MOD Trident love affair waning!

[one_half_wuff]

Folks: I have a MOD Trident that is my every day carry knife and has been for a little more than a year now. Before posting I did a search to see what else might be posted here about the Trident and found several posts, that echoed my findings but there were a couple of other things not mentioned.

I received my Trident in a high quality box and included was a very poor quality sheath that clearly did not fit the knife. I was afraid to use the sheath as the knife could be lost from it. I called MOD and to their credit they admitted there had been an issue with sheaths at that time and that they would see what they could do to make it right but that they didn't have any of the proper sheaths for my knife at that time. As received the knife had a very poor edge and it was rough. The knife itself was very well fitted and finished with a smooth action. I found the Trident to be reasonably light for an all metal knife with such a substantial blade. The pocket clip is very strong and that is a good thing (see below). And, I love the shape of the blade and deployment via the thumb stud is excellent.

Because of the placement of the clip it rides far too high in my pocket. That does give a good purchase on the knife but it has snagged itself out of my pocket on occasion.

As an every day carry knife the mechanism gets dirty and I do make an effort to keep it clean but a word to the wise here. Make SURE you keep it clean. This can be chalked up to pure operator error/dumb a##, but during cleaning I had opened the knife and using an aerosol cleaner was "pressure washing" the mechanism. I then turned the knife over and "wrist flipped" it to shake the excess cleaner out of knife and the blade snapped shut because the lock was not well engaged because of debris that was not readily visible. My middle finger was in the way of that subatantial blade and the fully closed position where it was headed. Like I said, operator error. Keep your mechanism clean.

Last item of business: I wanted a good working edge rather than a razor thin edge so that is what I strived for. I find that I am constantly having to refresh the edge on my ceramic vee stones. I can make just a few cuts taking apart a cardboard box and its back to the vee sticks. This is the only knife I have from 154CM material. I have other quality knives with S30V or ATS-34 that do not seem to suffer this problem so quickly.

Thanks for the listen. Comments and experiences appreciated. Kent

 

[Esav Benyamin]

Welcome to Bladeforums!

I've got a couple of MOD knives myself, and I really like their strength -- and the sharp edge they hold so well! I think I know what your problem might be, so ...

When you sharpen, I think you're raising a wire edge. When you use the knife, the wire edge rolls over, making it seem dull again. What you have to do is to remove that wire edge immediately after sharpening.

Since you're using vee stones, you hold the blade vertically as you stroke down each stone. Once the blade is sharp, do a few firm strokes on each stone with the blade parallel to the opposite stone. This should break off that wire edge, or "feather".

Also, it's a good idea to strop a blade after sharpening, to polish the new edge. Stropping, even lightly, also tends to remove a wire edge. Just as sharpening is done by pushing the edge toward the sharpener, as if shaving the vee stone, stropping is done by pulling the edge away from the sharpener -- wiping it backwards. Do this also at an increased angle.

When I use my knife, I tend to strop it on my sleeve or pants leg before I put it away.

The BladeForums.com Knife FAQs have a tremendous amount of information, including an excellent section on sharpening.

 

[one_half_wuff]

Esav: You wrote "When you sharpen, I think you're raising a wire edge. When you use the knife, the wire edge rolls over, making it seem dull again. What you have to do is to remove that wire edge immediately after sharpening."

I appreciate the input. I am constantly aware of the feather edge as I sharpen as I have some knives that are very prone to feather edging if you are trying to put a fine edge such as you'd use on a paring knife. I certainly may be contributing to the problem and my sharpening technique may not be perfect but as this knife is more troublesome than others I have I suspect there is something I'm missing here. I plan to slightly reprofile the edge and give it another go. Regards, Kent

 

[Esav Benyamin]

OK! Let us know how it works out.

 

[omontezuma]

i've had a bad experience with mod. It is probably somehow my fault but i was reading these forums and found out about "spinewacking". Anyways my tempest failed with a fairly weak hit. I know you're not supposed to but i took mine apart just to see it it would help. Mostly i was just bored at work. Anyways it somehow fixed it.

But later on at the knife store i work at we got another one in. It fails the wack with an even weaker hit. Seriously i'm pretty sure i can close the knife with my hands without touching the lock. They are pretty old though, these still have the bead blasted finish on the blades so maybe they are a little better now.

But as far as edge holding its one of the best i have.

 

[Geode]

o_h_w,

154cm with a good heat treat takes and holds a great edge, based on my experiences.

Stropping is one way to knock off the wire edge.