CPM 15V Sprint sharpening and performance thread

[electro-static]

Will do! Everything will be profiled to the same angle on a KME system, 17 dps......

It's a real pain to get the nut loose on the kme eyelet. (I think it's red loctite). But if you CAN get it loose, you can turn the eyelet upside down and get lower angles on the kme.

Thanks man! I will check it out.

[Cl1ff]

I dinged the tip against a glass accidentally and, while I think something happened, I can't tell what without magnification.
I'm just gonna ignore it.

[kennbr34]

I’m going to get my CPM 15V reground to be very thin. The problem will be finding a knifemaker that wants to deal with knocking a .025” thick 15V edge down to .006”-.007”. I just had Tom Krein do some regrinds for me so I don’t want to bug him again so soon. I’d love for Shawn to do it since his logo is on the blade and he really knows that steel, but with a newborn son and his normal custom work he probably wouldn’t have the capacity to take it on. I know the regrind wouldn’t be cheap, but I’d just love to be able to compare it like for like against my other thinned out Manix 2s in a variety of steels from Cruwear to S110V. Does anyone else want to have theirs thinned out?

I have to day after seeing some of Shawn's edge stability testing opening up a can, that .025" BTE did kind of seem a little excessive. I think he got down to ".015 BTE and opened a can with it without damage to the edge, and even at .010" and .005" the damage wasn't bad.

From what I have heard, Shawn days 15V is easier to grind than Maxamet, so maybe it wouldn't be such a big ask for Tom. I have always wondered how much sick regrinds cost and feel like it's probably too rich for my blood. If anything, I might just grind a very shallow relief bevel of about 10 degrees per side, and then put a 15 DPS edge on that. Not really sure how much thinner it would get things, but it would probably be the simplest way to get under .025".

[gunmike1]

I’m going to get my CPM 15V reground to be very thin. The problem will be finding a knifemaker that wants to deal with knocking a .025” thick 15V edge down to .006”-.007”. I just had Tom Krein do some regrinds for me so I don’t want to bug him again so soon. I’d love for Shawn to do it since his logo is on the blade and he really knows that steel, but with a newborn son and his normal custom work he probably wouldn’t have the capacity to take it on. I know the regrind wouldn’t be cheap, but I’d just love to be able to compare it like for like against my other thinned out Manix 2s in a variety of steels from Cruwear to S110V. Does anyone else want to have theirs thinned out?

I have to day after seeing some of Shawn's edge stability testing opening up a can, that .025" BTE did kind of seem a little excessive. I think he got down to ".015 BTE and opened a can with it without damage to the edge, and even at .010" and .005" the damage wasn't bad.

From what I have heard, Shawn days 15V is easier to grind than Maxamet, so maybe it wouldn't be such a big ask for Tom. I have always wondered how much sick regrinds cost and feel like it's probably too rich for my blood. If anything, I might just grind a very shallow relief bevel of about 10 degrees per side, and then put a 15 DPS edge on that. Not really sure how much thinner it would get things, but it would probably be the simplest way to get under .025".

My standard edge geometry has been 10 degrees per side with a 15 degree per side microbevel. On a .025” factory edge that is 15-17 degrees per side it takes a good while to hog off the steel to get to 10 dps. On a thin knife it takes hardly any time. I’m just not wanting to hog off that much 15V to by hand. Even when I do get the edge thinned to 10 dps it is still far worse at cutting than once it’s been thinner to under .010”. But for me I’m spoiled by thin knives, and most people will be more than satisfied with a factory edge thickness.

[TkoK83Spy]

Post up some of these knives, 10dps isn't common to see! My personal lowest is around 12-13.

[ladybug93]

I'm just wondering how many we're going to see all decked out with the fancy scales/cage/hardware/clips and just be instagram famous and never even cut anything. That should be a sin!

Normally I wouldn't hesitate to change the color or the clip. But on this knife, the factory color was selected for a reason. I'll maintain the authenticity.

