Spyderco Tenacious Question

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bengler

Joined
Sep 10, 2013
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So today my wife handed me her Spyderco Tenacious I bought her for me to cut a zip tie off some random toy my daughter had. We have been moving and she had been using it. I noticed all kinds of microchips on the plain section of the blade. I do not use 8Cr13MoV knives and have no personal experience with the steel. Any of you have these issues? Before you ask, I don't know what the hell she could have possibly been doing with the knife to cause this. She's your typical non knife enthusiast, meaning if she needs to pry something open or turn a screw, I'll just use this here knife. The chipping could have been from doing something dumb. I am just curious if anyone has had any microchipping with 8Cr13MoV. BTW, it still has the factory edge, meaning I haven't reground it thinner.
 
One common issue with factory edges is the belt grinders used to do the sharpening heating up the blades too much which ruins the temper of the very outer most layer of steel. A good sharpening will wear away the bad steel, vlreavealing the properly tempered steel underneath.

That said, zip ties are known for being particularly rough, especially for stronger ones that give the blade more of a snap after you cut through them, and 8cr is not known for being a super tough steel.
 
The factory edge on my tenacious got a pretty big chip out of it resulting from normal cutting tasks (nothing memorable) I still carry it a lot cause i like the size and design. After many sharpenings and touch ups that damage is nearly gone. For the price I didn't shed to many tears and like I said I still give it lots of pocket time. I have had no more chipping issues with the edge since.
 
8Cr13MoV is the not greatest at edge retention. Maybe it was dropped? If you have some stones don't worry that's an easy blade to fix.
 
8Cr13MoV almost works best if it's a little on the soft side. When the RC goes too high, the blade will lack the durability to resist micro-chips. It's not a great edge-retention steel, but if kept a little soft, it'll get the edge back quick. I'm actually a little surprised by how tough some zip ties are these days...
 
Touched her up on the old WE sharpener and it's good as new. Thanks for the feedback guys. First time in a long time that I have had to break out the coarse stones.
 
Can't speak for your wife but, since I'm not a knife enthusiast and do dumb things, I use appropriate blade steels, none of which are 8Cr13MoV.
 
jpm2 said:
Can't speak for your wife but, since I'm not a knife enthusiast and do dumb things, I use appropriate blade steels, none of which are 8Cr13MoV.
Click to expand...

Agreed jpm2. I bought that for her so she wouldn't rip my ass financially when she messed it up. Me personally, I only use blades with steel from reputable makers, such as Carpenter, Crucible, Bohler, Hitatchi, etc...
 
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