Recieved my XO lite back from Paragon last Fri with a new blade in it. They didn't have the black chrome blades anymore so they supplied a new hand ground mirror polished blade instead. I actually had a choice between a stock bead blasted one and this mirror polished. Chose the latter.
It took them a while to get the knife back to me but what the heck a hand ground blade that is unmarked with the mirror polish was worth the wait. It is the standard ATS34. It came alot sharper than the black chrome blade and is even more so now. I am liking this recurve the blade has. I sharpened the blade on my coarse diamnond hone and then just in front of the recurve I hit it with my med. and fine diamond hones. So what I have is a recurved portion that really bites and then slices very efficiently out towards the point. The back portion doesn't shave hair more like tears it off in clumps but when it hits out past the recurve towards the tip it pops right off. Seems to be a very efficient set up. I have been carrying it pretty steady for the week and although it was never dull to begin with I figured I would try giving a good sharpening and tunning it up for max. cutting efficiency. It now has that for sure.
The liner lock when I rec. it back would fail occasionally when doing the spine whack thing. It seemed to depend on how hard the knife was opened. Well took it all apart and put it back together with the liner engaging a bit more than it did. NOw it hits just little past center and hasn't moved a bit. I used a bit of leverage on the liner itself to bend it more. Used the back of a tea spoon to bend it. Worked fine. It does not fail the whack test at all now and the liner doesn't move one iota from where it seats. I would judge the cutting ability just a bit better than the 710 I had. I reprofiled the blade a bit on that for a deeper recurve. That was scary sharp too. This has a more gradual recurve it seems and a little bit thinner blade grind. That could be the difference. Never had mirror polished blade before and I kind of like it. It seems to ward off scratches easier than the bead blast too. Well just thought I would talk about it. Keep'em sharp
It took them a while to get the knife back to me but what the heck a hand ground blade that is unmarked with the mirror polish was worth the wait. It is the standard ATS34. It came alot sharper than the black chrome blade and is even more so now. I am liking this recurve the blade has. I sharpened the blade on my coarse diamnond hone and then just in front of the recurve I hit it with my med. and fine diamond hones. So what I have is a recurved portion that really bites and then slices very efficiently out towards the point. The back portion doesn't shave hair more like tears it off in clumps but when it hits out past the recurve towards the tip it pops right off. Seems to be a very efficient set up. I have been carrying it pretty steady for the week and although it was never dull to begin with I figured I would try giving a good sharpening and tunning it up for max. cutting efficiency. It now has that for sure.
The liner lock when I rec. it back would fail occasionally when doing the spine whack thing. It seemed to depend on how hard the knife was opened. Well took it all apart and put it back together with the liner engaging a bit more than it did. NOw it hits just little past center and hasn't moved a bit. I used a bit of leverage on the liner itself to bend it more. Used the back of a tea spoon to bend it. Worked fine. It does not fail the whack test at all now and the liner doesn't move one iota from where it seats. I would judge the cutting ability just a bit better than the 710 I had. I reprofiled the blade a bit on that for a deeper recurve. That was scary sharp too. This has a more gradual recurve it seems and a little bit thinner blade grind. That could be the difference. Never had mirror polished blade before and I kind of like it. It seems to ward off scratches easier than the bead blast too. Well just thought I would talk about it. Keep'em sharp