Sal, where is all the SPY27 steel ?

[elena86]

Looking forward to a Delica/Endela in SPY27. It’s a well rounded steel… it feels, sharpens and performs like CTS-XHP but it has its own “flavour”. I came to love SPY27 and I feel I’m not the only one. So, why do you stash it ?

[sal]

Hi MArius,

It's in queue in various places. The "regular" Mule Team took a chunk of the steel.

sal

[JSumm]

That makes sense. Going to a good cause. I'm excited to see more of it spread around. It's a great steel.

[ladybug93]

dlc g10 manix please!

[Evil D]

Same question but also SE

[sal]

Hi David,

SE to follow. Can't d it all at once.

sal

[elena86]

Hi David,

SE to follow. Can't d it all at once.

sal

The most iconic spydie ever deserves a sprint in SPY27. I am talking the old school SS SE Police. Maybe with tuffram handle … one can only dream.

[sethwm]

Combining my love of two things in this response. I was able to get my SPY27 para 3 shaving sharp on the golden stone this morning. About 10 passes per side. Prior to that it was still cutting paper but hanging up. Now it's sliding through paper and shaving. SPY27 is shockingly easy to sharpen. Is it the best on edge retention? No. But given it took 30 seconds to sharpen with no KME setup and no water and no oil, I don't mind doing this twice a week.

[WilliamMunny]

Combining my love of two things in this response. I was able to get my SPY27 para 3 shaving sharp on the golden stone this morning. About 10 passes per side. Prior to that it was still cutting paper but hanging up. Now it's sliding through paper and shaving. SPY27 is shockingly easy to sharpen. Is it the best on edge retention? No. But given it took 30 seconds to sharpen with no KME setup and no water and no oil, I don't mind doing this twice a week.

I was thinking about this myself after reading a lot of feed back on high edge retention steels like S90V, Maxamet, etc. It seems like it is highly recommended to not let these go dull and you need to tough them up weekly. Even with high edge retention steels it seems like you need to still maintain the edge almost as much but in a different way.

[weeping minora]

Combining my love of two things in this response. I was able to get my SPY27 para 3 shaving sharp on the golden stone this morning. About 10 passes per side. Prior to that it was still cutting paper but hanging up. Now it's sliding through paper and shaving. SPY27 is shockingly easy to sharpen. Is it the best on edge retention? No. But given it took 30 seconds to sharpen with no KME setup and no water and no oil, I don't mind doing this twice a week.

I was thinking about this myself after reading a lot of feed back on high edge retention steels like S90V, Maxamet, etc. It seems like it is highly recommended to not let these go dull and you need to tough them up weekly. Even with high edge retention steels it seems like you need to still maintain the edge almost as much but in a different way.

Touching up the higher carbide steels weekly to keep "sharpness" is kind of like removing gunpowder from your ammunition; you're underselling its worth and the overpaying its cost. A huge part of the advantage to these steels is their edge retention, which in many cases is the working edge. The working edge on many steels of this class, at least available in production knives, tends to be toothy and can feel a bit dull on the finger after that fresh edge has broken in. This can be most noticeable on S30V, S90V, S110V, IME. K390 and Maxamet seem to keep their "sharpness" better in that regard after use. The edge still wants to "bite" like a fresh edge, however they are still incredibly aggressive with "teeth".

You're constantly removing steel and potentially fatiguing the edge touching steels of this calibre up so frequently, thus reducing usability and lifespan of your knives. I suggest keeping strops handy for weekly touch ups in between sharpenings. Gather the right abrasives for your arsenal and these steels will pay off for your time invested on the stones; it just might take more concentration and more steps to get there, as some of these steels can be unforgiving to mishaps (muffing edge angle, abrasives, skipping too many abrasives...).

That being said, SPY27 is a steel with great attributes and I believe should be offered (and will be, in time) to a wider range of the Spydie line-up.

[sethwm]

Combining my love of two things in this response. I was able to get my SPY27 para 3 shaving sharp on the golden stone this morning. About 10 passes per side. Prior to that it was still cutting paper but hanging up. Now it's sliding through paper and shaving. SPY27 is shockingly easy to sharpen. Is it the best on edge retention? No. But given it took 30 seconds to sharpen with no KME setup and no water and no oil, I don't mind doing this twice a week.

