Southard & CTS-204P

I can't say a lot for the durability of the edge but its a knife you won't regret purchasing. Any factory edge can be brittle for any number of reasons, time and resharpening will tell the true story. So far I love mine.
 
Hairlesstwinkie said:
Uhh you guys are making me kinda nervous. I just ordered mine today...
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There is absolutely zero reason to be nervous. Spyderco took a LONG time to make sure they had the heat treat down on 204p before ever even thinking about releasing knives in that steel.

All of this is just talk so far. There is very little real world use of 204p that has been documented. For all we know this is how that steel performs. There are a few different ways that knives dull. Micro chipping and/or carbide tear out may just be normal for 204p, as far as the dulling mode is concerned.
 
CrimsonTideShooter said:
There is absolutely zero reason to be nervous. Spyderco took a LONG time to make sure they had the heat treat down on 204p before ever even thinking about releasing knives in that steel.

All of this is just talk so far. There is very little real world use of 204p that has been documented. For all we know this is how that steel performs. There are a few different ways that knives dulls. Micro chipping and/or carbide readout may just be normal for 204p.
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This


I wouldn't worry one bit, the Southard is a fantastic knife. Like CTS said, there is very little in the way of actual use for 204p.
 
neverdie36 said:
This


I wouldn't worry one bit, the Southard is a fantastic knife. Like CTS said, there is very little in the way of actual use for 204p.
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+1.
Been cutting through staples, hidden between cardboard layers.
No edge damage at all.
 
Which is true, this statement "this is exactly what I am experiencing" or "I haven't used the knife enough to know if there IS a tendency to chip"?
 
brownshoe said:
Which is true, this statement "this is exactly what I am experiencing" or "I haven't used the knife enough to know if there IS a tendency to chip"?
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The way I read the statement is both. He did experience chipping, sharpened the knife, but cannot conclude that the steel has a tendency to chip due to low use (i.e. an isolated incident does not prove to be a reliable statistic).
 
I haven't had a taste of 204P yet. Been waiting on the Mule MT-14 and the green Para2 for months...

TedP
 
TotinCh1p said:
The way I read the statement is both. He did experience chipping, sharpened the knife, but cannot conclude that the steel has a tendency to chip due to low use (i.e. an isolated incident does not prove to be a reliable statistic).
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Exactly. Anyone not looking to troll could understand my post quite readily I imagine.

Anyway, the bright side is that I have one Southard that I have sharpened to test, and I have 3 others with factory edges that I can test. By test I mean use. That will give a good idea of whether or not it's the factory edge that is at fault, which I suspect it is. Getting the edge a little too hot on a belt will allow grain overgrowth, which can cause this sort of thing.

Again, it's too early to tell if there even is a "thing" yet.
 
CrimsonTideShooter said:
Exactly. Anyone not looking to troll could understand my post quite readily I imagine.

Anyway, the bright side is that I have one Southard that I have sharpened to test, and I have 3 others with factory edges that I can test. By test I mean use. That will give a good idea of whether or not it's the factory edge that is at fault, which I suspect it is. Getting the edge a little too hot on a belt will allow grain overgrowth, which can cause this sort of thing.

Again, it's too early to tell if there even is a "thing" yet.
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This is what I was thinking too. As I am sure you know, there are a couple of threads talking about knives getting over heated on the edge from factory sharpening, causing the first little bit of steel to be "chippy". M390 is basically 204P. The only time I have had that chip was from directly hitting metal ( accidentally obviously ). Otherwise in my use it has a tendency to roll.
 
Thanks for the review! M390/204p is currently my favorite steel! Love that the bevel rolls instead of chipping
 
Lol.
My first thought has been... Sh#t! I have ruined the edge... Because I was cutting through those thick cardboard sheets, and enjoying the laser feeling of an hot knife in butter.
I really wanted to avoid the staples but .... Oh no!

Cursing will not change the fact I was hitting my edge with metal.

Eventually.... I was not able to spot any damage to the edge.
I was impressed.

(and I've checked under a magnifying glass)
 
Anyone have updates on how their CTS-204P is doing?

This video is in Russian but it's self-explanatory. Fast forward for close-ups of pretty bad chipping following a cardboard cutting test. Says at the beginning it was resharpened on an Apex EdgePro.

[video=youtube;Z60064FNdng]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z60064FNdng[/video]

After resharpening at 24° per side, another test on rope. Seems microchipping isn't so bad (under microscope from 32:30).

[video=youtube;07JHiyHlZCI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07JHiyHlZCI[/video]

Then after stropping stropping some wood cutting.

[video=youtube;QXIR7cNN33U]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXIR7cNN33U[/video]

Maybe it is just the factory sharpening job?
 
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