- Joined
- Nov 25, 1999
- Messages
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<center><font size=4>Six premium grade steel cutout!</font></center>
I had intention to make this comparison already a long time ago. At last I have found enough time and power to do it. The impulse gave me new ACUTO 440 steel debut in Columbia River Knife & Tool new knife - Carbon Fiber M-16.
<center>Tested knives.</center>
I selected 6 knifes with approximately 3" long blades made each of another premium grade steel. Of course much better would be to select knives with the same or similar edge geometry but I couldn't. Four of them have hollow ground blades with pretty thin edges. Although Spyderco Calypso Jr. Ltw. has full flat ground blade the edge is also very thin and comparable in thickness with hollow ground blades. Ka-Bar D2 Extreme folder is the single knife in D-2 steel I have and it had very thick edge out of factory box. I reprofiled it using my DMT whetstones creating decent 30-degree back bevel and when I "steeled up" very edge using Spyderco Tri-Angle Sharpmaker. All another knives had factory main sharpening, all what I did - I "steeled up" all edges using Sharpmaker to make test results comparable. At least edge retention depends not only on steel properties but on edge geometry as well.
All knives were "steeled up" to decent shaving sharpness before each trial.
<center>Test conditions.</center>
During all tests I tried to use the full length of each knife's edge. Some problems I had with Ka-Bar D2 Extreme blade: it is somewhat tricky to use foreedge of tanto blade for slicing rope and it is completely impossible to use it for straight push cuts sharpening pencils.
Obtained data are not an average of certain number of trials. Generally if I had no doubts that particular trial run unobstructed and it gave credible result I noted it as is without repeated trials. I have made several trials for the best and the worst result only, I also had to repeat some trials which results could be obstructed in my opinion (for ex. the part of seat belt was quite dirty and it influenced slicing result much more noticeable than I could expect).
Hemp rope slicing. I selected this test to see how blades perform slicing natural fiber. The target was 1/2-inch hemp rope without any synthetic additions. I sliced 5-8-mm thick pieces holding rope on the dry pinewood board until particular knife couldn't shave any hair on my forearm.
Car seat belt slicing. Here I had intention to try how blades work on synthetic fiber, especially this pretty strong one. I bought some old seat belts at car scrap yard. Occasionally I tried to simulate real situation when car belts would have to be cut and to evaluate how to do it better. I have put one end of the belt into small vise and the other end I held in my hand tightening it pretty strongly. When I sliced belt in direction away from my body with a decent single cut. I continued until knife completely lost shaving abilities.
Here I drew some side conclusions: it is pretty easy to slic seat belt if you can "catch" belt edge first and pull your blade with some angle to belt plane. Much harder is to slic belt pulling the blade strictly in belt plane, with 3" long plain blade it's practically impossible to cut the belt with a single stroke. However it is much easier to do with fully serrated blade, my Spyderco Calypso Jr. Stainless with fully serrated blade was clear winner in comparison with each plain blade.
Pencil sharpening. In my opinion this is the possibility to evaluate how blade works in straight push cuts. Here we deal with two different materials: quite hard but not abrasive wood and easy to cut but very abrasive pencil's insert. Additionally it is a chance to evaluate how precisely blade can be directed and controlled. As in previous tests I stooped each trial when blade couldn't shave any hair on my forearm.
While ago I had somewhat funny occurrence. Certain fellow after he read my review on Fällkniven F1 in Polish KOMANDOS (Commando) magazine have asked me via e-mail: "Why do you write about such trifles on the serious magazine's columns?" I explained him as politely as I could, however at the end I asked him to propose another test which would be enough "serious" in his opinion. Maybe to evaluate how many stupids can be killed with particular knife until it will need resharpening?
I do not know did he get me properly...
<center>Test results.</center>
Honestly I was somewhat embarrassed with them and got more questions then answers.
Why the best slicer displayed the worst performance in push cuts?
