A lot of folks are now getting Maxamet steel with the manix2 LW maxamet and Native 5 LW maxamet that have recently released from spyderco this year. ive waited a bit because i already have a Maxamet Mule team fixed blade (carbon fiber scales from halpern titanium). i would like to get a maxamet folder to EDC (cause i dont edc fixed blades). My mule team lasts forever, in fact i havent sharpened it yet. havent needed too. tho a few friends have sharpened maxamet with ease with Diamond stones. anyway, i generally use it to cut lots and lots of cardboard boxes or food. The point of this thread tho, is chipping. i haven't had ANY issues with chipping on the maxamet mule team fixed blade. i did recently just had my s110v manix2 blurple chip. oh i cried. but i digress. @Frankieblades on instagram had some minor chipping on his maxamet LW manix2 but after sharpening it, he put it through hell with some stress tests and its still kicking. this also happened to a few others, great after a first sharpening. however there are a handful of others who get constant chipping that wont stop even after sharpening. Nick Shabazz on instagram has a native 5 LW maxamet and his chipped after cutting some cardboard. i just finished watched @NickShabazz live and he spent almost 2 hours sharpening maxamet to 600grit. guess what, it chipped right after sharpening. also another guy that goes by @constantinol also has a maxamet blade that wont stop chipping. @doctorfrunky on instagram and youtube had no issues with chipping at all on his native 5. he just did a video cutting a bunch of cardboard. Does anyone else have these issues? @Sal Glesser do you know why this is happening? i assume that the few blades that work fine after hand sharpening are due to a burnt edge from sharpening at the factory (because maxamet is so hard to grind i assume the heat from grinding is causing it)... but maybe the heat treatment is too high a HRC on those that constantly chip? I remember someone saying they got a warranty replacement and spyderco replaced it and the new blade is perfect. maybe there was a bad batch? I have been going back and forth wanting to buy one of those two new maxamet knives but waited due to the rumor that they were going to make a PM2 in maxamet and im not a fan of the LW FRN. so i waited and watched what everyone has said about it from all over social media. Whats everyones thoughts here? btw i love Spyderco and i dont hold any of this against them at all. im more than sure they will do right by those that have the issue. just wanted to get a take on what everyone else thinks or if anyone else has run into this? did anyone have chipping with the maxamet mule team? let's gather some data. i dont think this is wide a spread issue at all. cause i have only a small percentage of people that i follow on instagram and youtube with these issues. but anyways, its an issue for a few that have said something about it.
No chipping with my Maxamet Manix and I also cut a lot of cardboard, rope and all sorts of rubber tubing. I got mine at Christmas and I have yet to take it to the stones. A little stropping brings it back to razor every time. No chipping here! I wonder if I just got a good one....
I'm curious to know if there's an issue with some of the Maxamet blades. My Native5 Maxamet is arriving tomorrow and I won't use it. If there are issues I'll send mine back to the dealer and get another one down the road.
he's just one person of a few... so your opinion of him doesn't have any bearing on this conversion. you won't know until you use it. I would assume its going to be a very small amount affected by this. if anything the people here who are providing good reviews should assure you its not a widespread issue.
I have no idea but I'd like the try the steel on a knife that I like. Unfortunately I'm not a fan of the Lightweights.
Mine has been great, no chipping whatsoever in a couple months of use. I work in a warehouse type environment and cut everything from tape, cardboard, heavy poly strapping, my lunch, and I use it numerous times daily. I personally think my Manix 2 Maxamet has held an edge better than any steel I've ever used. The next best has been VG10 from Al Mar, it has also held an edge for close to 2 months of the same type of use. I can't recommend this knife enough and will probably end up with the Native soon or later. Brad
Thats the point. I have found BF to be a better gauge to judge how a blade will perform or fail. And so far Maxamet is a winner
No issues with my Maxamet Native, but it's only seen light use in the few weeks I've had it. I'd be cautious about thinking there is some kind of "issue" without a lot more information though. This is an insanely high alloy steel run at what, 67-69 hrc? When pushed, I would expect it to fail by fracture or micro chipping, pretty much exactly as shown in the examples cited. We ultimately know little about how those blades were used or sharpened, the media they cut or the loads applied to the edge by the users. The possibilitly that the edges were overheated by power-sharpening at the factory is something frequently cited with a lot of production knives. If that is the case, it could take several sharpenings to see the true performance of the steel, especially with something as wear-resistant as Maxamet. Not saying it isn't possible that there is an issue with the heat treat on some of them, but I would need to know a lot more to think it's probable. There are just a lot of other factors that could be ruled out before reaching that conclusion. Just my $0.02.
