New Guy from Melbourne

[Miah87]

If I may offer some advice, starting with a ZDP-189 fixed blade when you know virtually nothing about knives can be a mistake. All steels have pluses and minuses. Take your time.

FYI, I have several knives with ZDP: that steel is very sharp but can be brittle and is usually used as a core to a laminate of more flexible steels. For a fixed blade, you should post on that sub-forum: they will give you advice specific to fixed blades.

I agree with Sonny that Spyderco is an excellent brand, as is Benchmade, for the novice (as well as enthusiasts).

I am reading the downside on ZDP-189. A thread that someone else created in this forum.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/366716-Any-downsides-to-ZDP-189


AND thanks everyone for welcoming me. I like this forum as well as ABF.

Before I get another knife. I would like to try sharpen the existing knives that I have just to see how sharp can they be and how long will it last if I use it daily.

Did some research and most of the people uses diamond rod to sharpen their knife followed by a strop. Is strop really necessary? I believe it smooth out the edges of your knife after a diamond rod is used?

 

[goodshepherdknives]

welcome to the blade family miah. the quest for the ultimate knife in some ways can never be achieved. but once you come to accept what is good for what (carbon and shock steels for large fixed blades is better than low carbon stainlesses for example) and you use them accordingly, i have knives that are not expensive at all that im happy with because ive learned what they excell at. opinel knives make low expense, low tech simple knives that are very thin so they take a good edge, but also ive treated one like a fixed blade for woods work and it did far better than i expected for an 8 dollar knife. ive began collecting for the joys and needs of experience. what will that material do compared to this one essentially.
as for really really sharp, buying a knife that way is hit and miss, and ive sharpened every of my knife collectionout of the box but a few (4 out of 100 or so were ok) and the term sharp is an opinion. my state for normal is being able to hold a hair and whittle it. im not done sharpening my knives untill i can. but i didnt start that way. learning how to sharpen even if youre not perfect at it right away like everyone else who starts something new (sarcasm sign) keep at it and learn. ask why. ask how. then try again. also tools. a single diamond rod would work for some things, but i carry on my person three double sided stones from 220 to 8000 grit and a leather strop with much finer abrasives still. if you would like to ask more questions or just talk knives, fell free to hit me up whenever.

 

[goodshepherdknives]

I am reading the downside on ZDP-189. A thread that someone else created in this forum.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/366716-Any-downsides-to-ZDP-189


AND thanks everyone for welcoming me. I like this forum as well as ABF.

Before I get another knife. I would like to try sharpen the existing knives that I have just to see how sharp can they be and how long will it last if I use it daily.

Did some research and most of the people uses diamond rod to sharpen their knife followed by a strop. Is strop really necessary? I believe it smooth out the edges of your knife after a diamond rod is used?

a knives edge under a microscope is tiny little serrations caused by the scratch pattern of the sharpening media. diamonds especially since they are a crushed stone and sharp create these, so the edge is very toothy and cuts very well. if you arent familiar with when youre done abrading an edge, hold the knife at a consistent angle which takes practice, and remove material untill you can see the scratch pattern on your edge is all the way to the bottom of it, and feel to see if there is a rough burr on the opposite side. what this is, is your edge is now as thin as your diamonds diamater and its nicking/bending/bumping it over to the other side. so repeate on the other side. well, i would continue this process with many other stones, but on just one stone, use less than the weight of the knife on either side when sharpening so that the delicate edge designed for re inforcement and use from edge to spine not side to side, is straight V at the edge. feel for the slightest hint of a burr on either side, and if its smooth, and its also very sharp, then use your strop. this further completes this process. the leather grabs and pulls the existing edge back straight, and the micro abrasives polish. if you want a sharp knife, dont even try sharpening without a strop. i used a knife for shaving when i was 16 because my dad got me one, and i googled how to sharpen straigth razors and it changed everything.