Poor quality custom S30V griptilian?

Nogorn said:
and for everyone saying to strop it.. i stropped it for a good 15 minutes straight before i used it. and then a few minutes after every time i used it because it would get a little duller. So either there was no wire edge or saying to strop it is BS and dosnt get rid of it.
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I too can see the wire edge in the picture. I'm not saying it is, but perhaps it is your technique on sharpening, and stropping.

rycen said:
Call Benchmade up and explain your problem. They are the only ones that can determine for sure if there's indeed problem with the knife or your technique.
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Yep... We can speculate for days, but go straight to the source. BM's customer service is excellent, and the few times I have called, they were very nice.
 
That picture shows a coarse edge with a burr.

A wire edge or burr is metal that hangs in front of the apex, it doesn't stand up to use, the easiest way to see what a burr is, is to sharpen something like a lawnmower blade and feel the edge.
 
You need to break that wire edge. I can see it in the pic you posted. If you stropped it and that didn't do it, use some heavier abrasive on the strop or just run the edge across a chunk of soft wood. That ought to do it.

S30V keeps a good usable edge for a while, but it doesn't stay shaving sharp for very long. I think BM's 154CM stays shaving sharp longer and it's REALLY easy to get back sharp after use just stropping it on jeans or cardboard or something. As long as you don't let it get too dull first. But S30V is too hard for that to work well in my experience. I generally use a ceramic rod to get my S30V back sharp again after I use it. But you have to get rid of that wire edge first or it won't do much.

As for the hole, they are all like that to a certain degree. It's the way they are cut. Jeez, it's not affecting the usability of the knife. Is it a museum piece or a tool?

As long as the lock is solid, the grinds are good and you like it, break the wire edge and use the dang thing.
 
jeffsenpai said:
what is a wire edge?
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Its a burr.

sharpen103.jpg


Burr formation can screw up any good steel. Here are some examples.

1-s2.0-S0924013602000262-gr5.jpg


image6.jpeg


Slide3_opt.jpeg


In the last image you can see that if one has a burr on the edge, the knife will not cut properly and one would get poor results.
 
Nogorn said:
and for everyone saying to strop it.. i stropped it for a good 15 minutes straight before i used it. and then a few minutes after every time i used it because it would get a little duller. So either there was no wire edge or saying to strop it is BS and dosnt get rid of it.
Click to expand...

Skimo said:
That picture shows a coarse edge with a burr.

A wire edge or burr is metal that hangs in front of the apex, it doesn't stand up to use, the easiest way to see what a burr is, is to sharpen something like a lawnmower blade and feel the edge.
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Nogorn, send your knife to Skimo, and let him show you what can be done with an Edge Pro and a Benchmade. He'll get the burr off and get that knife so sharp that your arm hairs will jump off your arm from fear. And the edge will definitely last longer than a sheet of paper. Or get a cork and draw your knife through it a few times to break off that burr. Your stropping is most likely just flipping the burr back and forth. Did you strop on the EP, or on something else?
 
Luis G. said:
It will however loose it's hair whittling sharpnes after 1 printer paper slice~

S30v or similar PM vanadium carbide steels do not keep a fine hair whittling sharpness for very long at all, a slice or two and it's gone.
S30v will however keep a working edge for well after 154CM or non vanadium carbide steels.
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+9

(that's how many BMs with S30V I got)
Not a fan of S30V, but some knives I like just come with it...
 
I deleted my original reply because I thought it might be harsh, I do believe that the burr was only flipped and with this setup the burr won't go anywhere... This is where sharpening has to be more than calling a rough job a mirror finish because you can see a letter reflected on a piece of paper.

Some steels do not deburr easily, I find it hard to believe a guy can make a hair whittling edge and not know what a burr is.... Talk about a mirror edge and post a picture of his bevel at what looks like less than 600 grit.
 
I've never had a lot of problem with burrs. Last week I touched up the edge on one of my old Schrades.
It felt sharp, and would slice paper reasonably well, but it wouldn't shave. A little time stropping, and it was back too shaving again. It didn't take much.
I know it's a little harder on steel other than 1095, but the principle is the same.
 
S30V is fairly tough for a stainless. It certainly is wear resistant. Burrs can be stubborn.

I've also noticied that powder steels seem to suffer more than ingot steels from weakening due to heat from power sharpening. I'm sure pretty much everyone here has heard about removing a bit of steel by sharpening with new knives before "weak" steel is gone. A lot of old complaints about S30V being chippy when it was still a fairly new steel came from that.

As an example I have a Z wear ( powder steel vascowear/cruwear) knife at home I bought new. It at first was a disappointment wear resistance wise not even matching S30V. After the 3rd sharpening it was performing more like rc 62- CPM M4. About where this knife should have been.

I don't know why powder steels seem to be more noticeable to me but they are. Power sharpen triple cryoed O-1 and it still sharpens the same way as it did when hand sharpened. It is noticeable to me on my stones as I usually take my time and sharpen at night when relaxing and am not in a hurry. I can tell differences in steels better while sharpening than while using.

Subjective and not scientific, I admit. It is my experience though. I have been sharpening by hand for about 40 years now and can tell a lot about steels from it.

Joe
 
I can tell you my way of getting rid of your wire edge.

Step one: Find a very clean piece of cardboard it doesn't have to be too large.

Step two: Take your knife and run it @90% from the cardboard. Straight up and down. (Or the spine to the ceiling and the edge towards the floor. Move the edge side to side, you may see steel falling off the knife onto the cardboard. It means your getting rid of the wire edge.

Step Three: Resharpen your edge, (it should take well less than 10 minutes.)

Step Five: As you get to the very fine finishing stone, VERY lightly make passes on on the stone.

That wire edge is now gone unless you made a new one. That is why I say use SUPER light strokes on your stone.

When stropping use an angle lower than you did sharpening, and only do a few passes on each side. 5-7 on each side is all you need.
Hope this helps.
 
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