S110v Manix 2 Abuse Continued, Steel and Knife review.

[sbaker345]

You guys have probably noticed, as my stones continue to refine, the edge gets more polished, I suspect this contributed to why I got minor damage at 36 inclusive on the wire, but didn't at 30 inclusive. It took less force to cut, which means less potential for lateral forces. Regardless I wasn't gentle this time either. My assumption was that if one took the edge too thin s110v would end up looking like it was used to split rocks. Maybe if you took it to something stupid like 10DPS it would, but at practical angles I can't see someone ruining a blade doing anything that wouldn't also destroy almost any other steel. It may chip easier, but only doing things you expect to see some damage, and it is not much worse than other common steels.

Yup, based on my experience I don't think that s30v would do much better (who knows, possibly worse) than the results you are showing with s110v.

Makes me want to find out, I went ahead and re profiled the pm2 last night, so I might give it a shot. I think it might do worse also, the fact people enjoy these tests is why I keep doing them, this community and the knife community in general is great, and I like to feel like I am giving back even if a little. I considered offering to do free reprofiling, minus shipping for well established forum members once I get the ball joint arms and or the low angle guide. But decided it was too much risk. Both for them, why send a knife to some random dude, especially as spyderco will sharpen, although not reprofile your knife. And also what if I screw up a 200$ knife? That's a big chunk of change out of my pocket.

[sbaker345]

Tested the Pm2, Its roughly 28-30 inclusive according to the phone level last night. Tired though so I will do the write up tomorrow. I mentioned before how even though the 3 micron stones left coarser scratches, I felt as a whole it refined the edge. Well, I'm not sure if that's the case anymore, I skipped using them and after stropping could, albeit painfully shave my face. I think perhaps the reason it seemed that way was due to the 1000 grits breaking in and me using such a light touch with the 3 micron stones it didn't scratch the edge up much worse. I've used the 3 micron stones much more than the 1000s, hours of use and probably at least a couple thousand strokes so if it is still not broken in I feel like its probably defective, I emailed Wicked Edge I will see what they say.

I start college Monday so I probably won't have time to do anymore testing other than bluntcut's cruforge slicer, which is not a Spyderco. However, if I get any new steels I will probably find the time :D

[sbaker345]

Here is how the Para 2 handled around 28-30 degrees inclusive.

First a pre damage edge picture



Chopped some plastic



Looks good to me


next I did some really nasty aggressive carving, I left some peels on the block so you could see the thickness, This caused some very minor edge damage, although didn't create shiny spots on the edge so possibly chipping? I'm honestly surprised I had no blade play after this, the manix 2 didn't either.



Carved up the stick some.


Nothing new, also showing how small the damage was from before.




The lateral wire cut at the heel inflicted some damage, though not severe. However push cutting using the belly didn't.




Cut the black cable, Edge looks fine, Pretty sure what looks like rolling is reflection as it still shaves. Next time I test I won't polish the edge so much.



Pounded it into the orange cable, Chipping was actually deeper than it looked.




At this point it scrape shaves, it won't cleanly shave with a light pass, but multiple passes will scrape hair off.




Soda can finished killing the edge, but the blunting, rolling portion of the damage only took a couple minutes to sharpen out.




More steel can mayhem, I did not twist the the knife inside the can though.




Picture of the edge after I finished.





Just for funz I rammed the tip into the block as hard as I could without worrying about missing and the tip was fine, If you break the tip stabbing, well stop stabbing adamantium.






Its hard to say which steel won, which is why I gave myself the cop-out of not directly comparing them. S110v was damaged worse by tasks that actually damaged the steel. But it took pounding into cable and lateral wire stripping cuts to damage either and s110v might actually fare better in some tasks based on the carving. Needless to say though, s30v which also has the reputation of being chippy, is extremely tough stuff.

[aesmith]

This a fascinating post. At times I've done some of the the abusive things described, either as a desperate (or impatient) measure, or by accident for example scraping wire embedded in something. And afterwards I pay the price in time on the stone getting the edge back in shape. Your posts tell me I really really need something in one of these tough steels.

Question .. the steels test here are US made, can anyone comment on how the European steels that Spyderco use would compare? Where I live there are disadvantages to the use of locking knives, and Spyderco's slipjoints are mainly made in Italy.

[Surfingringo]

Excellent info Baker. Every time you post results I it gets me thinking about another steel. Like "hmmm, well, if s30v did that then I wonder how vg10 would compare". Heheheh. Just trying to keep you busy! Typical knife afi...never satisfied with what I have.

Seriously though, thanks for doing the s30v. This is a steel that a LOT of us use on a regular basis so it is very relevant to see that it compares similarly to s110v in this kind of testing. Still anxious to see how a tough/hard steel stacks up. :)

[sbaker345]

Not to fear, this just happens to be all the steels I currently own that this point, had to sell the zdp delica and cruwear manix a few weeks ago to fund my wicked edge. Wouldn't be doing this with a sharpmaker




Personally I think at 35 degrees or so vg10 would be neigh indestructible, though more or less than s30v I am not sure. I'm not sure if vg10 would handle 30 and less any better though. It should be a little bit softer, and judging by 420hc, soft steels do worse than hard ones sometimes at thin angles.

