ZDP-189 users

[Lord vader]

Now thats popin hair sharp :eek:

[The Mastiff]

I currently have 10 ZDP spydercos and every one of them sharpens very well, except the couple that are NIB and haven't been used yet.

The only thing I can think of is if you're off by a few degrees, and end up in a situation where you are reprofiling it, not just sharpening you will find out just how wear resistant the steel can be. It can seem like you are never going to get an edge on it.

I've had similar things happen with other wear resistant steels that have high RC's like BG42 at RC62-63, S30 at RC61, etc.

Like Vivi, I feel if done right the lack of burring makes it a pleasure.I've had stubborn burs that made steel seem much more wear resistant than it really is. Joe

[Buzzbait]

I agree. The ZDP seems to burr very little, which makes it an easy sharpen with the proper instruments.

[The Deacon]

I'd also wonder if, at least part of the "problem" is that early adopters of "the latest and greatest" of just about anything tend to be devotees, with a relatively high degree of expertice and (generally) reasonable expectations. The longer a product is on the market, the more diverse the owner community becomes. That causes "issues" which would either not exist, or at worst be extremely infrequent, for the techncally oriented and skilled to become more common.

[gunmike1]

My ZDP easily gets sharp like Vivi's, though sometimes I get microburring on ceramics. With my Shapton Glasstones that is never an issue. Either way the end result is a hair whittling edge. I can't wait until my Caly 3 ZDP arrives later this week so I can thin it out to what others consider an absurd angle and enjoying the wonderful edge qualities of ZDP. If you like super thin, high performing edges I find ZDP to be the best I have tried in a folder (M4 in my Tom Krein custom fixed blade is my all time favorite steel that is begging to be put in a Spydsrco folder).

Mike

[Kev-Man]

I am hooked on the ZDP189. I bought a delica to fool around with took the saber grind off by hand which I found out was bad move since it took a few hours. I took it to a 8000 grit stone then charged strop and just to see what it could do I actually shaved with it. Did a pretty good job not as close as the Mach 3 but the Mach 3 usually takes off some skin causing a little bleeding. It got me considering a purchase of a straight razor.

I might just have to pick up a Stretch 2 for an edc.


Kev.

[bladese97]

:spyder: :spyder: :cool: :spyder: :spyder:I am no expert, but I have the Stretch2, and the cf Caly3, and carry both all the time :cool: I love VG-10, but ZDP-189 is so much better IMO :) It does take more time to sharpen, but it is worth all the time, and $$$! Fyi...I had alittle rust accure on my Stretch, and I removed it by using a "grainy" soap @ work(it's a tan, and grainy, but don't know what it's called :o ), and the finest, smoothest brillo pad, and it came off :cool:

[tkdman41]

I've had my zdp endura for 2.5 years now and carried it every day for more than 1.5 years. I have never sharpened it and it is still capable of shaving my arm. The steal is great and I have now found myself drawn towards the other zdp blades.

[224477]

Oh, another note on ZDP vs VG-10: the blade itself will scratch much less compared to VG-10 :D

Thats what I like most about it, aside from the sharpness. You can use it and it still looks virgin.

[THG]

Alright, I've gotta retract a statement: ZDP-189 doesn't actually take all that long to sharpen; it just takes a while to reprofile/rebevel. I'd say if you sharpen it every few times you use it, there really shouldn't be any problems with ZDP.

I love this steel.

[gunmike1]

ZDP-189 takes about 2 minutes to go from dead dull to whittling hair when sharpening a thin backbevel on a micro bevel with a Sharpmaker. When the back bevel is about 5 degrees or more thinner than the micro bevel it only takes 5-10 passes per side per grit to get the knife completely sharp. On my Caly 3 ZDP (about 10 degrees per side from the factory) I just added 2 steps of sticking on 1 micron then .3 micron lapping film to the Sharpmaker rods after doing the medium, fine, and UF rods. The 15 degree micro bevel was whittling hair with ease at UF, but took off the tiniest curls after the lapping films. I just used light pressure and only the flats of the rods. With a proper back bevel and a little practice ZDP can be very quick to sharpen as long as you use micro bevels. My Caly 3 ZDP didn't show a hint of burring during sharpening, either.

Mike