Anyone disappointed with LC200N? Is it the LC200N heat treatment?

brainsxn said:
I have an LC200N UKpenknife and it is disappointing. Yes, easy to sharpen. But my H1 aqua lasts longer. If this weren´t the case, I´d say Im doing something wrong. Both spyderco, both sharpened numerous times using the same technique, by me. I even tried the dual grit sharpening technique which worked really well on magnacut, but doesn´t on my UKPK Lc200N. Frustrated. Any suggestions? Is it the heat treatment? Anyone know about spyderco´s heat treatment of LC200N?
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I'll start with what may not be obvious...

Was the knife actually sharpened and deburred properly prior to use? This may seem like a no brainer but most "steel performance issues" are related to low-quality sharpening efforts. Does the knife shave arm hair easily (under very low force applied) in both directions? What is the method you've used to sharpen the knife exactly? How many times have you resharpened the knife since receiving it?? Was the knife used much between those sessions as in completely dull (0% sharp) or just maybe kind sharp (50% sharp)?
 
deburred using leather strop with diamond paste. shaves hair easily. sharpened using 1000 grit diamond plate. approx 10 dps. cuts paper/cardboard easily, but simply doesnt last. within the week, not cutting paper well.
 
brainsxn said:
deburred using leather strop with diamond paste. shaves hair easily. sharpened using 1000 grit diamond plate. approx 10 dps. cuts paper/cardboard easily, but simply doesnt last. within the week, not cutting paper well.
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Does it shave hair in both directions of approach? Shave one way, turn the knife and go the other direction... if it only shaves in one direction then there is still a burr present. What type of use do you put the knife trough? Is it mostly slicing tasks or do you need push cutting ability as well for wood cutting, etc?

One of the expected 'features' of this class of steel is that it is easy to grind relative to higher carbide steels, I take this as a very important trait for a working knife and many here tend to completely ignore grindability or might say 'just use diamond/CBN'. The other side of this coin is that because it has far less wear resistance it will likely need to be sharpened sooner, assuming the edge has sufficient strength to degrade solely by slow wear. I don't think strength is your problem.
 
Father & Son Traditional Sharpening said:
Does it shave hair in both directions of approach? Shave one way, turn the knife and go the other direction... if it only shaves in one direction then there is still a burr present. What type of use do you put the knife trough? Is it mostly slicing tasks or do you need push cutting ability as well for wood cutting, etc?

One of the expected 'features' of this class of steel is that it is easy to grind relative to higher carbide steels, I take this as a very important trait for a working knife and many here tend to completely ignore grindability or might say 'just use diamond/CBN'. The other side of this coin is that because it has far less wear resistance it will likely need to be sharpened sooner, assuming the edge has sufficient strength to degrade solely by slow wear. I don't think strength is your problem.
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I put a toothy edge on it this time. I did the dual grit again. 250 on one side, 3000 on the other. shaves hair, but it hurts- toothy not awesome - and yes I checked both directions - thanks for that trick... But, cuts the paper really well. Truth be told I took it out of rotation for a while and Ive been using a vanax steel. very nice. retains its paper cutting edge much longer, but harder to get hair cutting sharp. I guess Im just voicing my experience and appreciate the educated feedback :)
 
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