S110v Manix 2 Hard Use Testing Continued.

[SBaker34]

Figured Id post this here again as well.

Seeing as some people were surprised not just as the steel but at the LW manix itself holding up I decided to test it further, since I wanted to attempt to fix the tip still anyway. And also I know it has been sharpened enough now that no trace of the factory edge remains. Same as last time it has a 36 inclusive edge according to the Wicked Edge. Using my phone as an angle cube suggests its between 34-36.

First I broke off an old dead branch, to whittle on. Unfortunately it was so hard it all I could get were thin strips, So I decided to pound the manix through the branch. Unfortunately, I let go of the manix in order to stabilize the branch, and when it broke the branch It ended up plunging tip first into rocky ground.

After that I decided to pound the blade into the 2x4 I tested on last time, I found another heavy block, and went to town, my hand started to go numb towards the end.

No damage at all, other than towards the tip from being dropped.

Next I cut the same power cable as last time but far more of it to get a more accurate idea.

However I still couldn't detect any damage from the wire other than possibly some micro chipping after cutting into a piece laterally, but I think its just dust.

Next I found this even more nasty stuff. Push cutting wouldn't work so I had to pound the blade into it with a 2x4

Now we are looking at noticeable damage

After that I raided the trash room to see what I could find that might damage or chip the edge but would be reasonable to use a knife on.

Cutting through the thickest parts of an oxyclean bottle posed no challenge.

Next I cut 2 soda cans in half and sliced some strips into them. Edge looked fine.

But will it shave?

nice and smoothly too.


It occurred to me perhaps I didn't cut the cans with the entire blade so I took one of the can halves and drew the entire length of the blade accross it several times.

Now will it shave after that?

Easily.


To finish up my testing I went rambo on a empty can of tomato juice, judging by the rust it is steel. I plunged the blade into the top several times, stuck the tip and twisted it to open up a hole. Then sliced down the sides. I wasn't careful gentle I just tore into the can.

That screwed the edge up big time, it wouldn't shave, nor slice any kind of paper, it still felt like it would cut if it had to due to the chipping but was not any kind of sharp. I took a picture after I clamped the blade and ran a maker across to highlight the damage.

Just for fun this was after I finished.

What observations did I make? I would say s110v at an acceptable angle, 34 degrees inclusive and up, will handle any normal"tough" knife related task, thick plastic? No problem, whittling, go for it. Drop it? It won't shatter. Steel on steel contact appears destructive for s110v, primarily due to chipping. This would be an absolute nightmare for some, more because of the wear resistance during sharpening than the damage.

I would say the biggest weakness to this steel is the sharpening issue. If you have power tools, or a guided system, the fact that the steel may be slightly more prone to damage when abused is a non issue. those with sharpmakers will effectively need to mail it to Spyderco for each ding. Also the manix 2 LW is damn tough. I think the pin construction is a good thing in some ways, the LW native is extremely sensitive and over tightening the body screws will cause it to flex and bind up the mechanism. The ball bearing lock pins the ball bearing between the blade and the solid metal insert which also acts as a stop pin. attached by two pins to the body, This makes the knife as tough as the pinned FRN, Unless enough force is applied to literally tear the insert out of the FRN, it won't become loose or fail. In addition although I am not sure, I think the flex inherit to FRN helps prevent screw stripping, bending or anything else when heavy force is applied. The Manix 2 came to me requiring the slightest wrist flick to close. After all my testing the blade still won't drop free without a tiny bit of motion. I think the fusion of lightweight manix 2 and s110v is a brilliant design, that trades excess durability for performance, but retains enough to not be useless in a pinch.

 

[SBaker34]

I reprofiled the edge back to 30 inclusive on the wicked edge, and confirmed by my phone angle meter, and will be testing it in non abusive ways on wood and plastic.

 

[FW JSB]

The Manix Ltwgt in any of its iterations is a seriously underrated blade, IMO. It's combination of lightness, flatness and cutting power is hard to beat. And it's affordable. I have a black and blue in the BD1 and the S110V version you did your test with. Clearly it's a pretty damn good performer.

 

[Insipid Moniker]

Nice! I know S110V is technically a 'brittle' steel, but this shows how little that matters.

 

[SBaker34]

Nice! I know S110V is technically a 'brittle' steel, but this shows how little that matters.

That was exactly why I did this, to see how much being a "brittle" steel actually mattered. I retested at 30 inclusive on the dot, waiting for the pictures to upload

 

[MattinLA]

That was exactly why I did this, to see how much being a "brittle" steel actually mattered. I retested at 30 inclusive on the dot, waiting for the pictures to upload

I always ask "brittle"? Compared to what? Thanks for the review, unless someone is a contractor or electrician I doubt they'll need a tougher steel in their folder

 

[TravisH]

Great review!

I used mine to cut up old carpet and out in the garden against vegetation, wooden stakes, and glancing off wire cages - couldn't be happier.

 

[SBaker34]

As mentioned earlier I re profiled the manix down to 30 inclusive, 14.5DPS to be exact according to my phone, but I'll call it 30. When I went out to test today I checked the edge under sunlight to make sure it was good, looked good to me.

Next I found a small sampling of the average plastic somebody might cut plus a highlighter.
Before

After

Edge still looked good

Whittled on the highlighter.

Tried to baton through which cracked it in half still looks fine

Decided to whittle a new piece of wood this time, it feels like it might be softer, but this is not meant to destroy the knife. I wasn't kind, there was a lot of impact and lateral torque

After

I then took a hammer grip on the knife and bore down carving into the block with a lot of force.

