some edge damage. Obviously the Shaman's edge isn't crazy sharp anymore, but it will still "scrape" shave arm hair. I did examine the edge with a 10x loupe and saw no visible edge damage.

I have come to realize that Rex 45 is fantastic steel, but for edc, there are much better steels, in my opinion. I prefer the aggressive edges I get with S90V and K390 for edc.

Anyhow, once the Shaman's edge is dull, I'll do the same daily carrying/testing with my Para 3, which has a 13 dps edge bevel on it, as opposed to the Shaman's bevel, which I have kept as close to factory as possible. Maybe 20 dps?

For now, I'll work on my patience, try to ignore my OCD, and let the knife truly dull. Normally if a knife won't cut printer paper, it needs to be sharpened. If I'm feeling especially neurotic, a knife must be sharpened if it won't cut phonebook paper cleanly. I hope people can appreciate the sacrifice I'm making here. :D :p

Wow, when you say "cut up cardboard" you're not kidding! Makes my recycling bin efforts look downright lazy! Thanks for the feedback on rex45 and the Rosewood Shaman!

[TkoK83Spy]

Haha, I totally feel you guys on hating to leave the house without the sharpest edge I can give a knife! Drove me nuts doing some of those reviews in this thread where the bite was gone after 2 or 3 days and I still had a couple more days to go.

Rex45 definitely takes some effort to completely dull!

[Albatross]

I've given a rough review of Rex 45 in the past, but I have a little more to share.

Beginning October 1st, I began carrying a Rosewood Shaman as my main carry. Every day, I use it for all of my cutting needs, with the exception of kitchen work, because... well... it's a Shaman, not a Santoku.

It has cut open packages, trimmed some rough 2x4 ends, cut up a decent amount of cardboard, trimmed some carpet with dirt embedded in it, cut up milk jugs, and a whole lot more.

Here's the cardboard cutting aftermath in a standard 13 gallon bin...



So, how's the edge? Well, there are a couple spots that catch on printer paper a little, but the edge is otherwise pristine(no damage). I figured the bits of sand in the carpet would cause at least one small chip, but Rex 45 just laughed it off. I did this with V-toku2 a while back, and it took some edge damage. Obviously the Shaman's edge isn't crazy sharp anymore, but it will still "scrape" shave arm hair. I did examine the edge with a 10x loupe and saw no visible edge damage.

I have come to realize that Rex 45 is fantastic steel, but for edc, there are much better steels, in my opinion. I prefer the aggressive edges I get with S90V and K390 for edc.

Anyhow, once the Shaman's edge is dull, I'll do the same daily carrying/testing with my Para 3, which has a 13 dps edge bevel on it, as opposed to the Shaman's bevel, which I have kept as close to factory as possible. Maybe 20 dps?

For now, I'll work on my patience, try to ignore my OCD, and let the knife truly dull. Normally if a knife won't cut printer paper, it needs to be sharpened. If I'm feeling especially neurotic, a knife must be sharpened if it won't cut phonebook paper cleanly. I hope people can appreciate the sacrifice I'm making here. :D :p

Wow, when you say "cut up cardboard" you're not kidding! Makes my recycling bin efforts look downright lazy! Thanks for the feedback on rex45 and the Rosewood Shaman!

I'm a stickler for efficiency....... plus it's also a good excuse to get out of less-fun chores.

"Honey, I've got to take care of all that cardboard, it might take a while..."

[Abyss_Fish]

Here’s my first review here, a working review of the manix lw and s90v.

Been using this knife as a utility blade in a kitchen (boxes, opening bags of meat, popping the tops on the occasional pickle jar, etc) for roughly 4 months now. Daily use. I’m about to sell it off and buy a Caribbean, so here’s my findings before it’s gone.