Why so much difference in slicing was between VG-10 and another steels?
How could VG-10 outperform CPM 440V well known for it's exceptionally high wear resistance?
Why D-2 tool steel (intentionally designed for push cutting) displayed the worst performance in pencil sharpening test?
I could add more questions but these are the mains. Could someone comment these results more scientifically?
<center>Epilogue</center>
At this point I had to stop my searching. I could find some materials more to cut, for ex. wave cardboard, packing straps etc. but I had a huge problem with "materials" to shave. In fact now my forearms now looking like nice lady's legs advertising new depilatory.
Please do not believe photos: I made them when I thought on this test conditions, before I started real test.
My understanding and patient wife finally lost her patience and understanding and said me: "You are looking like idiot. If you'll shave even one part of your body more I'll sleep in another bed".
You see - I have no choice!
Maybe later, when my hair will be back I could update these results...
PS. This is my first trial with HTML, please be patient.
------------------
Sergiusz Mitin
gunwriter
Lodz, Poland
[This message has been edited by Sergiusz Mitin (edited 07-01-2000).]
[This message has been edited by Sergiusz Mitin (edited 07-01-2000).]
[This message has been edited by Sergiusz Mitin (edited 07-01-2000).]
[This message has been edited by Sergiusz Mitin (edited 07-01-2000).]
[This message has been edited by Sergiusz Mitin (edited 07-01-2000).]
[This message has been edited by Sergiusz Mitin (edited 07-01-2000).]
[This message has been edited by Sergiusz Mitin (edited 07-01-2000).]
[This message has been edited by Sergiusz Mitin (edited 07-01-2000).]
[This message has been edited by Sergiusz Mitin (edited 07-01-2000).]
[This message has been edited by Sergiusz Mitin (edited 07-02-2000).]
[This message has been edited by Sergiusz Mitin (edited 07-03-2000).]
[This message has been edited by Sergiusz Mitin (edited 07-03-2000).]
[This message has been edited by Sergiusz Mitin (edited 07-03-2000).]
I had intention to make this comparison already a long time ago. At last I have found enough time and power to do it. The impulse gave me new ACUTO 440 steel debut in Columbia River Knife & Tool new knife - Carbon Fiber M-16.
<center>Tested knives.</center>
I selected 6 knifes with approximately 3" long blades made each of another premium grade steel. Of course much better would be to select knives with the same or similar edge geometry but I couldn't. Four of them have hollow ground blades with pretty thin edges. Although Spyderco Calypso Jr. Ltw. has full flat ground blade the edge is also very thin and comparable in thickness with hollow ground blades. Ka-Bar D2 Extreme folder is the single knife in D-2 steel I have and it had very thick edge out of factory box. I reprofiled it using my DMT whetstones creating decent 30-degree back bevel and when I "steeled up" very edge using Spyderco Tri-Angle Sharpmaker. All another knives had factory main sharpening, all what I did - I "steeled up" all edges using Sharpmaker to make test results comparable. At least edge retention depends not only on steel properties but on edge geometry as well.
All knives were "steeled up" to decent shaving sharpness before each trial.
<center>Test conditions.</center>
During all tests I tried to use the full length of each knife's edge. Some problems I had with Ka-Bar D2 Extreme blade: it is somewhat tricky to use foreedge of tanto blade for slicing rope and it is completely impossible to use it for straight push cuts sharpening pencils.
Obtained data are not an average of certain number of trials. Generally if I had no doubts that particular trial run unobstructed and it gave credible result I noted it as is without repeated trials. I have made several trials for the best and the worst result only, I also had to repeat some trials which results could be obstructed in my opinion (for ex. the part of seat belt was quite dirty and it influenced slicing result much more noticeable than I could expect).
Hemp rope slicing. I selected this test to see how blades perform slicing natural fiber. The target was 1/2-inch hemp rope without any synthetic additions. I sliced 5-8-mm thick pieces holding rope on the dry pinewood board until particular knife couldn't shave any hair on my forearm.