As @uxo2 highlights (amusingly), I'm one of very few people having *any* problem, so I'm assuming that I just got a knife with some minor edge overheating issues. I'll talk to Spyderco to see what they think a good next step is. On the whole, I agree, a vast majority are very happy with the performance of this steel, and I'm very much excited to play with Maxamet at its best.
Well, let's see...Maxamet is a high speed tool steel. From what I've read, it can be hardened to Rc70 and still be at Rc65 at 1000°F. It was formulated to keep working when red hot. Somehow, I don't think grinder heat is going to do much to it but I could be wrong. I have seen some chipping on mine (Manix2 LW) while sharpening, but only when I was using my DMT diamond hones dry and probably using too much pressure. Added a little water, backed off the pressure and the problem vanished. Didn't surprise me a lot, running steel that hard over diamonds that are even harder.
I wonder if the grit Nick used -600- was perhaps too coarse for Maxamet to hold up to cardboard and its miscellaneous silicates and junk? Perhaps a more polished edge will hold its integrity better? I'm wondering if perhaps any degree of toothiness would act like a thousand microscopic stress risers on such a hard steel.
I have used and sharpened both the Maxamet Mule and the Maxamet ManixLW. I find it easy to sharpen and I have had zero issues with chipping. They are both running 30 degree bevels formed with the sharpmaker diamond rods with the tiniest of microbevels at about 35 degrees that were done freehand. I have at different times finished the edge on 600 dmt, 1200 dmt, Spyderco medium and Spyderco fine stones. All the edges seemed equally durable to me. I have used it to break down a bunch of cardboard, cut up soda cans to build an alcohol stove and carve lots of seasoned hardwood. It carved up hemlock knots that chipped my Mora and has actually carved quite a bit of seasoned hardwoods. I built a bow drill with my mule using hemlock and red maple and it was fine. I seem to have gotten a good specimen for the way I use a knife. These are at around 67 hrc if I am remembering correctly. We do need to keep our expectations realistic here. This material is sort of bridging the gap between steel and carbide so we should probably expect durability to be somewhere between the two also.
If your personal experiences have been positive I wouldn't pay attention to anecdotal evidence. Who's opinion do you trust more, your own or some guy on the Internet? Sounds like you already know that it is adequate for your uses. You seem to be implying that there is an issue based on anecdotal evidence. A few isolated cases is not an issue. Maybe there is and maybe there isn't, I don't know, but your verbiage sounds like you are implying there is and a few reports on the web isn't enough to make that claim. Two hours to sharpen a knife to 600 grit? I have found it quite easy to sharpen and no more time consuming than other high carbide steels. What took so long?
Mine came with a bit of a burr from the factory, and after trying and trying to remove it with the Sharpmaker, I had to resort to diamond stones. Even then it took a little longer than I expected. This is some hard steel, and I'm loving it.
I've had my manix 2 for about a month now. Really impressed so far with the steel. This knife is my first with the frcp handle and I can say I do like the Japanese frn handles better but not enough to miss out on Maxamet. I like the stonewash finish. I've got some patina starting, haven't forced it but haven't tried to prevent it either. It seems to hold an edge like no other and sharpen up fairly easily for what it is. Hadn't had any issues with chipping until the other night at work. We were working on a project and had wrapped electrical tape over some pipe threads to keep welding spatter off of them. Cut it off after they were done welding them in and put my knife up. (Didn't have to use a knife, but you guys know how it is...) Didn't see any damage until after I sharpened it up a few days later but I had been real busy and never really looked either. No big deal really. I still love it.
