Squiggly line on Caly 3 zdp laminate blade

FlaMtnBkr

FlaMtnBkr

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Oct 20, 2004
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I recently got a new Spyderco Caly 3 with the zdp laminate blade and carbon fiber handle. On the blade there is a squiggly line running down both sides that is actually a small depression.

I am assuming this is a line put there merely to satisfy the customer that the blade is a laminate?

Just curious because it doesn't make since for there to be a line on this blade and just wondering about its significance.

Thanks!
 
like you said, it's laminated - a sandwich of softer steels with a harder steel in the middle
 
You will see that with all laminated blades, its the two different peices of steel you are seeing.
 
OK maybe I am being dense.

Why would a laminate of two different steels have an actual depression you can feel with your fingernail?

And also the line is basically a uniform distance from the edge, the entire length of the blade.

The caly 3 has a pretty significant distal taper. If the core was the same thickness the line would pull back towards the tip and be further away.

Also, the blade is polished quite a bit. Not quite a mirror but more so than most other knives. This polish should make any line basically disappear.

The line looks to me like someone just took a grinder with a little bit and free hand added a line down the edge of the blade. Does anyone have any insight to disprove this?
 
That's not the way it works. They are two different metals with two different sets of characteristics. Any laminated knife you see has that line in pretty much the same way you see it on your Caly 3. The core metal made of ZDP-189 is quite thin to keep a very fine edge and also to make it possible for the full flat grind while also being laminated. About 2/3 of the blade from the spine to the edge is coated in a much softer metal of 420J2 to give the blade a bit of flexibility because ZDP-189 is quite brittle. When the one metal is bonded to the other and then ground down to form the blade you see the two different metals do not take on the same tone and and the outside metal is overlapping the inside so that is where the depression you're feeling comes from. The whole thing is buffed to a shine to make both metals look uniform.
 
Think of it as plywood, only made with metal. You can see where the different materials join.
 
It is actually the polishing that makes the line so visible. The 420J2 outer cladding is much softer and less wear resistent than the ZDP-189 core (which runs around Rc 65-66). Polishing wears away the 420J2 more quickly than it does the ZDP, like sandblasting will wear away the cement in concrete to reveal the gravel aggregate. That's why you can feel the join line. While the blade does have a distal taper, if you take a dial caliper or micrometer to it, you will find the thickness along the join line is uniform over the length of the blade. Don't forget the blade is tapered spine to edge as well as tang to tip.
 
Ok using the plywood example, if I grind an angle on a piece of plywood I can see the different layers but I can't feel them. And the reason I can see the different layers is because they are different shades. The metal does not change shades as it goes down the blade, there is just an indentation.

Damascus all looks the same until it is etched. This causes the two different metals, with a significantly different composition to be 'eroded' at different rates giving them different shades and even different depths. I know this is "san mai" technically but is basically a super low layer count damascus.

Edit: I just saw yablanowitz reply. Which brings me to my last point that you just brought up. I got out the micrometers and measured along the line and got as much as a 0.010" difference. Which is quite substantial. I doubt the core varies that much so as pointed out it should all be uniform thickness.

I guess I'm still not convinced it wasn't put there on purpose.
 
Hi Flamtnbkr,

I can tell you that we don't "grind in" a lamination line at the factory. If it's not the lamination line that has possibly "indented" during the final polishing process, then I'd have to see the line to acurately tell you what it was.

sal
 
:foot::foot::foot:

Ok guys, I think its probably due to the final polishing process!

:D:D

And yes, I am pretty hard headed.

Edit: Thanks Sal!
 
FlaMtnBkr said:
And yes, I am pretty hard headed.
Click to expand...

Hard heads are good. (so is obsessive-compulsive, anal retentive, etc. I think you'll find a lot of those around here). ;)

Congrats on your knife. I hope you enjoy it. Much time and evolution went into the design and craftsmanship to make it happen.

sal
 
I'm glad I found this thread. I just got a Caly 3 Zdp and noticed the lamination line instead of being one smooth curve along the length of the blade, instead has a little "squiggle" near the belly of the blade. I'm sure it doesn't affect the performance of the knife, it just looks a little odd. Sal, is this pretty common in the lamination process, or did I get one of the "special" Caly3's?
 
raindog101 said:
I'm glad I found this thread. I just got a Caly 3 Zdp and noticed the lamination line instead of being one smooth curve along the length of the blade, instead has a little "squiggle" near the belly of the blade. I'm sure it doesn't affect the performance of the knife, it just looks a little odd. Sal, is this pretty common in the lamination process, or did I get one of the "special" Caly3's?
Click to expand...

your description sounds exactly the way mine looks. there is a big "squiggle" near the handle, and then it starts to curve out towards the tip of the blade. i'm sure it looks this way in all of the knives. it looks odd, but it doesn't bother me, and i actually like it the more i look at it. as for the razor sharp edge, i cannot complain!
 
I just sharpened miy Caly 3 ZDP back up today (along with it's Krein reground Caly Jr. ZDP family member) and got to experience the bliss of sharpening properly heat treated ZDP-189. The Caly 3 ZDP is just a great knife, and it gets lots of carry and is a classic in my mind. After getting 2 Jess Horns, the Caly Jr, and the Caly 3 in ZDP I am pretty used to the squiggly lamination lines now, and I just concentrate on that thin edge that gets real sharp. The Caly 3 ZDP is the second best ever ZDP-189 knife to the Stretch CF IMO. Luckily I am carrying both now, along with the Caly Jr and a Superhawk, so I am just spoiled in great cutting options. The ergos on the CF knives I am carrying right now are mind blowing, and the edges on them are about as sharp as I can get an edge short of my Krein custom in M4. I just love Spyderco's ZDP-189, whether it be solid or laminated. I haven't had one yet that didn't take and hold a great edge.

Mike
 
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