Advantages of the 15V Shaman?

[Big_Tex]

Finally got a shaman in 15V… love the shaman and the amazing heat treatment BBB and Spyderco cooked up… while I understand the shaman won’t be the slicey monster like the thinner manix 2 or PM2, but I’m curious what others would say the thicker stock of the shaman does to the 15V? Does it give it a bit more lateral strength? Etc, etc… would love to hear from some other steel junkies besides myself… I’m also curious if you think a toothier edge (400-600 grit on Diamond stones) would be preferred vs a more polished edge (north of 800 grit Diamond stones). I know some answers are driven by intended use… for me, my shaman is an everyday carry… hopefully this makes some sense… just figured I’d ask for some feedback!

Thanks again to BBB and everyone at spyderco for making these 15V knives possible! Keep up the great work!

[Xformer]

It's just an exotic steel. The differences from the typical steels are marginal at best. It's just a cool steel from an engineering perspective, but actual use ? It's another variant of a tool steel.

[blueblur]

I sharpened mine up to 1200 grit on a diamond atoma plate and stropped from 5 and 2.5 non-diamond pastes then 1,0.5 and 0.25 micron diamond sprays for a nicely refined edge. For me, this steel is tough to remove the burr. That may be because I don’t have coarse enough diamond strops or I’m not spending enough time on each of my progressions but once I got it right, I can now push cut phone book paper both length and width ways.

I have not tested a toothier edge yet and sharpened my Shaman to about 17-18dps to take advantage of the more heavy duty design and high edge retention the steel has to offer.

The actual sharpening I’ve found is easier than most steels. But the burr for me, has been tougher to remove than other steels. At least with the equipment I have/am using.

This model should excel at more extended use than the pm2 and Manix. At least from an ergonomic standpoint.

[Steeltoez83]

In my cut testing I saw a 10% increase in edge retention using a 325 grit DMT over a 1k super vitrified diamond stone. 15V holds its front end sharpness rather well so I think you can test out both and be very happy.