I love ZDP-189

J

jjacques

Joined
Aug 22, 2007
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Just got my ZDP-189 Endura in the mail, and holy sh*t- this is far and away the sharpest out-of-the-box knife I've ever owned (and that's saying a lot, considering how many Emersons and Benchmades are in my collection). What a great knife!
 
congrats on your sharp knife. If i like my Caly3 (which should be here anytime!) i will probably get the CF zdp model and try it out.
 
I've got a ZDP Delica and I'm in the same boat. Sharpest freakin' thing I've ever seen straight out of the box.
 
jjacques said:
Just got my ZDP-189 Endura in the mail, and holy sh*t- this is far and away the sharpest out-of-the-box knife I've ever owned (and that's saying a lot, considering how many Emersons and Benchmades are in my collection). What a great knife!
Click to expand...

I've bought 4 ZDP-189 Enduras.
1 SE and 3 PE's.

The SE was ridiculously sharp out of the box.


I've bought 4 ZDP-189 Enduras.
1 SE and 3 PE's.

The SE was ridiculously sharp out of the box.

The 3 PE's, though, were not as sharp as the SE.
In fact, they were not as sharp as my VG-10 Enduras.

I sent them to Spyderco in Golden. Turnaround time was very quick, about 10 days, and the blades came back very very sharp indeed.
 
I have a few Spyderco ZDP knives now and I am impressed. My Caly 3 and Caly Jr are the 2 sharpest knives I have ever handled. Way beyond any other factory edge I have used. I didn't do any formal testing, but they push-cut paper insanely well.

I have also been very impressed by my ZDP Delica SE. It came as sharp or sharper than any other SE knife I have and has performed great cutting zip-ties.

I have done some reprofiling on my Delica PE using a DMT X-coarse diamond stone and haven't managed to get this one as sharp as I would like. I think ZDP is a little harder to sharpen than VG-10, for example, but it doesn't seem too bad.

I am looking forward to more ZDP knives, especially the Stretch 2!
 
:thumbup: The ZDP is by far my favorite steel, and can hold a narrow edge very well. I think sharpmaker should be redesigned with 20 inclusive degree slots to take advantage of this supersteel :jerkit:

All my other 154CM, 18CR3MOV, VG-10, H1, even S30V blade can never hold an edge at 30/40 degree better than my caly3 and caly jr at 25 degree edge
 
I think this is what the new stretch is made of, can someone tell me the benifits of this steel, I have never had a knife made from ZDP-189.

RickJ
 
In the same boat as kycolonel, would also like to know if they sharpen well on a sharpmaker.
 
I love it too, in Caly IIIs and Caly Jr's. Just sharpen it and forget about it for many months, it'll stay sharp.
 
In regards to sharpening on the Sharpmaker, I have had a tough time getting my ZDP Delica up to speed. I should mention that this is my first attempt at sharpening ZDP. I can consistently get good results with other steels like VG-10 but ZDP seems a bit harder.

I reprofiled the Delica using a DMT X-coarse stone to even out the edge, and then proceeded to sharpen on the Sharpmaker as I do with all my knives. I was sharpening this ZDP Delica at the same time as a VG-10 Delica, and I just can't seem to get the ZDP Delica as sharp as I would like. VG-10 turned out great as usual and with much less effort. Last night I did succeed in creating a decent shaving edge on the ZDP Delica, but it took a lot of passes on the Sharpmaker. Even now it is not really a great push-cutting edge when testing it on paper. My VG-10 Delicas are easily better. It seems to have taken a good edge for slicing though, and it will shave so maybe I should be content...

On the other hand, my Caly III and Caly Jr. are the 2 sharpest knives I have ever handled. The factory edge on each is incredible. After a lot of use my Caly III is starting to show decreased performance, so it is just about time to touch that one up. I attribute the superior sharpness of the Calys, at least in part, to the narrower grind compared to the Delica, and also my inexperience sharpening ZDP.

