Pics of serious breaks chips or cracks on a S30v blade.

lvbuckeye27 said:
...which makes me wonder, does anyone know offhand what the angle on a surgical scalpel is? i'm guessing it's closer to 10 degrees than 40. how about your razor blades?
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Probably true. But then, scalpels and razor blades are disposable items. I had some stitches out one time where I worked (there was a blizzard that day and I couldn't get to the doctor's, so since I worked at a hospital....). Anyway, after a nurse removed the stitches, she gave me the plastic bag filled with all the tools. I was amazed that they throw that stuff away and don't even donate them to poor countries for sterilization. But no, they throw everything away. That's why "surgical stainless" repels me. Although the tools are quite reusable, they're only made to be used once, then discarded. I only got the tools because I knew the nurse.

So if you want a knife that can only be used a short while, go ahead and grind the blade down to 10 degrees. You'll almost certainly get Vivi's results, especially if you then try to chop with it.
 
Confederate said:
So if you want a knife that can only be used a short while, go ahead and grind the blade down to 10 degrees. You'll almost certainly get Vivi's results, especially if you then try to chop with it.
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Please keep in mind the only time my UKPK sustained damage was when I intentionally set out to do so.

I will gladly make a video of me push cutting paper, then chopping with my UKPK, then push cutting paper again.

Seriously, I want to know what I need to do to convince you guys that my UKPK doesn't break and fracture at the edge when I sneeze at it. Offers on the table. Tell me something to videotape me doing with it.

Remember, this is a knife that I carry and use nearly every day, and do every cutting task I use a knife for with it. This is a use-orientated profile, not some see how thin I can get my blade experiment, but an edge setup I've arrived at through testing various knives over the past few years.

Has anyone here used a knife ground like mine in a quality steel from a reputable manufacturer and had it fail them? I would be very interested to hear from you if you have. If no one has, then I wonder why everyone feels their knowledge of these edge types is so conclusive?

What I did is no different from a Krein regrind. How many people have posted about their broken Krein regrinds on bladeforums? Any? Why don't people heckle members who get Krein regrinds, but when I do the same thing by hand I'm breaking some knife God covenant?

What exactly are you people basing your opinions of my knife on? How many of you have held it and cut with it? If you needed convincing, why didn't you join one of my two regrind my passarounds? I will start a third if there is enough interest.
 
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Glad you like them. It's a real pain in the a$$ to take those macros and compose a single pic..
 
Confederate said:
So if you want a knife that can only be used a short while, go ahead and grind the blade down to 10 degrees. You'll almost certainly get Vivi's results, especially if you then try to chop with it.
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FWIW, I have an Ontario economy 12" machete. It came with an edge bevel a bit below 10 degrees inclusive, and very slightly hollow ground to boot. Believe it or not. I chop with it. It sustained some slight rippling when batoning. But has not broken. The edge, if anything, is even thinner now than it was when I bought it. I did find this fact about the edge initially worrying. But it's turned out to be largely a non issue.

This was one of the revelations that led me to agree with Vivi about factory edges: they're almost all too thick and not optimal. The Ontario machete may have been fluke from the factory. Or they may all be ground like that. But it turned out to be a great learning experience for me. And made for a pretty good cutting tool without modification.
 
I had an acquaintance of my manager at the shop chip the tip off a spyderco sage yesterday. He tried flicking it open with his wrist alone even though I told him it wasn't really all that doable because of the strong detent. So then he thought it would be a good idea to snap the blade open in a reverse grip and SLAMMED the blade tip into the glass counter!!! :eek: about two mm of the tip got snapped clean off. Idiot. :(

That being said, it took a huge gouge out of the glass. S30V vs. Glass = total destruction. The S30V actually took less damage, and it was HARD impact. :eek:
 
shecky said:
FWIW, I have an Ontario economy 12" machete. It came with an edge bevel a bit below 10 degrees inclusive, and very slightly hollow ground to boot. Believe it or not. I chop with it. It sustained some slight rippling when batoning. But has not broken. The edge, if anything, is even thinner now than it was when I bought it. I did find this fact about the edge initially worrying. But it's turned out to be largely a non issue.
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Ontario machetes are made out of 1095. Personally, I'd be careful chopping with a machete of that size and geometry were it made from nearly any sort of stainless. Actually, in that case I'd probably only use it for its intended purpose. ;)
 
Confederate said:
So if you want a knife that can only be used a short while, go ahead and grind the blade down to 10 degrees. You'll almost certainly get Vivi's results, especially if you then try to chop with it.
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Depends on the steel. There are quite a few steels about that can take *very* low angles, and the benefits of such low angles when it comes to cutting ability are startling. Most carbon steels can take very acute edges, provided they''ve had a good heat treatment, and many stainless steels can do that as well. I've used a knife in ZDP-189 with an edge angle of slightly below 15 degrees inclusive for more than a year, and I never had any problems with chipping.

The damage sustained by Vivi's UKPN was a result of a deliberate attempt to find out what happens when you try to cut materials you'd normally not cut with a knife of that type. So what? Even if the knife had had an edge angle of 40 degress inclusive it would have sustained some damage to the edge.
 
Habeas Corpus said:
Even if the knife had had an edge angle of 40 degress inclusive it would have sustained some damage to the edge.
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Which is exactly what happened with other knives in the test.

Here are some video links. In the first video where the edge is catching that's from a poor push cut attempt and / or the damage that was already there. The knife didn't sustain any new damage, it only lost a bit of sharpness from cutting the can. Still took hairs off my arm and obviously could slice paper.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDdk0IJYXyQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2io7hAL0mcc
 
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Knives are still relatively cheap, so blades can be made to do whatever people want them to do. Some knives are outstanding deals; others are outrageously priced. I just got another Cabela's Buck 110 with a black coated S30V blade. To think that it's only about $25 more than a Spyderco Native (at Wal*Mart) and that it comes with a nice leather belt pouch. My only gripe with the Buck is its weight. It would never be my EDC.

Based on the steel chart that came with my Buck, edge retention of S30V isn't humongously better than ATS-34, and as much as I like the Alaskan 110, I reckon the best knife deal I ever got was picking up a bunch of CRKT S-2s for $25 each. Titanium frame, frame lock, sharp ATS-34 blade that's nearly four inches in length and no serrations. Flat, comfortable, holds an edge extremely well, light, smooth and strong. My only regret is that I didn't get more of them. (My brother got one and has been kicking himself ever since.) Who needs a Sebenza when you've got one of those?

Whatever a rough start S30V got in the beginning has now been worked out, I think. Based on what I've read, I don't think there will be a better steel coming out for some time. You have only so much to work with until a new material is found.
 
I have some blades in S30V and I remember one of them (Spyderco Native?) having some chipping trouble. When I worked the edge far enough back to grind out the chips on my Sharpmaker, the chipping problem disappeared. I had the exact same thing happen with a VG10 blade, too.

I figure they were overheated while being sharpened at the factory, or something like that.

I like S30V.

Stay sharp,
desmobob
 
4 years ago Jerry Hossom posted a picture of two edges that were tested by striking a nail at an angle. One was S30V, the other INFI. The results were enlightening. The S30V chipped, the INFI deformed - but they both sustained a similar amount of damage, requiring a similar amount of work to sharpen out.

The thread has resurfaced on the other forum if you want to see for yourself.
 
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