CV Peanut vs Alox Solo

S

spydutch

Joined
Jul 4, 2005
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978
Greetings you all:)

The two knives I carry and love the most are my Cv Peanut(either of them;)) and my Alox Solo.
Just yesterday I was curious if the edge holding of Case CV was that much better than Vic steel, so I did a simple cutting test.
I first sharpened the knives untill they would easily slide through a piece of cigarette paper.
Then I took a box of medium thick cardboard and made exact the same amount of cuts (20) with each knife using the whole length of the blade.
After this I tried to slice a piece of cigarette paper again and to my surprise did both blades have the same trouble of sliding through and teared the paper equally bad.
After ten strokes on the white side of my Spyderco Pocket Stone they were back to their sharpness from before the test.

So I guess there's not much difference in edge holding between the two steels.

Just wanted to share this with you all.

Thanks for reading:thumbup:
 
This is a great testament to the quality of Victorinox steel. It's super stuff.

-- Mark
 
Twenty cuts in cardboard would dull any edge. How long does sharpening take? You could try again after each sharpening, decreasing the amount of cuts every test until a clear difference can be seen. It would take a long time just for two knives, though. :p
 
Gobbo_the_civet said:
Twenty cuts in cardboard would dull any edge. How long does sharpening take? You could try again after each sharpening, decreasing the amount of cuts every test until a clear difference can be seen. It would take a long time just for two knives, though. :p
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A binary search would be faster. He already did 20. So then do 10, see if there is a difference. If not, sharpen and do 5, if a difference is seen, do 15 the next time. Iterating this method gets you a fairly dense set of data in the area you care about without mucking about trying every combination.
 
gomipile said:
A binary search would be faster. He already did 20. So then do 10, see if there is a difference. If not, sharpen and do 5, if a difference is seen, do 15 the next time. Iterating this method gets you a fairly dense set of data in the area you care about without mucking about trying every combination.
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LALALA I cant hear you! ;) But you're right. I have a tendency to overdo tests by scientific method.
 
I know I hear a lot about the poor grade of sak steel from the steel snobs over in the general forum, but it's as good as anything we had in the old days. First off, cardboard is filled with clay and dirt and glue, and is like running your knife through sandpaper. Fastest way to dull a knife is cut down cardboard boxes. It's knock off a razor edge faster than anything I know.

But, even once that razor edge is gone, and it won't shave cigarette paper, I'll bet the sak and the peanut will still cut food stuff, twine/rope, wood, and plastic blister packages. The geometry of the blades will still work some even with a less than razor sharp edge. But of course the real beauty of the sak and Case steel is that you're never far from a coffee mug, car window, brick wall, boot top, to get that edge back again a just a few moments.

Not a bad trade off.

Carl.
 
Victorinox steel and knives are flat out excellent. I have a ton of SAKs, they sharpen up easily and do their jobs well. Now that I have a growing collection of knives, I'm nothing less than shocked at their fit and finish. My $20 SI is built as solidly as my Swayback Gent or Powderhorn Jack. I have a number of their kitchen knives as well; never disappointed. My only quibble is that the spearpoint is probably my least favorite main blade style.

I also see a lot of complaining about Case's tru-sharp. Again, it sharpens up nice; I don't see the problem.

I went through a super-steel phase. I ended up with a couple knives with uber blades that would never take a razor edge. An hour on the sharpmaker and they're kind of ok, meanwhile 1 minute for a carbon steel and it fillets paper.
 
jackknife said:
I know I hear a lot about the poor grade of sak steel from the steel snobs over in the general forum, but it's as good as anything we had in the old days. First off, cardboard is filled with clay and dirt and glue, and is like running your knife through sandpaper. Fastest way to dull a knife is cut down cardboard boxes. It's knock off a razor edge faster than anything I know.

But, even once that razor edge is gone, and it won't shave cigarette paper, I'll bet the sak and the peanut will still cut food stuff, twine/rope, wood, and plastic blister packages. The geometry of the blades will still work some even with a less than razor sharp edge. But of course the real beauty of the sak and Case steel is that you're never far from a coffee mug, car window, brick wall, boot top, to get that edge back again a just a few moments.

Not a bad trade off.

Carl.
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I completely agree with you Carl.
 
jackknife said:
I know I hear a lot about the poor grade of sak steel from the steel snobs over in the general forum, but it's as good as anything we had in the old days. First off, cardboard is filled with clay and dirt and glue, and is like running your knife through sandpaper. Fastest way to dull a knife is cut down cardboard boxes. It's knock off a razor edge faster than anything I know.

But, even once that razor edge is gone, and it won't shave cigarette paper, I'll bet the sak and the peanut will still cut food stuff, twine/rope, wood, and plastic blister packages. The geometry of the blades will still work some even with a less than razor sharp edge. But of course the real beauty of the sak and Case steel is that you're never far from a coffee mug, car window, brick wall, boot top, to get that edge back again a just a few moments.

Not a bad trade off.

Carl.
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Carl, without getting into maintenance forum discussion, may I say most complaints of knife steels are from unenlightened folks that test the steel. I have come to learn to sharpen on just about anything. Im not cocky, but I would put a formed edge off my belt sander and leather belts up against the best of them without hesitation. What I learned though, through the very helpful folks of this forum and my own trial and error, is that every steel sharpens differently. And even the same steel will sharpen differently at different hardnesses.

When I have any quality steel sharpened properly with no remaining micro bur, it will cut cardboard like you wouldn't believe and still have a shaving sharp edge.

I believe it is less about the steel and more about properly sharpening your tool.

Respectfully spoken of course.
 
Love that Alox Solo - it is one of the greats

There are a few in a similar line - the slipjoint mercator, some of those other blades by Lutter and Cie, Otter and others - cost very little and work very very well :)

They get very sharp. They might not stay sharp as long as say D2, but who ocan complain when you can shrpen the thing on something like a bit of cardboard:D:D
 
Victroinox's steel ( Inox I think is their name for it ) really reminds me a lot of Case's tru-sharp blade steel and while the stuff is on the lower end of the spectrum as far as edge retention goes I still believe it is fine blade steel for a user and both steels prove to be pretty easy to sharpen and can take a scary sharp edge in no time.
 
I use my SAK all the time. Sharpen it about once a week. Will it cut paper at the end of that week? No. But then I don't cut much paper.;)
 
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