Car seat belt slicing. Here I had intention to try how blades work on synthetic fiber, especially this pretty strong one. I bought some old seat belts at car scrap yard. Occasionally I tried to simulate real situation when car belts would have to be cut and to evaluate how to do it better. I have put one end of the belt into small vise and the other end I held in my hand tightening it pretty strongly. When I sliced belt in direction away from my body with a decent single cut. I continued until knife completely lost shaving abilities.
Here I drew some side conclusions: it is pretty easy to slic seat belt if you can "catch" belt edge first and pull your blade with some angle to belt plane. Much harder is to slic belt pulling the blade strictly in belt plane, with 3" long plain blade it's practically impossible to cut the belt with a single stroke. However it is much easier to do with fully serrated blade, my Spyderco Calypso Jr. Stainless with fully serrated blade was clear winner in comparison with each plain blade.
Pencil sharpening. In my opinion this is the possibility to evaluate how blade works in straight push cuts. Here we deal with two different materials: quite hard but not abrasive wood and easy to cut but very abrasive pencil's insert. Additionally it is a chance to evaluate how precisely blade can be directed and controlled. As in previous tests I stooped each trial when blade couldn't shave any hair on my forearm.
While ago I had somewhat funny occurrence. Certain fellow after he read my review on Fällkniven F1 in Polish KOMANDOS (Commando) magazine have asked me via e-mail: "Why do you write about such trifles on the serious magazine's columns?" I explained him as politely as I could, however at the end I asked him to propose another test which would be enough "serious" in his opinion. Maybe to evaluate how many stupids can be killed with particular knife until it will need resharpening?
I do not know did he get me properly...
<center>Test results.</center>
Honestly I was somewhat embarrassed with them and got more questions then answers.
Why the best slicer displayed the worst performance in push cuts?
Why so much difference in slicing was between VG-10 and another steels?
How could VG-10 outperform CPM 440V well known for it's exceptionally high wear resistance?
Why D-2 tool steel (intentionally designed for push cutting) displayed the worst performance in pencil sharpening test?
I could add more questions but these are the mains. Could someone comment these results more scientifically?
<center>Epilogue</center>
At this point I had to stop my searching. I could find some materials more to cut, for ex. wave cardboard, packing straps etc. but I had a huge problem with "materials" to shave. In fact now my forearms now looking like nice lady's legs advertising new depilatory.
Please do not believe photos: I made them when I thought on this test conditions, before I started real test.
My understanding and patient wife finally lost her patience and understanding and said me: "You are looking like idiot. If you'll shave even one part of your body more I'll sleep in another bed".
You see - I have no choice!
Maybe later, when my hair will be back I could update these results...
PS. This is my first trial with HTML, please be patient.
------------------
Sergiusz Mitin
gunwriter
Lodz, Poland
[This message has been edited by Sergiusz Mitin (edited 07-01-2000).]
[This message has been edited by Sergiusz Mitin (edited 07-01-2000).]
[This message has been edited by Sergiusz Mitin (edited 07-01-2000).]
[This message has been edited by Sergiusz Mitin (edited 07-01-2000).]
[This message has been edited by Sergiusz Mitin (edited 07-01-2000).]
[This message has been edited by Sergiusz Mitin (edited 07-01-2000).]
[This message has been edited by Sergiusz Mitin (edited 07-01-2000).]
[This message has been edited by Sergiusz Mitin (edited 07-01-2000).]
[This message has been edited by Sergiusz Mitin (edited 07-01-2000).]
[This message has been edited by Sergiusz Mitin (edited 07-02-2000).]
[This message has been edited by Sergiusz Mitin (edited 07-03-2000).]
[This message has been edited by Sergiusz Mitin (edited 07-03-2000).]
[This message has been edited by Sergiusz Mitin (edited 07-03-2000).]
