Ranking of Steels in Categories based on Edge Retention cutting 5/8" rope

Noctis3880 said:
I believe that would cause chipping issues even worse than what you get with ZDP-189. Of course, that might depend on who does the heat treat;).
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It can be taken to 60 RC so the range is 59-60 RC without the chipping issues.
 
Slider817 said:
Sorry for keep asking, but which blade did you test the CTS with?
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Manix 2 FFG

I try and use as many Spyderco FFG blades as I can because they cut so well and better than any other Factory blades on the market.

Most of the steels on the list are Spydercos because of that and their HT is so good.

All the blades must not start out with more than 15 LBS of downforce when slicing through the rope or they are not tested, no exceptions.
 
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Wow, that's a surprising result:eek:.
The datasheet left me with the impression of a slightly more wear resistant CPM-D2, but I never expected it to outdo S30V in a full on wear resistance testing.

I feel pretty happy with my XM-18 in CTS-XHP now:thumbup:.

It seems a bit like S30V in that it loses that hair popping edge very quickly but keeps a working edge forever. Cut some cardboard with it and it didn't tree-top my leg hairs anymore, but that didn't stop me from dropping a tomato and zucchini on the blade and splitting them clean in half:thumbup:.
 
Noctis3880 said:
Wow, that's a surprising result:eek:.
The datasheet left me with the impression of a slightly more wear resistant CPM-D2, but I never expected it to outdo S30V in a full on wear resistance testing.

I feel pretty happy with my XM-18 in CTS-XHP now:thumbup:.

It seems a bit like S30V in that it loses that hair popping edge very quickly but keeps a working edge forever. Cut some cardboard with it and it didn't tree-top my leg hairs anymore, but that didn't stop me from dropping a tomato and zucchini on the blade and splitting them clean in half:thumbup:.
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It wasn't really that suprising to me, I figured it would fall in around there someplace, Cat 2 or 3.

The only shocker to me sofar was Super Blue.
 
JNewell said:
Thanks. Those are close enough that I don't think there's a big issue about comparing the two. (Please feel free to correct me if you think I'm wrong.)

Happy 2011!
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Thanks, have a great New Years. :)

I try and keep all the blades close to the same and the starting downforce has to be 15 LBS of under so they all start even. I am very picky about the blades used to test because I want it to be consistant.

I am grouping the steels in categories, not ranking them in order.
 
"I haven't seen any steels yet that wouldn't take a polished edge, even S110V took it pretty easy. The only problem there is it was a part Serrated edge, no good for rope testing."

I should have ground out the serrations now that I think of it, or sent you the non-serrated version that the wife "borrowed" from me.

As an aside, the knife came back from the heat treat spot on @ 62 Rockwell and feels like a totally different blade. Amazingly sharp @ 20 degrees inclusive and honestly so keen I won't let anyone "examine" it for fear they'll bleed out.

Can't help myself, Jim; I'm sending it back for a 64-65 Rockwell and we'll see what we shall see.
 
Gunny Bob said:
"I haven't seen any steels yet that wouldn't take a polished edge, even S110V took it pretty easy. The only problem there is it was a part Serrated edge, no good for rope testing."

I should have ground out the serrations now that I think of it, or sent you the non-serrated version that the wife "borrowed" from me.

As an aside, the knife came back from the heat treat spot on @ 62 Rockwell and feels like a totally different blade. Amazingly sharp @ 20 degrees inclusive and honestly so keen I won't let anyone "examine" it for fear they'll bleed out.

Can't help myself, Jim; I'm sending it back for a 64-65 Rockwell and we'll see what we shall see.
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64 or 65 should be interesting. :)
 
Jim, thanks for testing and continuing to update this thread. Interesting stuff.

You seem to be controlling a number of variables, but what about blade length? Is that controlled in cutting action because the knives tested are not the same length?
 
jurisprudence said:
Jim, thanks for testing and continuing to update this thread. Interesting stuff.

You seem to be controlling a number of variables, but what about blade length? Is that controlled in cutting action because the knives tested are not the same length?
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It would fit into Category 3, showed the same pattern in the rope cutting as the Satin Militaries at 60 RC.

Blades are kept between 3 1/2" and 4".
 
Mule super blue on the way, hope it arrives today, can't wait to test with my other blades. thanks for all your efforts. will post my input on the mule later.
Thanks Spyder out:D
 
Tested the Military and Para 2 Sprints in S90V today and had to add another Category due to the large difference, S90V is in it's Own Category now based on the results that I got.

The Manix 2 S90V is dropped to what is now Category 2 and labeled as such. It had a 30 Degress Inclusive Micro Bevel on it because of the way it was sharpened before I go it so I figured S90V should have done better. It wasn't my knife so I didn't want to remove a lot of steel.
 
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"Am I hearing what you're saying"? :D Do you think the difference between the Manix 2 and the Military and Para 2 is the edge grind/bevel, or something else?
 
JNewell said:
"Am I hearing what you're saying"? :D Do you think the difference between the Manix 2 and the Military and Para 2 is the edge grind/bevel, or something else?
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The Manix 2 S90V was on loan for the testing and had pretty low angle edge bevel on it so I had to put a Micro Bevel on it to get a 30 degree inclusive edge. It also had been sharpened a few times too from that it looked like. I would have had to remove a lot more steel to back the edge up.

The same thing that happened between the 2 Endura 4's in ZDP that I had cut with, one was micro beveled and worn a bit and the other was new. Big difference between them.

So in short the difference was the thickness of the steel behind the edge, one of the reasons why I try and get all the blades as close as I can to the same to make things as even as I can get them.

When I was testing it it seemed like it wanted to do better, you can tell when you cut enough that a steel should be doing better, you get a feel for it after awhile.

So in the end S90V is in two Categories, I will have the Military and Para 2 RC tested and the results will be added once I find out what they are. Both knives ended up with the exact same result, number of cuts to 20 LBS of downforce.

I will remove the Manix 2 from the list once I get the RC testing data back.
 
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