Good stuff, Vivi.vivi wrote: ↑Wed Oct 07, 2020 9:48 pmI've used M4 in the past and I always appreciated how easily it sharpened for the level of toughness and edge holding it offers. It always struck me as a well balanced steel that offers everything in spades aside from corrosion resistance, obviously. Takes a very keen edge every time I sharpen it.
As for how it performs on my Manix I can't make much of a comment beyond the factory edge. It came screaming sharp, one of the top 5 sharpest factory edges I have ever used. It came with a more polished edge than Spyderco typically runs, feeling perfectly smooth when I run my thumbnail along the apex. It has held that sharpness well the past week. I stropped it 3x per side today with my 7 micron diamond paste and its a little sharper than when new. Pops hairs effortlessly and push cuts receipts.
Despite my love for coarse edges, I have to say this more polished edge has cut things very well, even things more polished edges can struggle with. It just goes toshow that a cleanly apexed knife will be able to simply cut, period. I can slice cooked sausages and thick poly rope no problem with this knife, and I can shave with my 300 grit edges formed off a $12 diamond stone. You don't need a super coarse edge to cut rope (though it will keep cutting rope longer), and you don't need to go above 200-400 grit for shaving sharpness or push cutting paper.
Yeah, I agree, M4’s a really satisfying steel to use and sharpen. That’s interesting you’ve been using the factory edge. Pretty much all the Golden edges I’ve had have been very good, but I’ve heard that they even seem to be improving lately. I haven’t purchased a Golden knife for a while, but the Seki K390 DF2 edge was also outstanding for a production knife.
It might be interesting to check out the stained DLC areas with magnification, as your experiment progresses.