I do appreciate a nice set of scales myself, but Shawn's nickname, brown scales...it's got to stay as is. Though some brown micarta would also be nice haha.

i think this is going to be my putnam micarta manix. don't worry though, i will be using it. i'm curious to try a steel that is very different from everything else i have currently. time to see what the hype is. honestly, i'm guessing it'll make very little difference in my usage, but maybe it'll just be a long time before i have to do anything to touch up the edge. i've been purposely stopping to strip bark from fallen branches with my rec manix (204p) to push the edge and it's still ridiculously sharp. in fact, the other day i was showing a coworker a video of a sharpness test and said my knife wasn't as sharp as the one in the video, but when i tried to show him that, the manix performed similarly, even after all the carving i've been doing. that just makes me more excited for the performance of this 15v. i just hope i don't rust the thing.

[gunmike1]

Post up some of these knives, 10dps isn't common to see! My personal lowest is around 12-13.

Here are a couple bad pictures that show the bevel widths on factory knives versus a regrind and a thinner factory knife.

The Military is at around 8 degrees per side and has not had a regrind. It was .020” from the factory at 15 DPS, now it is .030” at 8 per side. The Stretch is at 7-8 degrees per side, but since the factory grind was nice and thin the bevels aren’t huge as huge. It started out around .013”-.014” at 15 DPS, now it is .020” at 7-8 DPS. The Endura ZDP was reground to .005” or so, then I sharpened it at about 5-6 degrees per side, which brought it to about .009”-.011” at various places on the edge. The bevels aren’t super wide and wouldn’t make you think it is at such an acute angle because the blade is so thin.

[vivi]

Post up some of these knives, 10dps isn't common to see! My personal lowest is around 12-13.

Mike was one of the guys that got me interested in thin edges.

I used to go a lot lower than I do these days, more like 6-10 degrees per side instead of around 12 dps.

Never had durability issues except for getting some light chipping in a full convex regrind caly jr in zdp, but that was carving knotty hardwood.



It'd be fun to see some more really thin edges. Gets kind of depressing scrolling the what's in your pocket thread and seeing 90% factory edge angles.

[TkoK83Spy]

I agree, that's why I was excited too see some photos with angles that extreme.Thanks for posting those Mike! Working on my Cruwear Delica right now that is at 12-13, 10 or less is wild! Definitely an easy steel to work with though. I don't see 15V being difficult, just a bit more time consuming.

[gunmike1]

Post up some of these knives, 10dps isn't common to see! My personal lowest is around 12-13.

Mike was one of the guys that got me interested in thin edges.

I used to go a lot lower than I do these days, more like 6-10 degrees per side instead of around 12 dps.

Never had durability issues except for getting some light chipping in a full convex regrind caly jr in zdp, but that was carving knotty hardwood.



It'd be fun to see some more really thin edges. Gets kind of depressing scrolling the what's in your pocket thread and seeing 90% factory edge angles.

It’s good to see you on here Vivi. That Caly Jr of yours inspired me to to a quick picture of my Caly Jr that Tom Krein reground to a high hollow grind with an edge somewhere around .004”. After daily use for well over 10 years and countless sharpening the blade is getting a lot shorter (see my blade by the plunge and yours for the difference). It now measures around .008” with a 8-9 degree angle on it. Still a good cutter but I’m not carrying it as much these days.

[awa54]

I got the reprofile set with the F80 Venev stone on the Hapstone last night. Seems like any other steel to sharpen so far.

I have an original Hapstone system (Edge Pro ripoff).

My Venev bonded diamond "stones" (the black organic matrix, with <100% diamond) make short work of Maxamet and K390 as well as gooey steels like AUS6/420 etc., so I would expect the 100% diamond bondeds to be even better.
The coarsest hone in my set is 150 FEPA, but I hardly ever use it, the 240 is plenty for most tasks.

*Really* coarse removal is handled by a 1"x6" EZE-LAP coarse (240?) hone (the diamond is heat fused into a steel base, not plated) which allows applying more pressure without damaging the stone geometry.

[Enactive]

I am curious to use this 15v with comparable geometry to the other Manii that I have in Rex45, Maxamet and CruWear. I also have Seki K390 in a Delica that is ground particularly thin, and not comparable geometry- wise.

Of the really hard steels I have, I do mostly use Rex45. I generally use Rex45, CruWear, LC200n, V-Toku2, Hap40, s30v and 8cr the most out of my pile.

Honestly I have no need for the carbide monster steels. It is for hobby and to fulfill curiosity.

In my real world uses I only need strength, edge stability and sometimes corossion resistance.

