Endura question

mjsnative · #1

So yesterday afternoon I decided to trim down that plastic discharge guard on my lawnmower. It was pretty thick plastic but nothing that gave me reason to second guess the durability of my SB Endura. After I got done trimming it down I was really pleased because the SB Endura had performed great. The plastic was tougher to cut than I had originally thought it would be but the SB held up great, there was no edge damage at all and it was still shaving sharp. There were some nasty looking scuffs on the softer steel but I didn't care because my Endura is a a user. Later on went to use my knife and noticed that the blade was not centered anymore. After looking at it closer I noticed that the blade had bent about an inch and a half from the tip. It was bent enough that it was almost touching the scale. What shocked me more than anything was that I grabbed the blade with both hands and was able to easily bend it back straight. The fact that it bent a little from use was a little concerning but being able to bend it back so easy really gives me concern. The Endura is hands down my favorite knife and now I am questioning how I use it. I've got VG-10 endura's in both FFG and saber grinds and would have never thought twice about cutting that plastic with them. So my question is should it have been that easy to bend back?

Zenith · #2

IMO send Spyderco an email about this and explain what happened and your concerns.

Noah · #3

Zenith wrote:IMO send Spyderco an email about this and explain what happened and your concerns.

Definitely. I have no experience with SB knives but there is no way that should be happening.

RadioactiveSpyder · #4

Perhaps you have a secret power you're not telling us about? :D

tap78 · #5

It's nothing unusual, that You have bent the blade... Superblue/420-J1 blades are easy to bend in Your fingers... try it Yourself if You don't belive me :)

mjsnative · #6

RadioactiveSpyder wrote:Perhaps you have a secret power you're not telling us about? :D

I could only hope that were the case. :)

Cliff Stamp · #7

As tap78 noted, blades clad with steels like 420j1 have significantly lower strength, when the cross section gets small in the tip it is not going to be difficult to bend them.

mjsnative · #8

Cliff Stamp wrote:As tap78 noted, blades clad with steels like 420j1 have significantly lower strength, when the cross section gets small in the tip it is not going to be difficult to bend them.

This is kinda what I had figured, I did email Spyderco and they told me to send it in and the could rockwell test it to see if the blade was too soft. Just one of those live and learn moments. Still love my Endura's though. I do have to say that they responded to my emails really quick. My first time dealing with their customer service and I am impressed to say the least.

Blackhawk30 · #9

This not good.I bought a Delica,Endura and a Stretch thinking they were just easily sharpened to a finer edge than VG10.I didn't know they would bend so easily.

Originally Posted by Cliff Stamp
As tap78 noted, blades clad with steels like 420j1 have significantly lower strength, when the cross section gets small in the tip it is not going to be difficult to bend them.

SolidState · #10

What's so bad about it? I fail to understand what the problem is. When you have 2mm of steel, bending is preferable to breaking under high stress. The SB is plenty hard.

You do know that japanese smiths spent a few hundred years trying to get a hard edge and a flexible back into one blade, right?

mjsnative · #11

SolidState wrote:What's so bad about it? I fail to understand what the problem is. When you have 2mm of steel, bending is preferable to breaking under high stress. The SB is plenty hard.

You do know that japanese smiths spent a few hundred years trying to get a hard edge and a flexible back into one blade, right?

I am fine with it bending instead of breaking. Even though it bent the edge remained perfect. It didn't chip, roll our even dull. It was still insanely sharp afterwards. I am looking at this as learning just how hard I could push that particular knife. Still a great knife and it's in my pocket right now.

SolidState · #12

I had a similar thing happen with my delica, and I was very pleased that I was able to straighten it without significant stress. I've had ZDP and S30V chip out on me under similar conditions, and I was far more sad about the complete reprofiling that ensued afterward.