How Prone is ZDP-189 to Chipping?

J

jday2727

Joined
Jul 8, 2015
Messages
564
Hey everyone, my only Spyderco as of now is a DF2 in ZDP. I feel like I'm not using it to its full potential because I'm afraid of chipping it. What tasks cause it to chip, and how easy is it to sharpen out?
 
Prying is always bad and will result in chips, wiggling is like prying so try not to do that, chopping is also bad, other than that use it like you stole it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
wiredbeans said:
Prying is always bad and will result in chips, wiggling is like prying so try not to do that, chopping is also bad, other than that use it like you stole it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Aw, man, I use my DF to chop and baton all the time! Just kidding, thank you!
 
I find my ZPD delica to sustain less edge damage doing the same tasks than benchmade 154cm and D2, spyderco aus8 and S110V, ontario aus8, and suprisingly cold steel 3V. It holds up well to push or draw cutting straight into destructive materials, with just normal dulling, just don't impact or pry against the edge too much.

Sharpening takes a little more effort than most steels, but is no problem with the right stones.
 
jpm2 said:
I find my ZPD delica to sustain less edge damage doing the same tasks than benchmade 154cm and D2, spyderco aus8 and S110V, ontario aus8, and suprisingly cold steel 3V. It holds up well to push or draw cutting straight into destructive materials, with just normal dulling, just don't impact or pry against the edge too much.

Sharpening takes a little more effort than most steels, but is no problem with the right stones.
Click to expand...
Wow that's cool! Is a 4 sided DMT sharpener good enough?
 
jday2727 said:
Wow that's cool! Is a 4 sided DMT sharpener good enough?
Click to expand...

I'm not aware of any 4 sided DMT, but yeah any diamond will do the job.
My preference however is to start with a Norton jb8 combo silicon carbide stone.
It's so much faster to the burr if the blade is really dull, or if you're working on the bevel.
This is due to being able to use a lot more pressure, that might otherwise damage a diamond sharpener.
I use my diamond stuff after a burr is formed, and removed.
 
ZDP is fairly tough until it comes into contact with something very hard like bone or concrete. With an extreme level of wear resistance due to having 20% chromium and a hardness of 65+ ZDP is anything but easy to sharpen. I have seen some fairly bad chips in ZDP from being dropped on concrete and using diamond plate bumpers as cutting boards, two things I would not recommend doing.

I doubt you will have any issues though and if you do then it can always be sharpened.
 
I am probably a minority here, but I don't really care for ZDP. I have had a couple of knives with it and have gotten rid of them. The CF/ZDP Stretch that I had chipped quite badly cutting zip ties on one of my daughters Christmas gifts a couple of years ago. That didn't make me very happy, so it found a new home.
 
I ended up putting a few small chips in the blade of my ZDP Delica just by whittling wood, was a bit of a surprise. After sharpening them out and convexing the edge it seems to be much better now, haven't had any issues since I convexed it, and it's been cutting wood, zipties, etc.
 
No issues with my ZDP Dragonfly and I use it extensively. Love that little knife.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I've had zdp chip on me but it was my fault . First thing I did has putting ridiculously low angles on the knife . Then I had to cut wires at work .

At factory angles not so much though.
 
If my Mora HD Companion is not handy, I use a Delica ZDP in the garden and have no problems cutting vegetation, string, zip ties, even (carefully) prying a few 5/16" T50 staples from posts.

Sharpening is not an issue with my Sharpmaker or DMT Aligner.
 
My William Henry B-15 (ZDP) Titan has no chips after 10 years of daily use.
 
My William Henry ZDP-189 has no chipping after almost 2 years of use. However, the worst thing I do is take the back out of few chickens with it, no chipping on bone. No need of a real sharpening as well but I have stropped it a few times for fun :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top