I was thinking about this myself after reading a lot of feed back on high edge retention steels like S90V, Maxamet, etc. It seems like it is highly recommended to not let these go dull and you need to tough them up weekly. Even with high edge retention steels it seems like you need to still maintain the edge almost as much but in a different way.

Touching up the higher carbide steels weekly to keep "sharpness" is kind of like removing gunpowder from your ammunition; you're underselling its worth and the overpaying its cost. A huge part of the advantage to these steels is their edge retention, which in many cases is the working edge. The working edge on many steels of this class, at least available in production knives, tends to be toothy and can feel a bit dull on the finger after that fresh edge has broken in. This can be most noticeable on S30V, S90V, S110V, IME. K390 and Maxamet seem to keep their "sharpness" better in that regard after use. The edge still wants to "bite" like a fresh edge, however they are still incredibly aggressive with "teeth".

You're constantly removing steel and potentially fatiguing the edge touching steels of this calibre up so frequently, thus reducing usability and lifespan of your knives. I suggest keeping strops handy for weekly touch ups in between sharpenings. Gather the right abrasives for your arsenal and these steels will pay off for your time invested on the stones; it just might take more concentration and more steps to get there, as some of these steels can be unforgiving to mishaps (muffing edge angle, abrasives, skipping too many abrasives...).

That being said, SPY27 is a steel with great attributes and I believe should be offered (and will be, in time) to a wider range of the Spydie line-up.

You think even for the SPY27 that's too frequent?

[Ramonade]

Happy to know the Spy27 took a chunk of the steel

Depends on how my Rex76 mules are received, but if it's a score, I'll for sure invest in quite a number of MT2s !

I have 2 knives in this steel and I personally really like it so far. I mostly used the Native 5 LW, not much the Manix 2 LW. I really like the razor edge period of it, even if it doesn't last very long (I don't do much of "working edge")

[yablanowitz]

Personally, I've never held with the "don't let it get dull" mentality. I use them all until they don't cut like I want, then sharpen. Diamond hones don't care how many carbides you have or how hard they are.

[sethwm]

May I suggest a SPY27 lil' native, compression lock?

[Caz]

Ok, it’s decided. I’m gonna wait it out until Delica’s/Endura’s are offered in Spy27. Maybe a little dragonfly too? I almost gave up but now there’s hope. Thank you.

[weeping minora]

Combining my love of two things in this response. I was able to get my SPY27 para 3 shaving sharp on the golden stone this morning. About 10 passes per side. Prior to that it was still cutting paper but hanging up. Now it's sliding through paper and shaving. SPY27 is shockingly easy to sharpen. Is it the best on edge retention? No. But given it took 30 seconds to sharpen with no KME setup and no water and no oil, I don't mind doing this twice a week.

I was thinking about this myself after reading a lot of feed back on high edge retention steels like S90V, Maxamet, etc. It seems like it is highly recommended to not let these go dull and you need to tough them up weekly. Even with high edge retention steels it seems like you need to still maintain the edge almost as much but in a different way.

Touching up the higher carbide steels weekly to keep "sharpness" is kind of like removing gunpowder from your ammunition; you're underselling its worth and the overpaying its cost. A huge part of the advantage to these steels is their edge retention, which in many cases is the working edge. The working edge on many steels of this class, at least available in production knives, tends to be toothy and can feel a bit dull on the finger after that fresh edge has broken in. This can be most noticeable on S30V, S90V, S110V, IME. K390 and Maxamet seem to keep their "sharpness" better in that regard after use. The edge still wants to "bite" like a fresh edge, however they are still incredibly aggressive with "teeth".

You're constantly removing steel and potentially fatiguing the edge touching steels of this calibre up so frequently, thus reducing usability and lifespan of your knives. I suggest keeping strops handy for weekly touch ups in between sharpenings. Gather the right abrasives for your arsenal and these steels will pay off for your time invested on the stones; it just might take more concentration and more steps to get there, as some of these steels can be unforgiving to mishaps (muffing edge angle, abrasives, skipping too many abrasives...).

That being said, SPY27 is a steel with great attributes and I believe should be offered (and will be, in time) to a wider range of the Spydie line-up.

You think even for the SPY27 that's too frequent?

