Seconds Sale Oddities - Receive anything weird to share? I did!

[bobartig]

Hi folks, I was hoping someone could answer what is going on here with this Shaman 15V second I received. It's covered in tiny black divots. Very strange. I was wondering if this was possibly related to a heat-treat mishap, or the finishing, or a laser etcher went berserk all over the blade? Someone test the rockwell hardness a few thousand extra times on this one?

The tiny dots are little holes, you can feel them with a fingernail, and the tip of a knife will get caught in them. They are all along the spine, but only a very few appear on the sharpened bevel. Was trying to figure out what this could be among things that wouldn't greatly affect the usability of the knife.

[sshook]

Wild, my partner got a 15v shaman too, and the steel looks exactly like yours. I wonder if that's normal?

Even if it isn't, Spyderco wouldn't sell a knife with a severe functional defect, even as a seconds.

[bobartig]

I have the Shaman and PM2 as Firsts, and they don't have this spottiness.

[nerdlock]

I think that's steel pitting... I have them on my seconds Maxamet too but not in that extreme amounts.

[Mrj]

A used but factory first shaman blade

[huyfishin]

It look’s diseased lol

[WilliamMunny]

Corrosion of some kind?

[Buddafucco]

I don't know what the dimples are... But that looks like a good score to me! I'd love it and cherish it and give it a big hug at night.

[Mrj]

I don't know what the dimples are... But that looks like a good score to me! I'd love it and cherish it and give it a big hug at night.

[Mrj]

Like Buddafucco said it’s a good score for the price. Use it and enjoy it.

[Bemo]

It's really permission to use it like it was a Mora.

[squirrel]

Seeing that under a microscope would be interesting. Undoubtedly coating the blade in DLC would be a good idea. And truthfully it's probably compromised in toughness so be careful to not drop it. That's the pits, sorry man.

[dullmaker]

Looks like Box Pox from a good score, hopefully it doesn’t spread to your other knives. You better give it away just to be on the safe side.

[bobartig]

It's really permission to use it like it was a Mora.

I wasn't gonna go that far , but I intend to make it a user along with my other seconds. This one especially because it's got something going on. It's just hard to figure out what this might be, assuming Spyderco wouldn't sell it if it were compromised in performance. For example, can this happen to good 15V over time? Or is this some specific manufacturing snafu? I dunno man.

[Sharp Guy]

The Native 5 Maxamet second I have has a lot of those little pits. I didn't even notice at first until I was reprofiling it and looked at it under magnification. I did a thread on it awhile back and, IIRC, the general consensus was it could have something to do with the stone washing process. It was also suggested that I use and enjoy it, which I have. It hasn't effected anything and I've been using it for a few years now. I actually forgot about it until I saw this thread

[Spyderwebs]

I think "Porosity" is the term for small voids between grains. This may be a result of gasses being trapped in the steel during the initial pour failing to off gas prior to solidifying.

Or they could be grain boundary inclusions too.

It was a flaw in the original steel, not a manufacturing defect as far as I can tell

This may result in a weaker blade, as big cracks propagate from microscopic cracks between individual steel grains. This is why some extreme duty components like the blades of a jet engine power turbine are grown from a single crystal - to prevent grain boundary micro cracking.

[RustyIron]

I was wondering if this was possibly related to a heat-treat mishap, or the finishing, or a laser etcher went berserk all over the blade?

I've created a similar effect when patinating a blade. In my case, the edge was affected, but the holes were eventually ground away after several sharpenings. I suspect the divots are the result of oxidation.

I'm no expert on heat treating or Spyderco's processes, so this is just a wild guess. When an amateur heat treats a part, it will be wrapped in stainless steel foil to keep oxygen away and to prevent oxidation. I don't know how the big boys do it, but I'd wager that oxygen was let in when your blade was being heat treated, and those holes are the result.

[Optimus Cultro]

The weird thing I received was the wrong knife. I ordered an ARK spyderedge. The paper work that came in the box says “ARK Black FRN SpyderEdge (Without Sheath) - SpyderEdge - …” I double checked the email order confirmation, it states SpyderEdge. I understood SpyderEdge to mean a serrated edge. I just unboxed it. The knife was in a makeshift cardboard sheath wrapped in bubble wrap and tape. I pulled it out and it is a plain edge knife. So aprox six hours spent to order from the picked over remains of the sale netted me a lightly discounted plain edge with no sheath. I didn’t want a plain edge, I already own a plain edge and for the slight discount and need to source a sheath wouldn’t have bought a seconds PE. I ordered a serrated edge because they are discontinued. I like the ARK, but I like H1 in a SE more than PE. I’m sure I’ll be discounted as “entitled” and “whiny” by some here, but getting the wrong item after everything else is a kind of annoying. Given the nature of the sale IDK if it can be remedied by getting an ordered knife or not. I guess we will see. Not the end of the world but certainly disappointing.

[dman62]

My Swamp Rat RMD has those. It was under the coating I stripped off. It's normal on some steels and would be ground/polished off. My guess is on your blade there the dimples went a little deeper than normal and when they ground the blade down to the proper thickness they didn't all get polished out. I think they look cool myself.

[TkoK83Spy]

I remember from previous sales there were a lot of interesting looking marks and "patina's" on the Maxamet blades. Lots of variations if differences that made them seconds. I was surprised, so I'm interested in how this thread shapes out.