[kennbr34]

I’m going to get my CPM 15V reground to be very thin. The problem will be finding a knifemaker that wants to deal with knocking a .025” thick 15V edge down to .006”-.007”. I just had Tom Krein do some regrinds for me so I don’t want to bug him again so soon. I’d love for Shawn to do it since his logo is on the blade and he really knows that steel, but with a newborn son and his normal custom work he probably wouldn’t have the capacity to take it on. I know the regrind wouldn’t be cheap, but I’d just love to be able to compare it like for like against my other thinned out Manix 2s in a variety of steels from Cruwear to S110V. Does anyone else want to have theirs thinned out?

I have to day after seeing some of Shawn's edge stability testing opening up a can, that .025" BTE did kind of seem a little excessive. I think he got down to ".015 BTE and opened a can with it without damage to the edge, and even at .010" and .005" the damage wasn't bad.

From what I have heard, Shawn days 15V is easier to grind than Maxamet, so maybe it wouldn't be such a big ask for Tom. I have always wondered how much sick regrinds cost and feel like it's probably too rich for my blood. If anything, I might just grind a very shallow relief bevel of about 10 degrees per side, and then put a 15 DPS edge on that. Not really sure how much thinner it would get things, but it would probably be the simplest way to get under .025".

My standard edge geometry has been 10 degrees per side with a 15 degree per side microbevel. On a .025” factory edge that is 15-17 degrees per side it takes a good while to hog off the steel to get to 10 dps. On a thin knife it takes hardly any time. I’m just not wanting to hog off that much 15V to by hand. Even when I do get the edge thinned to 10 dps it is still far worse at cutting than once it’s been thinner to under .010”. But for me I’m spoiled by thin knives, and most people will be more than satisfied with a factory edge thickness.

Yeah, after re-profiling the factory edge to 14 degrees per side, I actually don't think doing a regrind at 10 dps would actually be that much more time consuming than any other steel. Then again I use an Atoma 140 for that kind of work, and it really doesn't seem to know a difference between carbide rich steel and otherwise.

One thing I don't really like about grinding in relief angles is that it creates another shoulder since you end up with the primary grind, relief grind and then the edge grind. It kind of fundamentally changes the blade from being a full flat grind, and the shoulder for the relief grind invariably adds drag. That's why if I do that, I like to grind on the relief grind's shoulder too to try to blend it in with the primary grind just enough so that its shoulder isn't as abrupt of a change in surface. It ends up making it look kind of like a convex/V-bevel hybrid.

It's also hard to get right and I kind of don't want to try it on the new Manix because it ends up looking ugly if you mess it up. Normally I care more about function than form, but I have plenty of cheaper knives I have converted into super slicers like this. It's tempting to want to really take advantage of the 15V in a slicier geometry though.

I don't really have any other Spydercos so hopefully pics of other brands are allowed here lol

This Kershaw Needs work in 14C28N has a 10 DPS relief grind with a 15 DPS edge bevel. It's .025" behind the relief grind and .007" behind the edge grind.

Kershaw "Needs Work"

This is a ESEE Izula in 440C that has a 12 DPS relief grind and a 20 DPS edge grind. It's .030" behind the relief grind and .010" behind the edge grind.

ESEE Izula

These are Kershaw Wild Turkeys in San Mai, 15N20/420J2 clad with a VG-1 core. The stock one is my safe queen, and is .015" behind the edge grind. The modified one is .020" behind the 10 DPS relief grind, and .005" behind the 15 DPS edge grind. As you can see I didn't get the relief grind very even

Kershaw Wild Turkey

Kershaw Wild Turkey

This is an old Buffalo Skinner from the 50s. Not really a lot of skinners with Scandinavian grinds and whoever had it before me had a really large secondary edge bevel on the Scandinavian grind. I ground and polished the scandi and then put on a 15 DPS edge bevel that's .008" behind its edge. It's only .025" half way up the scandi bevel.

Buffalo Skinner

These are pretty much my lasers. I have a few that are slicier, but only by merit of the blade themselves being super thin, like my SAK. I forgot to measure that one behind the edge but it's gotta be pretty close to the Wild Turkey.

[Steeltoez83]

In my uses on woods, hard plastics, nylon webbing, cardboard, and carpet I havent found this steel to be damage prone at all. When I did side by side competitions with other steels from spyderco it did very well. I dont have a goniometer to make my testing as credible as I prefer. Hovering around 15-16 ish per side seems to be holding up very well, and im probably gonna regrind it down to 10 thou after christmas when the edge finally flatlines.