Also, considering using string trimmer line instead of old bottles for testing on plastic, thoughts?

[Surfingringo]

vg10 has always felt a bit "softer" to me in use and in sharpening so my bet is that you will see more deformation at 30 degrees. That's just a wild guess though. Curious to see what happens in your testing.

[sbaker345]

vg10 has always felt a bit "softer" to me in use and in sharpening so my bet is that you will see more deformation at 30 degrees. That's just a wild guess though. Curious to see what happens in your testing.

I'll probably buy a endura in vg10 sometime in the next couple months to test out.

[Ankerson]

vg10 has always felt a bit "softer" to me in use and in sharpening so my bet is that you will see more deformation at 30 degrees. That's just a wild guess though. Curious to see what happens in your testing.

That's the same as I have seen over the years too so it will be interesting what he finds out. :)

[Surfingringo]

vg10 has always felt a bit "softer" to me in use and in sharpening so my bet is that you will see more deformation at 30 degrees. That's just a wild guess though. Curious to see what happens in your testing.

That's the same as I have seen over the years too so it will be interesting what he finds out. :)

To clarify, when I say "more deformation", I mean more than what he is seeing in s30v and s110v.

[sbaker345]

Been using the manix 2 off and on last couple days. Cut a single box into strips. not exactly a test :p, sliced sheets for painting out of a double ply 80 inch tv box stored in the barn. And whittled some wood including this chunk of old barn wood. No idea what kind of wood, good chance that its white oak. Could be anything though. I will say it took a good 15 minutes to remove that much wood.

[Popsickle]

Tested the Pm2, Its roughly 28-30 inclusive according to the phone level last night. Tired though so I will do the write up tomorrow. I mentioned before how even though the 3 micron stones left coarser scratches, I felt as a whole it refined the edge. Well, I'm not sure if that's the case anymore, I skipped using them and after stropping could, albeit painfully shave my face. I think perhaps the reason it seemed that way was due to the 1000 grits breaking in and me using such a light touch with the 3 micron stones it didn't scratch the edge up much worse. I've used the 3 micron stones much more than the 1000s, hours of use and probably at least a couple thousand strokes so if it is still not broken in I feel like its probably defective, I emailed Wicked Edge I will see what they say.

I start college Monday so I probably won't have time to do anymore testing other than bluntcut's cruforge slicer, which is not a Spyderco. However, if I get any new steels I will probably find the time :D

Might help you to keep an old tooth brush and clean the stones with soap and water.... i did every so often with my old wicked edge

[Ankerson]

vg10 has always felt a bit "softer" to me in use and in sharpening so my bet is that you will see more deformation at 30 degrees. That's just a wild guess though. Curious to see what happens in your testing.

That's the same as I have seen over the years too so it will be interesting what he finds out. :)

To clarify, when I say "more deformation", I mean more than what he is seeing in s30v and s110v.

I know what you ment. :)

[sbaker345]

This beauty arrived n the mail today, the lack of the hole means it'll show up under blade forum's reviews :D.

[Ankerson]

This beauty arrived n the mail today, the lack of the hole means it'll show up under blade forum's reviews :D.

Will keep an eye out for it. :) :cool:

[aquaman67]

This thread makes me happy and nauseous at the same time.

[kn!fer]

Wow! After reading this thread, I am very impressed with the s110v performance but more so with the member's willingness to test an expensive blade like that and other members' knowledge. I am proud to be in this forum and own some of these fantastic Spydercos! I've been silently reading so many threads here and there trying to learn as much as I can absorb and I must say, "Bravo to you all and thank you for sharing." Loving it!! (As you can tell, I'm a newbie.) :)

[Joris Mo]

Thanks for all the hard work, great to see how these steels hold up against some actual hard use! :)

[Doc Dan]

Thanks for the tests. I am looking forward to buying a new PM2 in S110V.

[Cujobob]

This is very interesting stuff. As I have a WE to sharpen my knives, I don't fear high carbide steels and the S110V held up fairly well. It handles harder use decently enough, it would seem, while also doing a terrific job with normal EDC-styled use (boxes, packaging, food, etc.).

I sometimes find myself wondering what percentage of knife owners are using their knives hard (outside of testing what a knife is capable of). Currently, we see knives with a basic EDC steel (VG-10/S30V) that is easy to sharpen and offers a bit of everything: toughness, edge retention, and corrosion resistance. Then, we have a higher carbide, longer edge retention version. What we don't often see from the company are harder use versions/steels except in sprint runs. I think the next comparison I really want to see or try out would be of steels with different priorities than these typically mentioned steels. A comparison of 3V, Cruwear, PD1, and others similar. Moreso than check their toughness, I would be interested in knowing whether their corrosion resistance and edge retention make up for their extra toughness.

Thanks for the testing...I was very curious how S110V would perform in these sorts of scenarios, though I wouldn't use it like that purposely outside of curiously testing it myself.