Big deal about ZDP-189?

Originally posted by Hair
200 bucks for a ZDP-189 and titanium Leek
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I think most people know it’s implied, but I’ll say it straight out. With a $200 MSRP the ZDP Ti Leek should have a market value of about $120. Standard price for knives in this industry is 40% off MSRP. Chances are the hype will push it up to $150, but I bet you will be able to find it for less at some stores.
 
only aussing the primary grind and reliefe bevel are the same.

if you have a 30mm deep blade (like a big spyderco) and you grind it so that you have a edge bevel of 3mm or so at 30degrees total the the blade is 0.52mm thick. if you ground it so that the primary grind was more acute and have the blade half this thickess 3mm behind the cutting edge but still had a 15degree bevel then you'd be removing much less metal

primaryangles.jpg
 
If I misunderstood you Andy, I apologize.

You are correct, but I did not assume you were talking about microbevels from your original post.

However, what I say is still true. Even if it is not in conflict with what you are saying (and it isn't, because I do agree with you- and frankly there is no room to disagree since you are correct).

If you have two knives at 30 degrees, one in S30V and one in ZDP-189, and you decide to reprofile the ZDP-189 knife to 20 degrees because it can handle it, then you are increasing the surface area of the final bevel (that you sharpen).

This does not account for microbevels, but I saw no mention of them in your original post.

I did not mean for my reply to slander you or say your belief is wrong. But I feel that what you said was incorrect, even if only for missing key concepts such as a microbevel. Perhaps it was to be assumed. Someone else assumed it. But I didn't. I think that most people do not use them or take them for granted in a discussion.

I do apologize. I have being "corrected" when I was not wrong in the first place, or nitpicked when the pickednits were implied and it is assumed the readers would know the particulars. But I misunderstood you and didn't take microbevels as a given.
 
bladeprince said:
With an RC of up to 66, does one need diamond rods to sharpen it?
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The hardness has little effect on grindability, the only effect that makes is if you want to file it which requires a hardness significantly less than the file for the knife to be machined. The grindability of ZDP-189 is very low, much lower than high carbon stainless like VG-10, however it is shaped easily with a coarse silicon carbide waterstone and honed to a razor edge easily with aluminum oxide waterstones and 0.5 micron chromium/aluminum oxide buffing compound.

-Cliff
 
beefangusbeef said:
I concur. It holds an edge a lil longer. Is that worth the exponential increase in cost? Does the steel make a 30 dollar knife worth 200? I don't think so, but some do.
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I'm in complete agreement with you. Before this the hot new supersteel was S30v; now the new hot steel is ZDP-189. I'm happy and glad to see new and improved steels but it is too easy to get caught up in the new steel hype.

I recommend that a person looks at the whole knife design and not just the blade steel. There are a lot of great knives out there with blade steel other than ZDP-189 that work great, last a lifetime and are very affordable.
 
Hair my first post was badly worded, it's something I try to sort out but in written words I'm rather bad at explaining things. I'm happy for people to say that they don't follow or ask me to explain it better, it's the only way I'll improve yes if you have a knife and regrind it to 20degrees inclusive rather then 30 then you will increase the amount of metal you have to remove. Hopefully the maker will use the benifits of the steel so that you don't have to do this though. It doesn't mean they will though. Of course you'll get better performace if you put a back bevel on which is much more acute then the final cutting bevel and you only need to have the course stones to do that which work faster, you can then add a micro bevel with a finer stone and any touch ups wont involve removing much metal
 
Ah, I wasn't thinking primary grind either. I didn't think zdp had the toughness to do such a thing on a general utility knife, which is why they sandwich it in ats34 or 420. I wonder how thin manufacturers would go for stock on a folder with high hardness, it'll be interesting to see.
 
Laminates are more for cost in the small knives, because most of the grinding is on the easier to grind steel. The main benefit for a user is on really large knives that take heavy impacts.

-Cliff
 
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