I've had good results just stropping SPY27 for the better part of 3 weeks following sharpening. The steel seems to have a way of retaining its aggression, even after continued stropping(s), leading to its prolonged edge life before a sharpening is necessary.

[sethwm]

I was thinking about this myself after reading a lot of feed back on high edge retention steels like S90V, Maxamet, etc. It seems like it is highly recommended to not let these go dull and you need to tough them up weekly. Even with high edge retention steels it seems like you need to still maintain the edge almost as much but in a different way.

Touching up the higher carbide steels weekly to keep "sharpness" is kind of like removing gunpowder from your ammunition; you're underselling its worth and the overpaying its cost. A huge part of the advantage to these steels is their edge retention, which in many cases is the working edge. The working edge on many steels of this class, at least available in production knives, tends to be toothy and can feel a bit dull on the finger after that fresh edge has broken in. This can be most noticeable on S30V, S90V, S110V, IME. K390 and Maxamet seem to keep their "sharpness" better in that regard after use. The edge still wants to "bite" like a fresh edge, however they are still incredibly aggressive with "teeth".

You're constantly removing steel and potentially fatiguing the edge touching steels of this calibre up so frequently, thus reducing usability and lifespan of your knives. I suggest keeping strops handy for weekly touch ups in between sharpenings. Gather the right abrasives for your arsenal and these steels will pay off for your time invested on the stones; it just might take more concentration and more steps to get there, as some of these steels can be unforgiving to mishaps (muffing edge angle, abrasives, skipping too many abrasives...).

That being said, SPY27 is a steel with great attributes and I believe should be offered (and will be, in time) to a wider range of the Spydie line-up.

You think even for the SPY27 that's too frequent?

I've had good results just stropping SPY27 for the better part of 3 weeks following sharpening. The steel seems to have a way of retaining its aggression, even after continued stropping(s), leading to its prolonged edge life before a sharpening is necessary.

I suck at stropping. Maybe it's just my setup. I feel like it does nothing. But I have one strop with green compound absolutely caked onto it, so maybe it's time to reset, get some diamond spray, and try again.

[weeping minora]

Touching up the higher carbide steels weekly to keep "sharpness" is kind of like removing gunpowder from your ammunition; you're underselling its worth and the overpaying its cost. A huge part of the advantage to these steels is their edge retention, which in many cases is the working edge. The working edge on many steels of this class, at least available in production knives, tends to be toothy and can feel a bit dull on the finger after that fresh edge has broken in. This can be most noticeable on S30V, S90V, S110V, IME. K390 and Maxamet seem to keep their "sharpness" better in that regard after use. The edge still wants to "bite" like a fresh edge, however they are still incredibly aggressive with "teeth".

You're constantly removing steel and potentially fatiguing the edge touching steels of this calibre up so frequently, thus reducing usability and lifespan of your knives. I suggest keeping strops handy for weekly touch ups in between sharpenings. Gather the right abrasives for your arsenal and these steels will pay off for your time invested on the stones; it just might take more concentration and more steps to get there, as some of these steels can be unforgiving to mishaps (muffing edge angle, abrasives, skipping too many abrasives...).

That being said, SPY27 is a steel with great attributes and I believe should be offered (and will be, in time) to a wider range of the Spydie line-up.

You think even for the SPY27 that's too frequent?

I've had good results just stropping SPY27 for the better part of 3 weeks following sharpening. The steel seems to have a way of retaining its aggression, even after continued stropping(s), leading to its prolonged edge life before a sharpening is necessary.

I suck at stropping. Maybe it's just my setup. I feel like it does nothing. But I have one strop with green compound absolutely caked onto it, so maybe it's time to reset, get some diamond spray, and try again.

Try some diamond emulsion or suspension spray. Jende has some solid product at still reasonable prices; available through Sharpening Supplies, or Gritomatic. I'd go no further than 1 micron. I've gone down to .5 micron just for the "lets see where this takes us" and I find little-to-no benefit. It seems the more common mindset these days is to just clean the burr off the steel to a grit as coarse as possible, but I find better results in longevity with a finer finish. Just kind of have to play with the results you're after.

