Hi @sal
I’ve been carrying the knife since it first arrived about a week after it dropped. I’ve used it for food prep in the kitchen, a steak knife, card board cutting and cutting brush in the yard. I have not had the chipping issue that others have had and I’ve only had to touch it up on the sharp maker white ceramic poles once.
I’v washed it with soap and water twice during that time the rest of the time I just ran it under hot water. I washed with soap once before the first time I used it for food and the other time when I left cut up potato stuff on it for several hours, it wouldn’t come off with just water and wiping. I especially used it for fruits and vegetables and let it sit for an hour before running under hot water and wiping it off with a towel to keep the sheath clean. I’ve had the knife on my hip or scout carry style daily. While working in the yard, or hiking it’s been hot and the knife has gotten soaked in sweat almost every day. I’ve also done several hikes with it along the straight of Juan de Fuca and the Puget sound. So far no signs of patina or rust. I’m going to remove the scales tonight to see if any rust is there.
Next up I’m going to try and carve a small tug boat out of basswood with it.
Sharpening wise it’s one of the easiest mules to sharpen and takes a very very sharp edge which gives me hope for carving with it. It reminds me of how easy CRUWEAR is to sharpen maybe easier. It’s also one of the few steels that I can get as sharp as my PM2 crucarta with very little effort.
Has anyone like @Larrin been given some of the steel to test out the rust resistance? Just to verify it scientifically.
Update -
* I removed the scales on the knife and found no rust or patina. All I found were my finger prints, what looks like sweat/salt, and some grime from the beach (?). I’m going to keep the scales off it and carry it as a lite hiker for a while. Seki City did such a nice job on the edges that it would make a great skeleton-ized lite hiker with some removal of metal on the inner handle.
* tried carving a small tug boat from basswood but I have severe arthritis and couldn’t finish it. I’ll finish it at a later date. The knife cut pretty well considering it’s not as thin as my wood carving knives. I decided to strop it after I stopped carving but it didn’t really need it. It went from sharp to scary sharp with just a short stropping session. It strops back to scary sharp as easily or easier than my PM2 Crucarta knife or carbon steel carving knives. I’m thinking of trying a 15 dps re-beveling or lower so I can compare it to my AEB-L mule.
I don’t have a lot of experience with VG 10. I had the Rockjumper until my wife claimed it. I feel like it is comparing apples to oranges since the Rockjumper has a single bevel at 15 degrees and the VG XEOS has two bevels at whatever the factory set them at. One thing I didn’t like about the Rockjumper was that the front end, tip of the knife, rolled way too easily. Like I stated early I’ve had no rolling or chipping issues with this knife. It also seems a lot easier to sharpen. From my limited experience the VG XEOS keeps a better edge and seems a lot tougher. Although that could be due to the blade thickness and double bevel. It is definitely more corrosive resistant. I’m thinking it might make a good steel for Spyderco Salt series. Reminds me of LC200N.
Sorry pictures didn’t load as I thought they would. The pictures of the knife without scales on it are the ones I just took today. I was checking for rust under the scales.
The rusty Hercules Power machine is the engine and winch that still remain on top of the old Fort Worden Command Post/bunker at the mouth of the Puget Sound.
Added - wish I had a VG 10, H1/H2, LC200N and Magnacut mule to compare this to.
