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The PM2 tip is a little bit fragile. That's a fact.
Of course it's an excellent EDC knife but I don't consider it a "hard use" knife like, for instance, the Shaman.
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Folder Comparison
- Thread starter csmats
- Start date
The PM2 tip is a little bit fragile. That's a fact.
Of course it's an excellent EDC knife but I don't consider it a "hard use" knife like, for instance, the Shaman.
DocJD
Basic Member
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- Jan 29, 2016
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- 11,696
There's a fine line between "hard use" and abuse . Opinions differ on this .
For extreme hard use and abuse a stouter blade and lock (or fixed) is best . Tanto tips might be better for some uses like prying , screw driving , chiseling , scraping etc . Emergency , survival or just abuse .
Not great for slicing , of course .
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- Oct 31, 2017
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The PM2 is a great knife, but I wouldn’t pry or baton with it. Having said that, I wouldn’t pry or baton with my Recon 1’s, American Lawman, ZT0620 or Spyderco GB2 either. I have an ESEE 6 for batoning and a Les George Titanium prybar for prying.
A Benchmade Adamas or a Cold Steel 4Max is about as “hard use” as a folder can be, but I wouldn’t want to pry or drive a screw with either of these expensive knives.
The hard use thing baffles me sometimes. Especially when you see videos of clowns jumping up and down on a folding blade or prying with all their strength and seem shocked when they bend or break.
A Benchmade Adamas or a Cold Steel 4Max is about as “hard use” as a folder can be, but I wouldn’t want to pry or drive a screw with either of these expensive knives.
The hard use thing baffles me sometimes. Especially when you see videos of clowns jumping up and down on a folding blade or prying with all their strength and seem shocked when they bend or break.
DocJD
Basic Member
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That's not "hard use" . More like destruct testing but done by monkeys rather than engineers .The PM2 is a great knife, but I wouldn’t pry or baton with it. Having said that, I wouldn’t pry or baton with my Recon 1’s, American Lawman, ZT0620 or Spyderco GB2 either. I have an ESEE 6 for batoning and a Les George Titanium prybar for prying.
A Benchmade Adamas or a Cold Steel 4Max is about as “hard use” as a folder can be, but I wouldn’t want to pry or drive a screw with either of these expensive knives.
The hard use thing baffles me sometimes. Especially when you see videos of clowns jumping up and down on a folding blade or prying with all their strength and seem shocked when they bend or break.
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The PM2 is a classic EDC and I have owned and used many of them. But yes, the tip may be considered "less than heavy-duty." Sal Glesser, CEO of Spyderco, designed the Military for hard use within the military.
As you mentioned, the Jumpmaster "series" is an excellent alternative.
And, regardless of the knife he chooses, let us thank the young man for his VOLUNTEER service in defense of our country.
...and, I was pleased to be able to happily utilize the "IGNORE" feature that is proferred to us on this great forum.
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I spent 22 years in the Army as a paratrooper and would give some observations. I've spent YEARS of my life in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other places I despise. I am nowhere near as knowledgeable as many of our esteemed members of the forum, but rather I have owned a tremendous amount of knives and used them as a soldier would, which I feel does add value to the forum. I am not brand loyal by any means although as a soldier, I tend to gift knives that have sentimental value.
1). I'm not a fan of the 8CR13MOV steels in a knife for a soldier. Period. I'll NEVER own another 8CR13MOV knife ever. My reasoning is simple based upon experience. Quality control of the heat treat. This has happened over probably a dozen knives I've owned. I've deployed with 2 knives of the same model...one was great and would hold an edge. The other one was essentially a butter knife. It might not matter so much to someone working at Home Depot or in an office somewhere, but to a soldier it can matter if they can't get near a sharpener.
I am not a fan of "super steels" as a soldier either. CPM 110V, S90V, etc are too much of a pain to sharpen correctly. Now that I'm retired, I love them. However, I had better things to do with my time than spending the time required to make it sharp. I much prefer 154CM, S30V, or even VG-10 steel as a soldier simply for their good balance between sharpness, and are much easier to sharpen over the super steels.
2) Those of you who read my other posts know that I am a huge fan of the Spyderco Military, and the PM2 is up there. I've carried the PM2 in Afghanistan for a year. I believe in it, and the PM2 is one of the knives I gift the most for friends and family. Yes, the tip can break. However, I firmly believe that every single knife person should own a PM2.
3) AG Russell knives (and the man AG Russell) have a reputation for being "knife guys" before it was cool. They stand by their products and everything I've owned from them has been very good to great. Sometimes though, their prices they ask for Chinese stuff with hit or miss quality control puts them into the same price range as a Seki city made Japanese knife and its much more consistent quality control or even a US made knife. Of course AG Russell stands by their products, and will gladly fix the issue.
I gift a ton of knives to friends and family for their service. I tend to give the Spyderco Military, Spyderco PM2, Benchmade Griptilian, and Emerson CQC7 the most.
One other gift that is often overlooked for soldiers that is also appreciated. Sharpeners! Everybody has a knife, but nobody has a sharpener. Go figure.
Regardless of whichever knife is gifted or chosen...just know that at some point that soldier will use that knife and think of you and about how you took the time to gift them something so wonderful.
Hope I've helped
1). I'm not a fan of the 8CR13MOV steels in a knife for a soldier. Period. I'll NEVER own another 8CR13MOV knife ever. My reasoning is simple based upon experience. Quality control of the heat treat. This has happened over probably a dozen knives I've owned. I've deployed with 2 knives of the same model...one was great and would hold an edge. The other one was essentially a butter knife. It might not matter so much to someone working at Home Depot or in an office somewhere, but to a soldier it can matter if they can't get near a sharpener.
