Para 3 Lightweights thoughts

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BrandonS88

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Nov 7, 2018
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What are your guys thoughts on the new para 3 lightweight looks like a good design to me. Anyone have experience with the CTS-BD1N steel?
 
I was stoked to see a Para 3 without the giant lanyard tube and a wire clip.The BD1N is intriguing too, glad they didn't go with their boring old s30v.
 
This is different than BD1. BD1N has added nitrogen to help make it tougher and more corrosion resistant. As far as real world differences, someone else will have to chime in, I've never used anything except regular BD1 on my Manix LW.
 
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The clip placement will make it an extremely deep carry. I don’t really care for the para 3 though. I much prefer the PM2 and Military
 
Higher working hardness, more strength then Bd1, yet still easy to sharpen. Nitrogen increases the wear resistance over Bd1 by forming CrN- Chromium Nitrides, which work like Carbides but are finer and more stable. The Nitrides also strengthen the steel though solid solution strengthening.

I've been using it for over a year now.

It's easy to sharpen, gets to 63rc and is very stable and tough at the edge. Will definitely out cut VG10. For some folks, depending on the angles, finish and use it will seem to work better for them then S30v.

I look forward to seeing something new being more available in regular folks hands.

Should be fun, we'll see how it turns out.

BrandonS88 said:
What are your guys thoughts on the new para 3 lightweight looks like a good design to me. Anyone have experience with the CTS-BD1N steel?
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I want the dark blue/S10V version of this ASAP. For me that’s the one. The potential Bugout killer and new contender for best backpacking knife.

But I want that steel and color upgrade. :D
 
I'll be interested to hear you opinion about the BD1N when you pick one up. It will be kicking my S30v bugout out of my pocket when they launch :D

halden.doerge said:
I want the dark blue/S10V version of this ASAP. For me that’s the one. The potential Bugout killer and new contender for best backpacking knife.

But I want that steel and color upgrade. :D
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DeadboxHero said:
I'll be interested to hear you opinion about the BD1N when you pick one up. It will be kicking my S30v bugout out of my pocket when they launch :D
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I'm sure I'd really enjoy the BD1N. Honestly the only thing putting me off for now is that I just can't handle black FRN anymore. Too boring. I'm ridiculous about the colors thing, I know.
 
Bruh, I know. Man, I'm thinking about picking up a few lc200n natives to regrind super thin and rit dye that day glow yellow to cyan. :cool:

halden.doerge said:
I'm sure I'd really enjoy the BD1N. Honestly the only thing putting me off for now is that I just can't handle black FRN anymore. Too boring. I'm ridiculous about the colors thing, I know.
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My honest thoughts? It looks fine, but for the price I just don't understand it.

If I wanted a thin and lightweight knife, I'd get a Bugout. Sure it's slightly more expensive, but it's got more useable blade, a better and more ambidextrous lock, and lower weight. It's still very slicy, and is in a steel that is most likely going to hold an edge better. Those things to me are worth the $25 premium.

Maybe I'm missing something here but I think the Para 3 lightweight lost the war before it even began. I'm glad this was asked on the general forum and not on the Spyderco forum because I think I'd get verbally torn apart for saying this there.
 
brando555 said:
This is different than BD1. BD1N has added nitrogen to help make it tougher and more corrosion resistant. As far as real world differences, someone else will have to chime in, I've never used anything except regular BD1 on my Manix LW.
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A tougher version of BD1 would be very interesting to me. I find the BD1 on my Polestar to be a little too chippy, hopefully a tougher version won't chip as much. The steel is really the only thing I find interesting about this knife.
 
marrenmiller said:
My honest thoughts? It looks fine, but for the price I just don't understand it.

If I wanted a thin and lightweight knife, I'd get a Bugout. Sure it's slightly more expensive, but it's got more useable blade, a better and more ambidextrous lock, and lower weight. It's still very slicy, and is in a steel that is most likely going to hold an edge better. Those things to me are worth the $25 premium.

Maybe I'm missing something here but I think the Para 3 lightweight lost the war before it even began. I'm glad this was asked on the general forum and not on the Spyderco forum because I think I'd get verbally torn apart for saying this there.
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More useable blade seems pretty debateable. You can definitely control the Para3 blade much more precisely than the Bugout due to the choil.

That said, the black FRN and the lack of, shall we say a "more interesting" steel upgrade will keep me out of the Para3 LW...for now. Even when the right version of the Para3 LW comes out though, my Bugout isn't going anywhere. At sub-2 oz, it does something that no other folding knife out there does. It's definitely special.
 
I had to see for myself, I had a beautiful 15dps edge on a Spyderco polestar gave it a power whack on some 303 stainless to see if it would explode.

Nah, just rolled over.
GQxXO6J.jpg
 
DeadboxHero said:
Wat? How do you chip Bd1?
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Honestly not sure, I used it for EDC tasks, never abused it, never hit any metal with the edge. It is easy enough to sharpen out most of the smaller chips and smooth over the larger ones. I've been hesitant to buy BD1 knives because of this experience.
 
Yikes, never seen that with Bd1. That stuff is Play-doh. That's why I'm excited about Bd1n, more horsepower to that stability.

I'd have to see pictures and have you recall what you used it on in order to figure that out. I've carried mine off and on, never seen or heard of that even with abusive testing.

Yikes, I can't think of anything more abusive then metal.

Silent H said:
Honestly not sure, I used it for EDC tasks, never abused it, never hit any metal with the edge. It is easy enough to sharpen out most of the smaller chips and smooth over the larger ones. I've been hesitant to buy BD1 knives because of this experience.
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420hc might be a good option for ya, Also I'd jack the edge geometry to 25dps or 50 inclusive and go thicker as needed.


Silent H said:
Honestly not sure, I used it for EDC tasks, never abused it, never hit any metal with the edge. It is easy enough to sharpen out most of the smaller chips and smooth over the larger ones. I've been hesitant to buy BD1 knives because of this experience.
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halden.doerge said:
More useable blade seems pretty debateable. You can definitely control the Para3 blade much more precisely than the Bugout due to the choil.
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It's got a longer blade and more of it is cutting edge. I guess it doesn't have a choil but I don't typically grip a knife by one anyway.
 
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