- Joined
- Aug 11, 1999
- Messages
- 1,111
I started a thread in Shoptalk re: 440V but figure I can get good feedback here, too. 440V offers great wear resistance but, on paper, trades-off quite a bit in toughness, to the point that it is even described as relatively brittle. I have been referred twice already to Crucibles stats and bar graphs, etc; however, I have not found any confirmations of this brittleness in real world use. Therefore, perhaps some of you Starmate, Military, Native users can illustrate or animate the quantitative data w/your qualitative experiences?
Sal noted in an early October thread started by Jeff Clark that Spyderco lowered its 440V blades to 55/56 for an optimum combination of wear resistance and toughness. Its a good thread (thanks for directing me, Jeff); to review, see
http://www.bladeforums.com/ubb/Forum20/HTML/001382.html
Jeff asked a question there that was never really answered: What kind of failures would you get at higher rockwell? I would guess chipping and maybe tip breakage. Yet he noted yesterday in Shoptalk that the edge would roll when I used the Starmate to behead rabbits at the low rockwell. Outlaw_Dogboy also experienced softness in the famous staple incident (!), although apparently his Natives blade was an anomaly.
Jeffs experience seems rather surprising in light of 440Vs reputed properties. (If it rolls at 55/56, is it really brittle at 57/58?) So lets forget its stats on paper for a moment. At 55/56 RC, has YOUR 440V Spydie also experienced any similar rolling, or is it just right? For those possibly w/older models, has YOUR higher 57/58 RC 440V shown any chipping in moderate or hard use?
Similarly, Sal, if you have time to reply, I just want to reiterate Jeffs October Q: what kinds of failure did you see in your 440V testing at higher RCs? In what kinds of tests? Im simply puzzled at the discrepancy between its apparent brittleness on paper but the absence of any real-world experiences to confirm it. Is its brittleness possibly overstated or misunderstood?
Curious and puzzled,
Glen
Sal noted in an early October thread started by Jeff Clark that Spyderco lowered its 440V blades to 55/56 for an optimum combination of wear resistance and toughness. Its a good thread (thanks for directing me, Jeff); to review, see
http://www.bladeforums.com/ubb/Forum20/HTML/001382.html
Jeff asked a question there that was never really answered: What kind of failures would you get at higher rockwell? I would guess chipping and maybe tip breakage. Yet he noted yesterday in Shoptalk that the edge would roll when I used the Starmate to behead rabbits at the low rockwell. Outlaw_Dogboy also experienced softness in the famous staple incident (!), although apparently his Natives blade was an anomaly.
Jeffs experience seems rather surprising in light of 440Vs reputed properties. (If it rolls at 55/56, is it really brittle at 57/58?) So lets forget its stats on paper for a moment. At 55/56 RC, has YOUR 440V Spydie also experienced any similar rolling, or is it just right? For those possibly w/older models, has YOUR higher 57/58 RC 440V shown any chipping in moderate or hard use?
Similarly, Sal, if you have time to reply, I just want to reiterate Jeffs October Q: what kinds of failure did you see in your 440V testing at higher RCs? In what kinds of tests? Im simply puzzled at the discrepancy between its apparent brittleness on paper but the absence of any real-world experiences to confirm it. Is its brittleness possibly overstated or misunderstood?
Curious and puzzled,
Glen