PM2 tip strength

[Wartstein]

Tips don’t break in normal use for knife tasks. They break due to careless use, abuse, and accidents. The only Spyderco tip I ever broke was my SE Caribbean that fell off a stepladder onto pavement. That was an accident, caused by my carelessness. I rounded the spine like an Endura to repair it. My M390 PM2 was my primary construction work folder for 5+ years, never broke the tip. I’m careful with knives (mostly!) and prefer sharp pointy tips.

I feel like a tip is always a compromise... As soon as it adds capacity on the one end (pointy and fine), it takes some on the other (robustness, potential of more careless use, lateral forces...)

A superfine tip that can for example remove a tick with ease from the skin, will not be good at letting me work "carelessly" in situations where I just have to ("hard use" AND very quick work is needed).

A stouter tip will not be as good in cutting shapes out of lets say leather, but will let me work more efficiently and carelessly in outdoor tasks, where I don´t need a fine tip, but rather just like to have an enhanced potential of (and if just accidentally) a bit twisting and turning of a blade in wood...

[RyanY]

Along with the utility it is cosmetic and psychological for me.
To me thick = survive the apocalypse tool and thin= snap and break.

I feel a thicker blade is me getting more material for the cost.

I think this is a logical feeling. They even put weights in Beats headphones to make them heavier with no benefit other than weight=quality in the mind of a consumer.

I like to think of the fact that I can buy a bar stock of S30V for much less than the cost of a ground blade. I pay for expert grinding and machining (or the removal of material) If I get a very thinly ground high-performance blade, I know my money was spent on abrasives and skill, and the willingness to toss material in the waste bin. I want my knives as thin as they can be, and remain durable. I wish it was easier to find Chaparral thickness knives in the 3.5 inch range. However, for some tasks I like the PM2 stock thickness to keep the blade stiff and not flexing. The Gayle Bradley is a favorite user for me due to this. The hollow grind is wicked thin behind the edge for at least a quarter inch up the blade, but the spine is thick enough that the blade hardly flexes at all when working with hard wood.

[GarageBoy]

I love thin grinds and high performing cutting tools, but there's a time and place for a robust tip.

I watched a trailer mounted generator suck in a roll of string and one of the drive pulleys coiled it up. The mechanics had to cut against the pulley to get the cord out. Not something I'd be comfortable doing with a Watu tip

[Bolster]

Sal answered a similar question of mine in the Mule subforum ... basically said the tips are much stronger than we might suppose by looking at them, recommended against making a "roman nose" for the straight spine mule which has a fine tip.

It was good advice, I have enjoyed that fine tip since--very useful in certain situations.

Others said: If the tip breaks, then make the roman nose.

[Wartstein]

...
Others said: If the tip breaks, then make the roman nose.

A valid option then... but inevitably at the cost of cutting edge length

While when the blade is actually designed with a "roman nose" in the first place, the edge can potentially as long as the (folder-)handle allows...
(And those who file the "nose" down still won't loose any cutting edge)

[vivi]

...
Others said: If the tip breaks, then make the roman nose.

A valid option then... but inevitably at the cost of cutting edge length

While when the blade is actually designed with a "roman nose" in the first place, the edge can potentially as long as the (folder-)handle allows...
(And those who file the "nose" down still won't loose any cutting edge)

One thing I think you're forgetting here is it isn't possible to do that with DLC models without ruining the finish.

Sure it's not a big deal on something like a Pacific Salt satin finish, but it's annoying on something like my Police 4 PD1 sprint.

I'd rather not have a set of training wheels I don't need.

Not a deal breaker, but if I could choose, every Spyderco I buy would have a Military / Endura 3 style tip.

Tip breakage has never been an issue for me at all.

[Wartstein]

One thing I think you're forgetting here is it isn't possible to do that with DLC models without ruining the finish.

Sure it's not a big deal on something like a Pacific Salt satin finish, but it's annoying on something like my Police 4 PD1 sprint.

I'd rather not have a set of training wheels I don't need.

Not a deal breaker, but if I could choose, every Spyderco I buy would have a Military / Endura 3 style tip.

Tip breakage has never been an issue for me at all.

You are right, I did not think about that!
But now of course understand that ruining a coating at the spine is something many would not find exactly desirable! (I personally would not mind it though or even like the more "used" and personalized look)

But as said: I get it anyway that many or most customers are not into modding blades resp. don´t want to or even can´t file down the spine, and so Spyderco has to offer very fine tips in the first place if that is what people want - fully understandable to me!

I personally just want a tip that is as fine as necessary, but still as robust as possible, and the "drop" of the Endura 4 or even the (ffg!) Pac Salt tip gives me just that: Fine and pointy enough for all the tip tasks that occur in my use, but still lets me use the knife a bit more "carelessly" than an even finer tip (hitting hard matter in quick work; twisting the blade when the tip is buried for example in wood...)

Thin blade stock, but just a bit reinforced tip is ideal for me - prime example the Chaparral, actually for a folder (!) a pretty "hard use" little knife to me with its 2 mm blade, but rather "bluntly" shaped leaf tip.

[Evil D]

I like them both ways

Thick tips are a guilty pleasure that I'll admit I have less need for, but I really don't care and still just like them on some models. I wouldn't want all my knives one way or the other. Typically it seems like the ones with thick or thin tips do tend to match the model's overall design and what I'd use them for.