Ok, here is a good one for ya

[Richard]

Yesterday at a gunshow I finally broke down and got a military, plain edge 440v. I always hesitated because I though, ok it looks neet but heck, I have lots of knives that will do just as well. Huh, how wrong I was. This is one solid knife. I may even retire all 3 of my enduras which I have used since way back when the zytel jobs were in g2. Now for the trick question. I wanted to see if 440v was as hard to sharpen as people say, so no problem, me and my son (he got a new spydee ladybug) went outside last evening for a little over and hour. I cut, chopped and otherwise attacked a 2x6 board, trees, pvc pipe, sticks, and even some old electric wire. It was still sharp and I was getting tired. Back inside to turn a big cardboard box into many little chuncks. After all this the darn thing still shaved. How does one dull this knife? I cant belive the edge holding of this thing. I apologize for not taking y'alls (okie talk for you all) advice sooner. I never doubted it was a good knife, just seemed a little over blown, boy was I wrong. I think I have a new favorite knife. So, how 'bout it, anyone manage to dull a military to the point it really needs sharpened?

I will not doubt y'all again.

Richard

 

[Roadrunner]

There is a thread in here somewhere in which a guy dulled one just cutting some cords in a car that didn't evejn have wire in the, it wasn't a fluke either, he did it twice. Maybe it was a bad heat treat or something, i don't know. Apparently yours is the opposite problem. If you really want to dull it down and void your warranty at the same time, dig with it a little. I took a shaving sharp edge on a stiff KISS off by scraping some dirt off of a yard roller. Of course, AUS6 is nothing to 440V, but I think the end result would be the same.

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Just because I talk to myself doesn't mean I'm crazy. What's wrong with getting a second opinion?

 

[Dannyc]

Roadrunner, I believe that guy was me.

But yes, you're right, it was one of those lemons that got past the QC (not their fault) and I'm waiting for a new Military and a Starmate, and by tomorrow hopefully I'll get them and test them out once more.

I will try to duplicate what Richard has done, and see if it will hold the same edge. I don't doubt that for one minute, though.

Dan

 

[Heyns van der Merwe]

Richard,
if you just want to sharpen the 440V for the sake of sharpening, and you want to get the Military dull

, why not try cutting directly across your sharpener's stone?

I KNOW it defies all logic from a knifenut's point of view, but hey, YOU asked how to dull it in the FIRST place!

With everyday tasks, you will have a HARD time to achieve the same "dulling" effects...

 

[Brian Lavin]

Mine has been sharpened only to regain the "scaring the hair off the arm at the sight of the knife" edge that it came with. Otherwise it was still sharper than most new knives are. The only other knives I have that hold an edge like this are the Spydie Moran and Calypso (VG10) and my Simonich Talonite blade. Ya gotta love it.

 

[GONESAILING]

Richard
My plain edge military has held up well with the factory edge.
Have not tried to cut pvc pipe or wire yet. It is just now starting to loose some of its hair popping ability at the tip of the blade.
It is strong, I dropped it on cement last weekend, was walking and managed to kick it out in front of me after it hit once. 4 small white specks skuffs on the handle, cement dust on the spine of the blade, other than that, still works fine.
Jim


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What? Another knife? Don't you have enough of those things already?
How many does one person need?

 

[Outlaw_Dogboy]

Hmmmm... all this talk about the 440V in the Military has me wondering again about the 440V in my BFNative. I have to admit that I have been very underwhelmed with it ability to hold its edge. Maybe it is a different edge angle or something. But, it takes NOTHING to knock the shaving edge off my BFN. After that, it will maintain a 'sharp' edge better than average, it appears. At first, I thought that maybe I was leaving a wire edge on it. 'Course, it demonstrated the same characteristics with the factory edge. So far, I have sharpened it 3 or 4 times, and the last couple of times I have been VERY careful to try to make sure there isn't a wire edge. I guess only time will tell.

Glad your Military is holding a great edge. Maybe I'll still have to get one of those.

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Work hard, play hard, live long.
Outlaw_Dogboy

 

[Joyce Laituri]

You might find this amusing.

When Spyderco had the first prototype CPM440V Military Models come in, one of the guys working in the repair shop decided he was going to see what it would take to dull it out. He went about it in an unscientific way but here it is.

I walked by the repair shop about one and he was whittling away on sticks of aluminum.

At two when I checked on him, he was boring holes in a solid-core door.

From three to four he started frantically cutting cardboard folded five layers thick. He was blue faced, quivering and really sweating at this point.

At five he gave up, put the knife in his pocket and went home to have a beer. The knife had dulled somewhat but was still really sharp.

Next morning he came in with a band-aid on his left thumb. That Military had cut him while slicing limes for his Coronas.

Mine had a date with the Sharpmaker after cutting carpet over a concrete floor.

It can be done!

 

[Corduroy]

Hmmm, so apparently not only is it hard to dull the Military, but you may end up destroying your home or workspace in the process

Did they replace the door?

I got my Military serrated so I can't really comment on how sharp it is or how long it stays that way (harder to tell with serrations, IMO). But I did get a plain Starmate and it is still causing hair to leap out of its way in terror despite several weeks of deliberately finding things for it to do. I'm very impressed. When the Centofantes upgrade to 440V I think you might want to require some sort of licensing system for their sale - between that edge geometry and this steel, I may actually be afraid of them

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-Drew Gleason
Little Bear Knives

 

[Richard]

Hmm, cutting carpet while still on the floor, gee I wonder if my wife would notice, gee honey, they are really small holes

 

[William Johnson]

Have had mine for well over two years now and have only had to touch the edge 3 times.

IMHO, 440V is the stuff people say it is. Never would I get rid of my Military. It is the one knife I don't leave home without.

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God bless!

Romans 10:9-10

"Military" Fans Unite!!



[This message has been edited by William Johnson (edited 06 August 1999).]

 

[bald1]

I've been fortunate enough to have had CPM440V knives for over 5 years. My first was an Elishewitz M5 Omega chisel tanto grind. With proper heat treating this stuff is very, very good. I rank it as the best of my conventional steels and have never had any problems with brittleness. Keep in mind that all my CPM440V knives are folders though. I also haven't owned a CPM420V blade but I suspect the differences or improvements would be quite small and probably not detectable by the average user. I still like non-stainless steels such as A2, 5160, and even 1095 for big knives when restricted to steel choices. Carbon-V has also performed well. No experience with INFI yet.

The only thing that has blown CPM440V away in edge retention has been Talonite. I have 2 short fixed blades with a folder and another fixed blade on order. I expect to get a large fixed blade out of this stuff eventually as well.

-=[Bob]=-