Sharpness: Caly 3 vs Tenacious

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Sep 29, 2009
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Hi,
(my first post)
I'm wondering if it's just inherently true that a Spyderco Caly 3 (with it's thinner blade and VG-10 steel) will always take a finer edge than the Spyderco Tenacious. I've sharpened my Tenacious on 2000 grit sandpaper and stropped it down to 0.2 micron diamond paste; although it's sharp, it feels like the Caly 3 is still sharper ---- I'm judging this on just the feel of the knife while cutting through newsprint.

Now that I've written this, I suppose I should come up with a more scientific test of sharpness; maybe I'm really just feeling the difference not in sharpness, but in the fact that for a thicker blade, there will be more resistance to cutting.

Anyway, thought I'd post to see if any similarly sharpness obsessed people had any input.

Cheers,
-paul
 
Different steels will reach different levels of sharpness, blade thickness will also play a big part in how sharp the blade will get and how sharp it will feel. Once a blade gets really sharp feeling it with your finger is almost useless because its cutting your skin so you not actually feeling how sharp it is.
 
The FFG (full flat grind) of the Caly 3 makes it a better slicer than many other knives. Of course other types of grinds might be better at other things. I actually prefer the sabre grind of the Delica 4 as a general utility blade. As others have said the type of steel also plays a role as does how well the blade is polished. I've also noted that my Caly 3 seems sharper than other knives.
 
Even a butter knife will take a keen edge. The issue is how the keen the edge will be without failing. Harder steel allows a keener edge without failing. Some cutting applications will allow a keener edge without failing also.

Thicker blades provide more resistance to pushing the blade through the cut, regardless of the angle of the edge. The reason razor blades cut so effectively is not the angle of the edge so much as the thinness of the material from which it is made. So thinner blades will cut easier than thicker blades. The thinness may cause other negative performance issues as you can imagine. Razor blades don't make good camp knives, as an example.

The trick is to get the angle correct for both the hardness of the steel and the application. Too acute and the edge will roll. Too obtuse and you give up some potential cutting performance. You can ignore the thickness of the steel in terms of determining the best angle for your steel and application. It will affect performance but not because of the bevel angle.
 
Knife Outlet said:
Even a butter knife will take a keen edge. The issue is how the keen the edge will be without failing. Harder steel allows a keener edge without failing. Some cutting applications will allow a keener edge without failing also.

Thicker blades provide more resistance to pushing the blade through the cut, regardless of the angle of the edge. The reason razor blades cut so effectively is not the angle of the edge so much as the thinness of the material from which it is made. So thinner blades will cut easier than thicker blades. The thinness may cause other negative performance issues as you can imagine. Razor blades don't make good camp knives, as an example.

The trick is to get the angle correct for both the hardness of the steel and the application. Too acute and the edge will roll. Too obtuse and you give up some potential cutting performance. You can ignore the thickness of the steel in terms of determining the best angle for your steel and application. It will affect performance but not because of the bevel angle.
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X2, I disagree with the people who say some steels get sharper than others, I have gotten $2 made in china no name knives to whittle hair and shave my face, it's just that the edge retention sucks.
 
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