Darrin Sanders CPM 10V Trailing Point full review and testing

[Ankerson]

Got the knife in the other day and have been testing it, this is my full testing process on rope, cardboard and wood.

Specs:

Blade Length - 4 3/4"
Handle length - 4 1/4"
OAL - 9"
Behind the Edge - .012"
Spine thickness - 1/8"
Blade shape - Trailing Point
Steel - CPM 10V at 63 RC
Handle Material - Desert Ironwood
Edge geometry is 15 DPS
Edge finish - 400 Grit SIC.


Started out with the rope.

Made 1180 draw cuts on 5/8" Manila rope until 20 lbs of down force was reached, there wasn't any issues with the edge other than normal edge wear and tear that I normally see cutting rope. The knife would still slice phone book paper some and printer paper easy after.

Next was the Cardboard.

Resharpened the knife before the cardboard stage, cut 5400 ft of cardboard, that's 1.02 Miles or 1.65 KM of cardboard that was cut. It would still slice phone book paper some what and printer paper easy.

Last was the wood cutting.

Wood was cut as you see in the photos making thick and thin slices, then I split another piece of wood with the knife, it held up fine with zero issues, the knife was not sharpened before the wood.

Final thoughts:

Good all around knife I believe, CPM 10V performed as expected and as shown can do some real work as shown after cutting over a mile of cardboard it would still deal with the wood without having to sharpen the knife at all before hand.

Darrin Sanders does his own heat treating as seen in the photos below.

With sister knife made at the same time.

 

[Darrin Sanders]

Thanks for the test and review Jim. Do I need to send you any pain killers after all that cutting. LOL

I just want to address the issue of this knife looking like a South Fork. It was not intended to be an exact copy. It was definitely influenced by Phil's work because I know Jim likes the way Phil's knives handle. I sat down with some card stock and made my own pattern not realizing how close it was to the South Fork. I actually thought I screwed this one up and made the other one for Jim to pick from and this is the one he chose.
I just wanted to address this and apologize to Phil. Any knives of this type made in the future will definitely have some design changes.

 

[Ankerson]

It was unfortunate that it ended up looking too much like one of Phil's designs and as Darrin stated there will be changes to take care of that issue in the future.

As Darrin stated it wasn't intentional, but still to be fair and out of respect to Phil it had to be addressed as it is too close in the end, while not a direct copy as there are differences.

This is the only one, there won't be any more, the other one was changed to a drop point so it doesn't look anything like this one at all.

 

[daizee]

lovely looking little knife. As long as designs are attributed to the author and aren't mass-produced without proper respect (profit sharing), most folks don't get too antsy. I'd love to see the drop point version.

Amazing how long that edge lasts. Probably as long as your fresh case of tendonitis!
Thanks for going to the trouble.

 

[daizee]

silly double post.

 

[Ankerson]

lovely looking little knife. As long as designs are attributed to the author and aren't mass-produced without proper respect (profit sharing), most folks don't get too antsy. I'd love to see the drop point version.

Amazing how long that edge lasts. Probably as long as your fresh case of tendonitis!
Thanks for going to the trouble.

For me it was more of a respect thing, I thought I was going to have a heart attack when I 1st saw it as I know Phil so I felt it really needed to be addressed to be fair to him.

CPM 10V (A11) is really some amazing steel.

 

[sodak]

Nice knife and great performance. Go find some Epsom salts Jim!

 

[Ankerson]

Nice knife and great performance. Go find some Epsom salts Jim!

Thanks, it did very well, strong knife.

 

[Phil Wilson]

Hi Darrin, Yes the knife comes pretty close to the South Fork but there are some subtle differences I can see. Accept the apology since it is apparent that is not meant to be a direct copy. Nice knife and very good performance. Jim's testing really illustrates the potential with CPM 10V. Phil

 

[Insipid Moniker]

Thank you for the review, Ankerson, and I thank all three of you for being all-around classy about this.

 

[d00mtr33]

Thank you Jim for all of your efforts in the testing you do. It provides very important info and us knife nuts are grateful. How did this compare to the spyderco k2? The results seem to be nearly identical with Darrins knife having a slight edge. Also from your experience how does 10v stack up to s110v? I know that the manix needed to be ground thinner to get into the 1100 cut range if either of the 10v knives were reground to 5 thou like the manix was do you think they would pull mych ahead? Again thank you for all your hard work and give thst machine you call an arm some rest. Take care.

 

[sodak]

Let me know if you need another 10V data point, I think I can find a knife for you.

 

[RWT]

I have to do some research but I recall someone stating 10v would not make a good blade. Either I am old and can't remember well or this really proves it wrong. Good looking knife and nice review. I am also betting on me being old and forgetful.

 

[Ankerson]

Let me know if you need another 10V data point, I think I can find a knife for you.

I do need to retest yours, never tested it with a coarse edge. :thumbup:

 

[Ankerson]

Thank you Jim for all of your efforts in the testing you do. It provides very important info and us knife nuts are grateful. How did this compare to the spyderco k2? The results seem to be nearly identical with Darrins knife having a slight edge. Also from your experience how does 10v stack up to s110v? I know that the manix needed to be ground thinner to get into the 1100 cut range if either of the 10v knives were reground to 5 thou like the manix was do you think they would pull mych ahead? Again thank you for all your hard work and give thst machine you call an arm some rest. Take care.

CPM 10V will cut longer than S110V apples to apples.

 

[tidefan]

That is one beautiful knife. Where can I find prices and such?

 

[Darrin Sanders]

That is one beautiful knife. Where can I find prices and such?

Thanks Tidefan, you can use the contact info. listed below to call or email me. A call would be best because it would allow us to iron out several details such as handle material, sheath type, etc..

 

[Justin Presson]

Nice knife Darrin! That is a bunch of cardboard. Good review.