At this point I thought I saw some very imperceptible damage, This is a zoomed in picture showing some almost microscopic chipping, it is so small it may have been from where my 3 micron diamond stones were not broken in, hence the coarse scratches yet also mirrored edge.

Whittled the petrified stick, looks like rolling but its just dirt, forgot to wipe the knife.

Wasn't s110v supposed to shatter on zip ties?

How about some thin wire, the type someone might actually cut, and not the enormous stuff I used in the past.

First cut was a really nasty lateral cut at the heel of the blade that stripped down the wire shaving the metal inside, this was the first incident of actual damage.

Push cut several more pieces using the belly, didn't notice any damage.

Still shaves well, running out of leg hair.

Cut the black cable because I was feeling brave, didn't see any damage.. the damage at the heel is from the lateral cut into the thin wire

Edge looks completely fine other than chipping at the heel.

Interestingly enough, what destroyed the edge was the soda can, now I made more cuts into it, if I had sliced it into a few pieces and did some draw cuts It might have been fine, but it wouldn't shave anymore after I finished.

The edge actually wasn't seriously damaged though, so I attempted to slice some PB paper, slow cutting it would tear, but using a fast slicing motion it would saw through, nasty ragged edges, but in the knife would still probably be functional.

It took around 7 minutes to completely repair the edge using the 200 grit stones, which is faster than any other knife, the slowest was the buck 110 taking over 20 minutes.


It seems that the killer of S110V is lateral torque, its not especially sensitive, or carving would have destroyed the edge, but the hard, carbide filled edge just shatters when stressed the wrong way. Practically this is not much of a detriment when compared to lesser steels which would roll or flatten under the same or less force, but compared to tougher tool steels it might be a major difference. A side impact would be nasty, for example chopping into a rock at an angle, I would imagine the damage would be intense., but otherwise the edge is not particularly fragile. The only reason I see to avoid this steel is if your knives take damage often anyway, and or you lack the means to sharpen it.

 

[FW JSB]

Nice point on that blade. I still struggle with that on my WEPS, even after a couple of years. It's too easy to round off. I think I'm going to throw my Manix back on the sharpener and take it down to 30° inclusive as well, try to get that point done the right way. Thanks for all these tests, BTW, very useful and revealing.

 

[spyken]

Draw cuts on wire chipped my S110v

 

[SBaker34]

Nice point on that blade. I still struggle with that on my WEPS, even after a couple of years. It's too easy to round off. I think I'm going to throw my Manix back on the sharpener and take it down to 30° inclusive as well, try to get that point done the right way. Thanks for all these tests, BTW, very useful and revealing.

Glad you mentioned that because for some reason the I totally F'ed the tip on that manix. The tip looked like it belonged on a bowie knife. It took a few sharpening to get it back to a little more manixy. Id give advice, but I'm honestly not sure what happened. The para, military, natives and domino all had absolutely perfect tips after. If I were to guess I think the tip was too high which caused it to thicken up, so I ground on it to thin it down and ended up taking too much off.

 

[SBaker34]

Draw cuts on wire chipped my S110v

Apex angle and what kind of wire? also how bad is the chipping?

 

[spyken]

Apex angle and what kind of wire? also how bad is the chipping?

I don't know the core but it's used in military comms. Visible chipping, sadly I can't show a pic. The knife was lost in the bush.

 

[SBaker34]

I don't know the core but it's used in military comms. Visible chipping, sadly I can't show a pic. The knife was lost in the bush.

Thick solid wire, and lateral force will definitely chip it, if its not HD wire and you were making vertical cuts. I'm surprised. Granted mine has been resharpened several times, and I use diamond stones. Really no idea if there is anything to either the damaged factory edge or vanadium carbide tear-out theories. but take it for what its worth.

 

[SBaker34]

So I realized I have never tested on cardboard which is the most commonly cut item. I simply don't have the patience, nor the cardboard to do a wear test. However, it did occur to me that perhaps it might damage the edge, and I know from past experience, it doesn't take much cutting to loose the shaving sharp edge on s30v. So I took my 30 inclusive manix 2, finished with a 1000 grit diamond edge. and sliced the top off of a 3-4 foot box, then I made more vertical cuts down the top, and for fun sliced some strips, I didn't cut much cardboard, perhaps 30 feet if that. But I just wanted to check for damage.

The edge looks undamaged.

It also shaves pretty easily. this was one pass.

Not much of a test, but I've yet to find a reason s110v won't work at 30 inclusive so far.

 

[Edgesnarf]

I sharpen my manix2 s110vs with a sharpmaker. Can't say it's a ton of fun, but it's very doable. Helps to have the diamond rods!

 

[SBaker34]

Sharpened it at 27 degrees inclusive and pounded it into dried white oak, more to come.

 

[straightwalls]

Great real life tests, thanks for posting this review SBaker34. I have one of these LW Manix S110V and wondered about the durability it would have, it is in my rotation so this gives me plenty of confidence in it's toughness and I won't hesitate to use it for this sort of work.

 

[kwackster]

Any news how the knife is holding up with the current 27 degrees inclusive edge ?

 

[SBaker34]

Any news how the knife is holding up with the current 27 degrees inclusive edge ?

I just now saw this my apologies. No issues. I used to whittle a deer antler. Didn't take any more damage than other steels