FWIW, I'm currently using the Sharpening Supplies paddle strop (~12"x3"?) that I split between two different micron ratings; in my case 4 and 1 micron diamond suspension from a brand called Stroppy Stuff, available through Gritomatic. I only use the stiffer, smooth side of leather on the strop. I wish that SS would offer the strop in dual-sided smooth leather, instead of one side with suede; as the suede side seems more impeding, not allowing enough stiffness to get the results I'm after, but it does allow experimentation and I'm sure could be more useful for softer/lower alloy steels.

[sethwm]

You think even for the SPY27 that's too frequent?

I've had good results just stropping SPY27 for the better part of 3 weeks following sharpening. The steel seems to have a way of retaining its aggression, even after continued stropping(s), leading to its prolonged edge life before a sharpening is necessary.

I suck at stropping. Maybe it's just my setup. I feel like it does nothing. But I have one strop with green compound absolutely caked onto it, so maybe it's time to reset, get some diamond spray, and try again.

Try some diamond emulsion or suspension spray. Jende has some solid product at still reasonable prices; available through Sharpening Supplies, or Gritomatic. I'd go no further than 1 micron. I've gone down to .5 micron just for the "lets see where this takes us" and I find little-to-no benefit. It seems the more common mindset these days is to just clean the burr off the steel to a grit as coarse as possible, but I find better results in longevity with a finer finish. Just kind of have to play with the results you're after.

FWIW, I'm currently using the Sharpening Supplies paddle strop (~12"x3"?) that I split between two different micron ratings; in my case 4 and 1 micron diamond suspension from a brand called Stroppy Stuff, available through Gritomatic. I only use the stiffer, smooth side of leather on the strop. I wish that SS would offer the strop in dual-sided smooth leather, instead of one side with suede; as the suede side seems more impeding, not allowing enough stiffness to get the results I'm after, but it does allow experimentation and I'm sure could be more useful for softer/lower alloy steels.

If you're just touching up after a bunch of cutting, would you use both 4 and 1 micron? Or just one of them? if I were to start with just one, would it be the 4?

(I know this is off track a bit... except we're talking about SPY27 sharpening here! :D)

[weeping minora]

I've had good results just stropping SPY27 for the better part of 3 weeks following sharpening. The steel seems to have a way of retaining its aggression, even after continued stropping(s), leading to its prolonged edge life before a sharpening is necessary.

I suck at stropping. Maybe it's just my setup. I feel like it does nothing. But I have one strop with green compound absolutely caked onto it, so maybe it's time to reset, get some diamond spray, and try again.

Try some diamond emulsion or suspension spray. Jende has some solid product at still reasonable prices; available through Sharpening Supplies, or Gritomatic. I'd go no further than 1 micron. I've gone down to .5 micron just for the "lets see where this takes us" and I find little-to-no benefit. It seems the more common mindset these days is to just clean the burr off the steel to a grit as coarse as possible, but I find better results in longevity with a finer finish. Just kind of have to play with the results you're after.

FWIW, I'm currently using the Sharpening Supplies paddle strop (~12"x3"?) that I split between two different micron ratings; in my case 4 and 1 micron diamond suspension from a brand called Stroppy Stuff, available through Gritomatic. I only use the stiffer, smooth side of leather on the strop. I wish that SS would offer the strop in dual-sided smooth leather, instead of one side with suede; as the suede side seems more impeding, not allowing enough stiffness to get the results I'm after, but it does allow experimentation and I'm sure could be more useful for softer/lower alloy steels.

If you're just touching up after a bunch of cutting, would you use both 4 and 1 micron? Or just one of them? if I were to start with just one, would it be the 4?

(I know this is off track a bit... except we're talking about SPY27 sharpening here! :D)

I find the bigger factor being at what grit you decide to end your sharpening at. For example, when I finished on the Venev OCB 1200 stone, which is rated at 2-3 micron, I only stropped with 1 micron suspension over the course of its lifespan. My last sharpening I ended with a very coarse 400 grit Silicon Carbide edge and decided to jump all the way to 4 micron and then 1 micron suspension. That's a huge jump which I wouldn't really recommend, however just for giggles, it's held up quite well with SPY27. Seems you can really throw any combo at this steel and it will respond well. I continue to strop on 4 and then 1 micron to upkeep this edge. Nearly one week in and it has held up better than I anticipated.