I am not a fan of "super steels" as a soldier either. CPM 110V, S90V, etc are too much of a pain to sharpen correctly. Now that I'm retired, I love them. However, I had better things to do with my time than spending the time required to make it sharp. I much prefer 154CM, S30V, or even VG-10 steel as a soldier simply for their good balance between sharpness, and are much easier to sharpen over the super steels.
2) Those of you who read my other posts know that I am a huge fan of the Spyderco Military, and the PM2 is up there. I've carried the PM2 in Afghanistan for a year. I believe in it, and the PM2 is one of the knives I gift the most for friends and family. Yes, the tip can break. However, I firmly believe that every single knife person should own a PM2.
3) AG Russell knives (and the man AG Russell) have a reputation for being "knife guys" before it was cool. They stand by their products and everything I've owned from them has been very good to great. Sometimes though, their prices they ask for Chinese stuff with hit or miss quality control puts them into the same price range as a Seki city made Japanese knife and its much more consistent quality control or even a US made knife. Of course AG Russell stands by their products, and will gladly fix the issue.
I gift a ton of knives to friends and family for their service. I tend to give the Spyderco Military, Spyderco PM2, Benchmade Griptilian, and Emerson CQC7 the most.
One other gift that is often overlooked for soldiers that is also appreciated. Sharpeners! Everybody has a knife, but nobody has a sharpener. Go figure.
Regardless of whichever knife is gifted or chosen...just know that at some point that soldier will use that knife and think of you and about how you took the time to gift them something so wonderful.
Hope I've helped
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Jocephus1
My sons and I have all been in the military...24 yrs between the three of us.
I thank you for your GREAT number of yrs of service (tough service) to our country.
...and yes, giving a decent knife or a sharpener is something that I've done also...to military and law enforcement.
For sharpeners, I've given (and carry) the DMT Diamond Sharpening Card (billfold-size) D3C: Coarse...325 mesh.
for knives, PM2's, Millies, some Enduras, many SAKs.
don
My sons and I have all been in the military...24 yrs between the three of us.
I thank you for your GREAT number of yrs of service (tough service) to our country.
...and yes, giving a decent knife or a sharpener is something that I've done also...to military and law enforcement.
For sharpeners, I've given (and carry) the DMT Diamond Sharpening Card (billfold-size) D3C: Coarse...325 mesh.
for knives, PM2's, Millies, some Enduras, many SAKs.
don
I'm very cautious with my knives because I don't want to break one. I've seen plenty of knives that my dad broke while trying to pry with them. However I've seen youtube vids where people were stabbing and prying in wood with their PM2 and it held up fine. Personally I think if I was going to carry a PM2 and worry about breaking it, I would get it in Cruwear steel.
I think knives should have as much strenth as is reasonably practical. I had a cheap carbon steel blade that came with some temporary window shades that you have to cut to length. I kept the little knife to play with and put it in my garage. I was cutting a cardboard box- slicing it not prying or anything that shouldn't be done with a knife, and the blade broke. So using a knife like a knife there can be circumstances when it wants to break so if it has a little extra strength so much the better.
I've gotten a lot of great information off this site and have seen your experienced commentary all over for years. Just wanted to drop a note, now that this thread is long dead. What happened here is that I got trolled. I came with good will and what I got was the following:
1. What are you talking about "hard use"? That's not a subjective term that depends on context, there's just one way to look at it and you got it wrong, idiot.
2. So you're doing a comparison and concluding that yeah, they're different. D'uh. (Never mind the detail I went into on design and execution for relative price.)
3. Your nephew is a chump. Jump school don't mean jack. (I suspect this is the one who flagged me to you. I could be wrong, but I know the type.)
As a moderator you then intervened and swept the trolling under the rug and came down on me for my justified defense because I used phonetics to depict a letter of the alphabet and you called that "profanity". But then you magnanimously said you'd keep the thread open because it was "salvageable".
Your comment activated your followers to come and give me positive comments, and I thank them for it -- I know they were genuine and heartfelt. But it doesn't change the fact that the thread wasn't "salvageable", *you* salvaged it. It doesn't cover the fact that you've got a troll problem here. The people looking to post responses to new threads, especially by newbies like me, have sociopathic tendencies. Very mild ones, just online troll tendencies, but that is what they are. And this thread is textbook.
They clearly and actively sought to give me a bad experience. Don't get me wrong, I don't really care -- if you'd let us I'd counter-troll them so hard it would be great fun. But this isn't that kind of venue and I understand that. If you want it to be what you seem to be claiming and you want to attract a stream of new contributors, this is something that probably should be addressed.
Just thought you should hear it straight up.
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- Jul 30, 2006
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- 42,908
You want to have this discussion in public? Fair enough.
There was one post prior to mine that may have been an "insult". I wouldn't know, I didn't go to jump school so I don't know what military folks call each other. The rest of the posts were simply disagreeing with your post about the Spyderco Paramilitary being a "hard use knife". Differences of opinion are allowed and are not considered trolling on BF.
And something must have got you in the tenders. A week later and you still feel like you have to chew me out about the fact that people disagreed with you. Sorry, mods can't help that.
There was one post prior to mine that may have been an "insult". I wouldn't know, I didn't go to jump school so I don't know what military folks call each other. The rest of the posts were simply disagreeing with your post about the Spyderco Paramilitary being a "hard use knife". Differences of opinion are allowed and are not considered trolling on BF.
And something must have got you in the tenders. A week later and you still feel like you have to chew me out about the fact that people disagreed with you. Sorry, mods can't help that.
Wow, that was fast. Ok, bye. Was trying to help, that's why I waited, so it wouldn't be so public.