S30V blade chip: my fault or Spyderco's fault?

elkins45

elkins45

Joined
Jun 17, 2006
Messages
4,090
Here are pictures of the edge of my Paramilitary 2 in S30V. As you can see, there is a significant ship out of the edge. This happened when I was cutting a piece of TV coaxial cable. I was holding the cable bunched in a 'U' and gradually applying pressure until it parted. I wasn't wiggling or rocking the edge at all.

Is cutting TV coax abuse? Or should this not have happened? Should a S30V blade be expected to cut through plastic and aluminum cable without sustaining this kind of damage?

In other words, should I send this back to Spyderco for repair or should I just resign myself to the fact that I have a LOT of sharpening to do?

chip3.jpg


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Coax has a copper conductor in the center which could account for the damage , should have used a pair of dykes :D you can always send it back To golden for a sharpening job ! I'm sure a good ole hand sharpening job will prevent this from ever happening again .
 
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All I know is dykes never stay new and sharp long.

Maybe the steel's better behind the factory edge.
 
Had that happen with a RitterGrip in S30V years ago. Just honed it away and no problems.
 
Hi Elkinds45, I can tell you that coaxial cable has a copper COATED STEEL center conductor that would screw the edge of most knives. It is very hard on my cutting edges of my tools ( I'm an electrician) so I only use a dedicated coax cutter for it and also to maintain the round shape for termination purposes. Sorry about your knife edge but this is how we learn, best regards, Andy.
 
I had a similar experience with a brand spanking new Sage and a zip tie. I just sharpened it out and used other tools to cut them. I think the factory (toothy) edge was just brittle.
 
bigmo66 said:
I had a similar experience with a brand spanking new Sage and a zip tie. I just sharpened it out and used other tools to cut them. I think the factory (toothy) edge was just brittle.
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Same here with many blades and edges (even on Sebbies)... cutting metal with metal is not the best use of a knife.
But, your are lucky, it's easy to reshape. Tools are meant to be used.
Enjoy your new serrated edge ! :D
But 15 minutes on a stone and it will be plain edge again anyway.
 
I cut a truck load of coax & data cables with the GB (we are talking RG-59 and solid conductor CAT5) and there was nothing but a small flat spot on the blade. Never tried that with a Para2 though. M4 is used to cut other metal so that is what I think explains the results I got.
Also, quality coax be it RG6 or RG11 has a copper conductor (mostly the quadshield type), others have crappy copper covered steel conductor cable. That is what you cut through, had it been copper it would not have chipped it out.
 
Wrong tools for the job. Para's and GB' are not made to cut coax cable. Softrock, Eloreno are right, dikes or cable cutters are the right tools for the job
 
alsj727 said:
Wrong tools for the job. Para's and GB' are not made to cut coax cable. Softrock, Eloreno are right, dikes or cable cutters are the right tools for the job
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Really? :D So, I shouldn't use it to pry out carpet staples, or cut livestock electrical tape, or metal sheeting, or cut sheet rock, or notch lumber, or split wood, or junk like that? :)

Dagone. I done screwed up!

Andy
 
alsj727 said:
Wrong tools for the job. Para's and GB' are not made to cut coax cable. Softrock, Eloreno are right, dikes or cable cutters are the right tools for the job
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As I stated in my post, nothing happened after cutting a whole lot of cable. CPM-M4 is used to cut steel actually, copper being a softer metal is actually not a problem. Obviously diagonal cutters are "made" for cutting cable, but if we always went that route, there would be nothing to post about then right?
 
alsj727 said:
Wrong tools for the job. Para's and GB' are not made to cut coax cable. Softrock, Eloreno are right, dikes or cable cutters are the right tools for the job
Click to expand...

Sometimes you just don't want to climb off the ladder and walk to the garage.
 
RG-59 (the small stuff) is usually copper and soft so cutting it with a knife is not a big deal. RG-6 is a nickel core coated in copper surrounded by a stainless steel braid. Cutting this with ANY knife will do extreme damage to the edge. RG-11 is double the thickness of RG-6 and will only be found in extreme long runs from the pole or underground tap. If you could get a knife though RG-11 without a hammer I'd give ya credit, dykes hardly cut that stuff.

Also I'd be hesitate to call that a chip in your blade, looks more like deformation with possible tear out.
 
I don't know, but I would guess that there's a difference between a purely straight cut on metal (even soft metal) and an even slight sideways cut.
 
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