- Joined
- Dec 23, 2008
- Messages
- 566
I wanted to respond to a couple of threads regarding EDCing a damascus Sebenza. I EDC a small raindrop damascus sebenza and have for over a month now. I kept the original convex edge and sharpen with a strop. I get my edges sharp enough to shave but no sharper. I know some of you get blades much sharper.
I use my knife daily for everything. I have found there are marks on the blade but they aren't deep and I find it is of no consequence. It just doesn't bother me. Second, the contrast in the damascus has seemed to fade out a little. Nothing bad but there is more of a grey fog that covers it. I like it much better after using it than when it was just out of the box. I come from a carbon steel, patina lovin' background. So the appearance looks broken in but still looks fantastic!
Now the performance has been a question of mine for the last month because I am still getting used to the knife on two fronts. First, all my other knives are slipjoints and they have very thin blades. There has been a little learning curve for me to hold my Sebenza more vertical. Hard to explain but it's just different with the thicker blade. Second, It takes a little time getting to know how the knife likes to be sharpened and I think I have that down now.
So today I thought I would run through a little edge performance test for my own knowledge and share it with you all. Now, I used what was lying around and I am no pro at giving reviews or creating scientific tests that show all the fancy performance values. I carry a knife and cut things with it and that's as simple as it is.
So here we go starting from being sharpened on a strop to the point I can shave the hair off my arm with ease.
First I cut some fiber twine 30 times. This stuff is quite thin but I use it a lot and especially to test edges because as easy as it looks to cut, it can sometimes be a buggar. Many times the edge of the blade will want to slide off the twine and the edge wont catch. The Sebenza performed better than my thin 1095 and O-1 blades. I was surprised how well it did.
Next, I had a small block of hard cherry so I decided to do a little whittling and cut some nice shavings 50 times. The blade cut quite nicely and performed quite well as a wood carving knife especially considering its edge geometry. I was quite happy. After making 50 cuts I ran the blade across my arm and easily cut the hair. I saw no blade performance change.
Next, I cut a wide rubber band on a wood board using a chopping motion as if I were chopping a salad. I cut 30 pieces. The pieces cut through nicely and because of the nice belly on the blade, all the pieces cut all the way without leaving pieces looking like dangling chads!
O.K. I cut open a lot of plastic clamshell packages and I also seem to cut a lot of plastic bottle in half to make cups to mix paint and stuff. Remember "Reduce, Re-use, Recycle". Anyway, I had an empty swiffer plastic pale and I cut the end off and then made some cuts. The knife went through it just fine but I found that the plastic was tearing so I cut the top edge off to use as my test piece. The lip of the pan had a few bends which made the plastic more stiff and I cut 30 pieces off again using a chopping motion on a hard board. The knife went through just fine. While a thinner blade would have performed better due to the plastic pinching the blade, it did a fine job with no complaints.
Next test was what I thought would be a tough one. Cardboard. The cardboard I used was of medium weight. It was the double thick kind with the wavy piece in the center so there are two ways to cut it; with the grain and cross grain. I made 25 cuts with the grain and 20 cuts cross grain all over 8 inches long. The knife slid through with ease with only a few times getting caught or hung-up on some hard nasty places within the cardboard. I was starting to feel the knife wear a little but the cuts were clean. I ran the knife over my arm and shaved off hair. The hair was harder to cut at this point but certainly acceptable. Had I been headed out to do some chores, I certainly would not have sharpened it yet. It had plenty in in for more work.
Ok. I am struggling to find more things to cut but I found a Poplar 1"x2" and decided to do some more whittling. I whittled a notch around it as if I were making a tent stake or something to tie to. I counted 180 cuts (yes I counted) and got tired and said that's enough. This blade is good to go in my pocket! This is enough of a test for me to determine the damascus is good stuff! I shaved hair off my arm and it hurt a little. It's time to sharpen.
A picture of the blade after all that cuttin.
I use my knife daily for everything. I have found there are marks on the blade but they aren't deep and I find it is of no consequence. It just doesn't bother me. Second, the contrast in the damascus has seemed to fade out a little. Nothing bad but there is more of a grey fog that covers it. I like it much better after using it than when it was just out of the box. I come from a carbon steel, patina lovin' background. So the appearance looks broken in but still looks fantastic!
Now the performance has been a question of mine for the last month because I am still getting used to the knife on two fronts. First, all my other knives are slipjoints and they have very thin blades. There has been a little learning curve for me to hold my Sebenza more vertical. Hard to explain but it's just different with the thicker blade. Second, It takes a little time getting to know how the knife likes to be sharpened and I think I have that down now.
So today I thought I would run through a little edge performance test for my own knowledge and share it with you all. Now, I used what was lying around and I am no pro at giving reviews or creating scientific tests that show all the fancy performance values. I carry a knife and cut things with it and that's as simple as it is.
So here we go starting from being sharpened on a strop to the point I can shave the hair off my arm with ease.
First I cut some fiber twine 30 times. This stuff is quite thin but I use it a lot and especially to test edges because as easy as it looks to cut, it can sometimes be a buggar. Many times the edge of the blade will want to slide off the twine and the edge wont catch. The Sebenza performed better than my thin 1095 and O-1 blades. I was surprised how well it did.
Next, I had a small block of hard cherry so I decided to do a little whittling and cut some nice shavings 50 times. The blade cut quite nicely and performed quite well as a wood carving knife especially considering its edge geometry. I was quite happy. After making 50 cuts I ran the blade across my arm and easily cut the hair. I saw no blade performance change.
Next, I cut a wide rubber band on a wood board using a chopping motion as if I were chopping a salad. I cut 30 pieces. The pieces cut through nicely and because of the nice belly on the blade, all the pieces cut all the way without leaving pieces looking like dangling chads!
O.K. I cut open a lot of plastic clamshell packages and I also seem to cut a lot of plastic bottle in half to make cups to mix paint and stuff. Remember "Reduce, Re-use, Recycle". Anyway, I had an empty swiffer plastic pale and I cut the end off and then made some cuts. The knife went through it just fine but I found that the plastic was tearing so I cut the top edge off to use as my test piece. The lip of the pan had a few bends which made the plastic more stiff and I cut 30 pieces off again using a chopping motion on a hard board. The knife went through just fine. While a thinner blade would have performed better due to the plastic pinching the blade, it did a fine job with no complaints.
Next test was what I thought would be a tough one. Cardboard. The cardboard I used was of medium weight. It was the double thick kind with the wavy piece in the center so there are two ways to cut it; with the grain and cross grain. I made 25 cuts with the grain and 20 cuts cross grain all over 8 inches long. The knife slid through with ease with only a few times getting caught or hung-up on some hard nasty places within the cardboard. I was starting to feel the knife wear a little but the cuts were clean. I ran the knife over my arm and shaved off hair. The hair was harder to cut at this point but certainly acceptable. Had I been headed out to do some chores, I certainly would not have sharpened it yet. It had plenty in in for more work.
Ok. I am struggling to find more things to cut but I found a Poplar 1"x2" and decided to do some more whittling. I whittled a notch around it as if I were making a tent stake or something to tie to. I counted 180 cuts (yes I counted) and got tired and said that's enough. This blade is good to go in my pocket! This is enough of a test for me to determine the damascus is good stuff! I shaved hair off my arm and it hurt a little. It's time to sharpen.
A picture of the blade after all that cuttin.
