dogboye
Gold Member
- Joined
- Nov 23, 1999
- Messages
- 6,848
Allllllllll righty-then!!!
I finally had a chance to actually use my Talon for something more than cutting limes this weekend, and I have to say that now, so far, I'm a convert!!!!! Now, my testing wasn't nearly so scientific as Cliff's, and I'm sure that any real scientist can shoot it chock full o' holes, but I don't care. I'm convinced now that Talonite holds and edge much better than I would have though, especially based on the Rc for the blade material. Here are the details:
I took one corrugated cardboard box. Rather larger, and in good condition. I dismantled the box such that I had the front and back surfaces alone, and such that the corrugations ran lengthwise along the surface (in other words, all cuts made across the corrugations). Measure across the corrugations, the surface was right at 16 inches (40 cm). I compared a 440V Spyderco Military, an M2 Nimravus Cub, and a Talonite Talon. All three knives were razor sharp at the beginning of the test; literally "hair flinging" (all three would shave a clean swath with almost no pressure other than the weight of the blade). The Military and Cub had both been sharpened by me, but the Talon still had its factory edge (well, at least it hadn't been resharpened). It had been used numerous times through the previous week to open things like plastic packages of junk food, and cut a few limes. But, it was still flinging hair, all along its blade length. The Cub's edge had been thinned a quite a bit from the thick, BM factory edge. On the Military, I had maintained the edge angle of the factory as best as I could, but inevitably there had to be some deviation, as its resharpening (about 6 times so far) has been done on Spyderco 203. The last 2 sharpenings, however, had been done on the white stones. The results of the Military are somewhat inaccurate, as I used it cutting the ends off the box, and down along the sides. However, the cuts I report for it include these cuts, in units of 16 inches.
My cutting method was to make one cut with the Mil, then make a cut with the Cub, then make a cut with the Talon, cycling through all three knives. After the 4th cut for each, I tested the edges by shaving my arm. I tested each edge at a minimum of 3 places along its length. All were still shaving. From that cut onward, I tested the edges in this manner after each cut. The results somewhat surprised me, as I was thinking that the Talon would stop shaving after only a few cuts, probably about the same as my Military. That was not the case.
After only 13 cuts, the 440V had lost its "hair flingability" completely, although it would still shave. The edge of the Talon and Cub were not noticeably affected; still flinging hair. At 22 cuts, the 440V would no longer shave at all, even with substantial pressure against my arm. I dropped it out of the line-up. The M2 and Talonite were still very much razor sharp. I was beginning to see that I wasn't going to have enough good test cardboard.
At 26 cuts, I ran out of usable cardboard (before I ran out of arm hair, even, but just barely). Both the M2 and Talonite were still shaving sharp, all along their edges. I mean, lay the edge against my arm, execute a push cut with little pressure, and the hair was gone. While they were no longer hair flinging, I could not discern a difference in shaving ability after that number of cuts. Best I can figure it, I cut 352 inches (894 cm) of cardboard with the 440V, 416 inches (1,057 cm) with the M2 and Talonite. The 440V was shot as far as shaving. The next morning, after not having shaved my face for a couple of days, my electric shaver was having a hard time trimming the beard around my ears/sideburns. So, I whipped out the Talon and used it for the trim-work, with no problems at all. So it's definitely still shaving.
So, there is what I got with my test. Like I said, I'm a convert. The only thing I haven't tested yet is how it does when it comes to resharpening.
The Talonite may well have gone dull before the M2 if I had had more cardboard; but within the scope of my test, I couldn't tell you that. I can tell you that the M2 would rust before the Talonite, though.
So, after hemming and hawing and putting it off, and whining and crying, and pulling (what's left of ) my hair for months, I plunked down the cash for a Talonite blade, and I do NOT regret it. The Talon is one NICE blade.
------------------
iktomi
[This message has been edited by rockspyder (edited 08-07-2000).]
I took one corrugated cardboard box. Rather larger, and in good condition. I dismantled the box such that I had the front and back surfaces alone, and such that the corrugations ran lengthwise along the surface (in other words, all cuts made across the corrugations). Measure across the corrugations, the surface was right at 16 inches (40 cm). I compared a 440V Spyderco Military, an M2 Nimravus Cub, and a Talonite Talon. All three knives were razor sharp at the beginning of the test; literally "hair flinging" (all three would shave a clean swath with almost no pressure other than the weight of the blade). The Military and Cub had both been sharpened by me, but the Talon still had its factory edge (well, at least it hadn't been resharpened). It had been used numerous times through the previous week to open things like plastic packages of junk food, and cut a few limes. But, it was still flinging hair, all along its blade length. The Cub's edge had been thinned a quite a bit from the thick, BM factory edge. On the Military, I had maintained the edge angle of the factory as best as I could, but inevitably there had to be some deviation, as its resharpening (about 6 times so far) has been done on Spyderco 203. The last 2 sharpenings, however, had been done on the white stones. The results of the Military are somewhat inaccurate, as I used it cutting the ends off the box, and down along the sides. However, the cuts I report for it include these cuts, in units of 16 inches.
My cutting method was to make one cut with the Mil, then make a cut with the Cub, then make a cut with the Talon, cycling through all three knives. After the 4th cut for each, I tested the edges by shaving my arm. I tested each edge at a minimum of 3 places along its length. All were still shaving. From that cut onward, I tested the edges in this manner after each cut. The results somewhat surprised me, as I was thinking that the Talon would stop shaving after only a few cuts, probably about the same as my Military. That was not the case.
After only 13 cuts, the 440V had lost its "hair flingability" completely, although it would still shave. The edge of the Talon and Cub were not noticeably affected; still flinging hair. At 22 cuts, the 440V would no longer shave at all, even with substantial pressure against my arm. I dropped it out of the line-up. The M2 and Talonite were still very much razor sharp. I was beginning to see that I wasn't going to have enough good test cardboard.
At 26 cuts, I ran out of usable cardboard (before I ran out of arm hair, even, but just barely). Both the M2 and Talonite were still shaving sharp, all along their edges. I mean, lay the edge against my arm, execute a push cut with little pressure, and the hair was gone. While they were no longer hair flinging, I could not discern a difference in shaving ability after that number of cuts. Best I can figure it, I cut 352 inches (894 cm) of cardboard with the 440V, 416 inches (1,057 cm) with the M2 and Talonite. The 440V was shot as far as shaving. The next morning, after not having shaved my face for a couple of days, my electric shaver was having a hard time trimming the beard around my ears/sideburns. So, I whipped out the Talon and used it for the trim-work, with no problems at all. So it's definitely still shaving.
So, there is what I got with my test. Like I said, I'm a convert. The only thing I haven't tested yet is how it does when it comes to resharpening.
The Talonite may well have gone dull before the M2 if I had had more cardboard; but within the scope of my test, I couldn't tell you that. I can tell you that the M2 would rust before the Talonite, though.
So, after hemming and hawing and putting it off, and whining and crying, and pulling (what's left of ) my hair for months, I plunked down the cash for a Talonite blade, and I do NOT regret it. The Talon is one NICE blade.
------------------
iktomi
[This message has been edited by rockspyder (edited 08-07-2000).]
