Convex my pm2??? Yay or nay?

[f250]

Should I convex my pm2? I just got it a couple of weeks ago, I'm feeling the itch to play with the edge a little bit. I convexed my Becker bk15 and I've been quite impressed with how slicy the edge became. I'm considering it mainly because
1) I'm still experimenting with convex edges and I want to try that type of edge on one of my EDC's
2) I like slicy knives, the pm2 has a good design for that, and I enjoy laser sharp blades. Convexing and removing the bevel shoulders will increase cutting performance and that sounds good to me.
3) I've already put some scratches on the blade, and it's going to be a user either way, so I figure why not.

This pm2 is S30V, and it's in my EDC rotation. Probably won't see tons of hard use, I just changed jobs from landscaping to kitchen management, so if anything I would expect it to see a lot less hard use. No prying, no woods use, just standard edc uses-cutting things that need cutting. Probably mostly cardboard boxes, tape, string, and random things around the house or when working on my car.

I'm asking here because I'd like to get feedback from some of the sharpening guys who have experience with thinned S30V edges. Soooo, comments? Thoughts? How will the S30V perform?

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Depending on how you might plan to go about it, you might be better off not convexing it, at least not yet. If you use the wet/dry sandpaper method of convexing, using a somewhat softish or forgiving backing under the paper (mousepad, leather, etc), you might be disappointed in the finished sharpness of the edge. Wet/dry sandpaper won't handle S30V's vanadium carbides as well under such circumstances. I've tried it with other S30V blades, using the sandpaper on a strop block of leather-over-oak; the results always disappointed me, as the edge never really finished very crisply. The softer-backed sandpaper will also be much slower grinding, in the shaping of the convex on S30V.

On the other hand, if you convex it on a diamond hone, or at least a SiC bench stone, your chances of keeping the edge crisper are better, and will also be much quicker-grinding.

I've liked Spyderco's factory edge grinds on my PM (older models) and Military models in S30V, and haven't felt much need to convex them or otherwise alter their edge profiles. Whatever honing I've done on them has just been relatively minor touch-ups to the factory edges. S30V responds really well to diamond hones in particular, especially in Fine/EF grit, used with a comfortably light touch. The finer you go in grit with S30V, the more important the diamonds will be in refining it for a crisp-as-possible edge.


David

 

[dkb45]

If you can convex with diamond or CBN, I would say try it, but if you don't have either if those to use, I would recommend sticking to a V edge. The carbides will lead to weird things with the edge. I mean you can try it, and it might work out, but don't be surprised if it doesn't lead to the best edge. Aluminum oxide and silicon carbide don't handle vanadium carbides very well, and it will make the edge kind of funky.