Any tips for ZDP and the Sharpmaker? For me it just seems harder to put that final polished edge on ZDP.
 
I know this does NOT help, but I just have to say that I have exactly the same difficulties as nphelps4130.

ZDP-189 IS one heck of a H-A-R-D steel, and it seems that the sharpmaker just performs better (or lets say easier) with less hard steels like VG-10 in my hands.

On the other hand, I have an E4 ZDP, too, and it was not only sharper out of the box than the D4, but it seems it is easier to touch up for me. I just don't know if this is due to a different (factory) grind angle, (although on my D4,the grind angle on the "right" side seemed higher than on the other side), or if the blades are made of different batches of the steel with slightly different attributes.

That said, with lots of work, you can finally get your ZDP Delica shaving sharp on the sharpmaker. It just takes a lot more time.... and I didn't achieve a good "polished" edge to push-cut paper to this day, just like nphelps4130. But the blade cuts like hell anyway :-)

So, if the main task for your knife is to show off in front of your friends how effortless it can push-cut paper (nothing wrong with that :D), there are lots of steels that can perform equally good or even better that ZDP-189. Heck, even AUS-6 will be excellent for that.

But if you use your knife hard for tough tasks where you need a knife that holds its sharp edge longer than any other knife, ZDP is the one for you.

Dennis
 
Well, Dennis, I think your post is a lot of help! For me it helps a lot to hear what others are doing and what kind of results they are getting. I am glad to hear I am not the only one having a harder time with ZDP and especially reaching a push-cutting edge. But I do agree that the ZDP Delica makes for a good cutter with an edge that will last for a long time.

And as far as push cutting, I think a high-tech steel like ZDP is not necessarily the best choice. Some of my best push-cutting knives are SAKs. But of course they will not hold an edge for as long.

Based on comparisons to the Caly, maybe ZDP just has to have a narrower grind to equal the push-cutting of steels like VG-10?
 
I'll just reiterate here that my E4 SE ZDP-189 was wicked sharp out of the box (and still is.)

But the 3 E4 PE ZDP-189's I bought - at different times - had edges that were not as good as the standard VG-10. I didn't bother sharpening them - I sent them to Spyderco for that. They came back very, very sharp, but the edges are as described Murdoc370 just above. Ended up selling them.

So when I carry an Endura, which is often, it's either the ZDP-189 SE or the VG-10 PE.
 
The key to sharpening ZDP is using diamond stones. It take twice as long to re-profile as VG-10 on my DMT stones. Its takes about 3 times as long on the final leather strop to get that surgical edge. This steel really sets a new standard of scary sharp if sharpened properly. I imagine sharpening ZDP on anything other than Diamond stones must be pure horror.
 
i use the dog bone and havent had to reprofile the blade yet. had this d4 for a while now. use it as an edc work knife. you think paper is hard to cut well try shrink wrap streched tightly around some cases of cans or the like. if it isnt sharp the wrap will and rip. if you dont get what im talking about try cutting some with the zdp then try a box knife and youll see the diff.

my only complaint about the d4 is the screw holes for the pocket clip. at least 1 hole has stripped out on each side of the metal spacers and this was not due to over tightening.
 
I can't wait to get my hands on a ZDP blade. From what little are known about the specs it should be insane. It has WAY MORE cromium and carbon than any other steel I have ever heard of. I am looking forward to seeing a lab analysis. No one even knows what 189 stands for.
I want to put a ZDP blade to the test against my current champ a Scrapyard SS4 with Busse's INFI steel.
I will try to keep the profiles as close as possible and will most likely be getting an Endura because the blade is the same length.
 
It took me the better part of four hours with DMT diamond plates to completely remove the hollow grind in my ZDP Delica. Once that was done....pure horror by the way.....it didn't take that long to get a really nice edge using water stones. I polished the now flat grind to a mirrors edge upto a 10k Naniwa water stone.

However, OOTB, it was not very sharp.
 
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