[Guts]

Got around to reprofiling my 15V last night (while watching Die Hard lol) to 15dps on my Venev stones. Did fall back to some diamond plates for the area toward the ricasso that was a very high/uneven angle compared to the rest of the factory bevel. Diamond abrasives definitely made it a cinch to reprofile. I found it didn't take as long to reprofile compared to my Maxamet Manix though fwiw. I'm liking the steel more and more, so I hope they release the other Golden models in 15V as well. Big fan so far.

[tcarltonw]

So I've had my 15V Manix for a week now and been using it for all the normal guy stuff. Mostly opening mail, packages, breaking down boxes, etc. Kept the factory edge for now and I'm super impressed. Below is a shot of the factory edge after the week of use and there's barely any damage at all. A few microscopic nicks at worst. I use S30V as my baseline just because it's so ubiquitous, but it would've had so many dull spots and chips you could see with the naked eye by now with the same usage in my experience. The edge "damage" on the 15V is only visible with the microscope.

On one hand I want to reprofile to my preferred edge geometry but on the other hand I want to see how long this factory edge will go. Also important to note, no rust issues (yet) like I've experienced with Maxamet with the 15V in my pocket every day so very happy about that. Haven't taken any special care of it at all, just using it and throwing it back in the pocket.

Can't wait until Spyderco releases more 15V models as I'll definitely be picking them up.

Out of curiosity, at what magnification is this?

[Guts]

Out of curiosity, at what magnification is this?

To be honest I have no idea and can't remember. It's a little pocket microscope I've had for decades and it's not marked in any way as to which magnification it is, or maybe the writing wore off over the years. Comparing it to a 30x loupe I have though, it's definitely higher magnification than that. So probably 40-60x if I had to wager a guess.

[Steeltoez83]

In my uses on woods, hard plastics, nylon webbing, cardboard, and carpet I havent found this steel to be damage prone at all. When I did side by side competitions with other steels from spyderco it did very well. I dont have a goniometer to make my testing as credible as I prefer. Hovering around 15-16 ish per side seems to be holding up very well, and im probably gonna regrind it down to 10 thou after christmas when the edge finally flatlines.

In between belts 3 and 4 I stopped to check my phone and take a picture. Really dig this 15V.

[RustyIron]

Every new knife owner knows this day will come, but I didn't think it would be so soon. I got home last night, sat down, and removed everything from my pockets. I flicked open my knife in a manner that might have sent the knife flying across the room and most certainly took years off the life of the lock. I gave the edge a quick feel and... whaaaat? The edge wasn't as sharp as expected. I stuck the knife under the scope and found a 3/4" missing apex.

Then it hit me... while opening a gift and slicing a ribbon, I met resistance. The ribbon had two lengths of wire running through it. It was a ribbon, and I had a knife, so something had to give. I hacked through the ribbon and thought nothing more of it. And now I got to see what happens after CPM-15V cuts through wire.

The knife was certainly still usable, but now I had an excuse to rub the edge on some rocks. The stones were Edge Pro diamond matrix. I started with 80 grit to get the geometry close two where I wanted it, then 250 and 650 to pretty it up. If I had a goniometer, it come in at about 24 degrees. With a factory edge, it usually takes me a couple sharpenings before I get rid of the imperfections. The new Manix is no different. There's still some wonkiness near the tip and the heel, and one side should be taken down a little more. I can't see it with the naked eye, but I can feel that it's not as sharp as it should be, and the scope shows why. There's no sense in chasing the ghost right now. The knife is sharp enough for general purpose use. I'm sure within a week, the OCD will kick in and I'll refine the edge some more. I spent half an hour sharpening the knife--less time than it took to take the pictures and type this out.

Hogging down the edge

Diamonds on the 15V cut quickly, as one would expect

After half an hour I got bored. Good enough.

The other side isn't quite apexed, but I don't want to show the ugly side.

[Brock O Lee]

The ribbon had two lengths of wire running through it. It was a ribbon, and I had a knife, so something had to give. I hacked through the ribbon and thought nothing more of it. And now I got to see what happens after CPM-15V cuts through wire.

Interesting. How thick was the wire would you say? Any pictures of the damage?