Laminated Zdp-189 vs Zdp-189

RemyKaze said:
I was looking for a comparison between the ZDP versions of the dragonfly and the caly, and stumbled into here. I love the shape of the Dragonfly, a real "little big knife". Just curious how the Caly compares. I carry a PM2, so I'm looking for the thinnest possible, and technically that's the Dragonfly. I'm wondering if the Caly has anything better to offer?
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Although the Dragonfly does have a thinner blade, the grind on the Caly is thinner behind the edge. A Caly 3.5 makes the blade on the PM2 look very thick.

If you are looking for a small, thin, light knife you might want to take a look at the Chaparral.

I did a review of it here:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1068794-Spyderco-Chaparral
 
Cynic2701 said:
Although the Dragonfly does have a thinner blade, the grind on the Caly is thinner behind the edge. A Caly 3.5 makes the blade on the PM2 look very thick.

If you are looking for a small, thin, light knife you might want to take a look at the Chaparral.

I did a review of it here:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1068794-Spyderco-Chaparral
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Love the Chaparral, but it's not in the price range of what I'm looking for. I was looking at the glass fiber ZDP Dragonfly as a kind of "finger knife", basically invisible in places I can't carry most knives.
 
Agreed! I convexed my Endura in zdp and now it's amazingly sharp, cut myself cleaning the blade pretty badly. I've never had such a deep clean cut before and there was plenty of blood gushing out the ring finger lol. I will getting that stretch really soon.....
 
I saw the first ZDP-189 knife brought into the US at the Blade Show in the early 2000's era. Two Japanese guys had some small folders that were the most amazing cutting machines I ever saw. I bought a Spyderco Endura, I believe was the model and it cut like a piece of wood. Unless you have a belt sander or are prepared to spend hours on a course grit diamond stone, I don't like this steel. I much prefer a 1095, over stainless or powdered steel, any day. I can re-sharpen in a few minutes and it holds an edge just fine. I also love 1084 steel. I guess you can say I'm old fashioned. In my opinion, Spyderco blew the edge geometry on this knife and it should never have passed quality control. Luckily, I have belt grinders and all kinds of stones, but I prefer to free hand on Japanese water stones. Forget about free hand with ZDP, if a radical edge change is required. Generally, I like Spyderco, but not this model. Just one man's opinion.
 
I have no issues sharpening either of my ZDP-189 (solid, non laminated) blades, I start out on my 220 then move up to my 325 then 600 then 1200 grit DMT Diamond stones (that's XC, C, F, EF), it takes very little extra work over S30V.

Another thing about sharpning- its really easy to raise a burr, even with my quartz-ceramis rod sharpener (~3k grit) I can raise a burr within a few passes.

I sharpen my dragonfly at 28* inclusive, I tried it at 10dps but I didnt notice any gains on such a lite duty blade.
 
I saw the first ZDP-189 knife brought into the US at the Blade Show in the early 2000's era. Two Japanese guys had some small folders that were the most amazing cutting machines I ever saw. I bought a Spyderco Endura, I believe was the model and it cut like a piece of wood. Unless you have a belt sander or are prepared to spend hours on a course grit diamond stone, I don't like this steel. I much prefer a 1095, over stainless or powdered steel, any day. I can re-sharpen in a few minutes and it holds an edge just fine. I also love 1084 steel. I guess you can say I'm old fashioned. In my opinion, Spyderco blew the edge geometry on this knife and it should never have passed quality control. Luckily, I have belt grinders and all kinds of stones, but I prefer to free hand on Japanese water stones. Forget about free hand with ZDP, if a radical edge change is required. Generally, I like Spyderco, but not this model. Just one man's opinion.
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So the Endura ZDP cuts like a piece of wood? Ok. I guess that's your way of saying it was too thick, and re beveling it by hand takes too long compared to simple high carbon steels like 1084, and 1095.

I too like 1084, and 1095, but have seen plenty of knives that came way to dull, and thick. To condemn the steel because the grind isn't to your liking seems kind of rash. ZDP is a wicked slicer and one of the first true "super steels" . If I remember correctly Spyderco was the company that introduced it as a regular production model steel. All these years later it's still in production and in demand so there are obviously some that like it's balance of attributes.

I'm one that does, and I also like 1084, Super blue, Cruwear, CPM M4, S30V, S90V, etc., etc.,


Joe
 
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