———————————————>
First on s90v. I’ve resharpened it twice, both low polish, at 20dps on the kme. Once to bring the edge all the way to the finger choil, and another time to retain the fine edge. Neither took too long, some of the finer grits take a little more effort but no worse than something like 20cv. I’ve found that it loses its very fine edge very quickly, not cutting as smoothly through plastic packaging after maybe 2 days of use. But it keeps a working edge spectacularly, I am yet to put a good ding in the working edge. I’ve driven the tip through countless pickle jar tops, so thin aluminum basically, and it can still slice through paper just as well as the rest of the edge. I also have some light corrosion problems. It’s a coated blade so nothing on the flats, but I fight a bit of corrosion on the tang. Nothing a good rinse after a shift will fix, but still. So that’s that, to put it simply:
s90v is a spectacular working steel, keeping its working edge for close to twice the time as similar stainlesses can keep their fine edge. While taking dings in its stride. It’s not too difficult to sharpen. And it’s not as stainless as other similar stainlesses, but isn’t as bad as something like zdp or 3v.


———————————————>
Next up, the Manix lw platform itself. First just to get it out of the way, pinned construction sucks. Even when I was using seki lockbacks, it was better to have the ABILITY to take it apart for deep cleaning. No matter it’s difficulty. And I’ve taken apart a g-10 manix, it’s MILES easier than a seki lockback. However, with how simple the internals are, cleaning isn’t too bad. A simple rinse will clean out the lock and even the inner pockets of the frcp, since it’s slicker than frn. Speaking of frcp, the frcp! The knife was often covered in oil. And even with the aggressive gimping on the cbbl cage and the bi-directional texturing, I still find the knife slick. I think it’s because of the high sides and rounded edges of the frcp. The handles themselves are nice however. Very comfortable in a variety of grips (especially standard and reverse hammer) and extremely lightweight. The g-10 and frcp manixs may as well be entirely separate knives with how light the lw manix is. I am nothing short of impressed in that area. Onto the ball bearing lock. It’s wonderfully placed on the manix, allowing for a full grip on the knife while disengaging the lock. And while the “drop shut-y-ness” of it is lost pretty quickly as soon as it comes in contact with gunk of any kind, it retains one hand close-ability matter what. So, in conclusion:
The manix lw, is a spectacular platform. It punches well above its weight class (literally!) without sacrificing usability or comfort. It’s only downside is it’s pinned construction.


I’ll likely do another review in a few months when I get a good impression of the Caribbean. Most of my knives aren’t worthy of serious review, but my work knives really get sent through the ringer, and the way they hold up is a testament to spyderco’s impeccable quality.

[Albatross]

This is now day 10 of carrying the Shaman with Rex 45, and things are getting difficult. By the end of day 7, the knife stopped scrape-shaving, but still cut printer paper easily.

Now, on day 10, paper cutting isn't so easy, and I've noticed many cutting tasks have become much more difficult.

There's a voice in my head screaming, "Enough!", but I also want to see just how much more this steel has in it. As it stands, the knife isn't far from being unable to cut paper, which is the measure of sharpness used in many cut tests, so maybe I'll stop at that point?

We'll see which lasts longer: Rex 45 or my willpower.

[JD Spydo]

One of the best knife trades I ever made turned out great for both of us involved. I happened to have two Captain models at one time and I really didn't need the second one so just for grins I put it up for trade a little about 3.5 years ago. In return I got the knife of my dreams for the mean EDC uses I was encountering at that time. I got my beloved, hallowed, sacred M390 Military model>> oh it was used but that didn't bother me at all because I wanted it for a "user".

And what a "user" it's been. I have found M390 to be head & shoulders above most other blade steels I had EDCed in the past. It would take me probably 3 to 4 complete pages to describe all of the jobs I've used the M390 Military model with. I had used it so much that parts were coming loose and I even lost a couple of parts off of it when I was using it down in the Ozarks one summer. So I sent it into Spyderco's Warranty & Repair Dept ( about a year ago) and got it back completely overhauled for a very reasonable fee. Since then I've continued to use it like I meant to wear it out>> but it's going to be a few years before this bad boy gets worn out.

I hope this falls in line with the subject matter of this most interesting thread. Because when you finally get a knife that stands out from any other knife you've ever worked with it really gives you a super satisfied feeling. I totally recommend either a C-36 Military with your favorite Supersteel like the one I'm writing on>> or if blade length limits are a hindrance because of legalities then I would go with a Para2 with your favorite Supersteel.

Bottom Line: When You Find Your Ultimate "USER" Blade It's Hard To Put It Into Words :cool: