It's the field of focus mostly. It was a challenge to get both the blade and hair centered up and focused as well as I did at that level of magnification. Here's a much better shot of just the blade edge on the same knife.
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Thin blade steel showdown!
- Thread starter TexasWade
- Start date
It's the field of focus mostly. It was a challenge to get both the blade and hair centered up and focused as well as I did at that level of magnification. Here's a much better shot of just the blade edge on the same knife.
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Looking forward to the testing. Will you be posting up pictures of your setups for each test?
Yeah, I'm an over-sharer from way back, you can count on tmi, lol
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That's the best part honestly. Seeing the rigs.
bodog
BANNED
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Yes, the more info the better. Some people may not care for some details but I doubt anyone would bitch given the goal of the project.
chiral.grolim
Universal Kydex Sheath Extension
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My thoughts exactly :thumbup: Thank you, timmy.
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Wowbagger
Gold Member
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I'm getting to this thread a bit late but thin blades that take some care to use in exchange for markedly better performance fascinate me.
One of the things I cut most often in my every day work is plastic wire ties.
Now
I have a perfectly serviceable, quite small pair of diagonal cutting pliers sitting on the bench at all times. They were my Dads and I have resharpened the edges with love and attention and they are first rate.
But
Cutting wire ties with my knives tell me so much about the edges I carry that I look forward to cutting the next batch of ties with the Pocket Knife of The Day.
So
unless I am in a great hurry, or concerned about damaging the new parts/products that I am unpacking I reach for a knife over the diagonal cutters.
My points :
This does not mean I dont like the Dragonfly in ZDP-189; I do like it.
One of the things I cut most often in my every day work is plastic wire ties.
Now
I have a perfectly serviceable, quite small pair of diagonal cutting pliers sitting on the bench at all times. They were my Dads and I have resharpened the edges with love and attention and they are first rate.
But
Cutting wire ties with my knives tell me so much about the edges I carry that I look forward to cutting the next batch of ties with the Pocket Knife of The Day.
So
unless I am in a great hurry, or concerned about damaging the new parts/products that I am unpacking I reach for a knife over the diagonal cutters.
My points :
- I was thrilled to get a thin(ish) blade in ZDP-189 and bought the Spyderco Dragonfly (blade made in Seki city Japan).
- I really like the knife
- I used the edge stock as it came to me (shallower angle grind than most stock grinds and quite sharp, but you know, can always be improved beyond factory work).
- The edge chipped some in use on the ties. I was careful but not obsessively so.
- To prevent chipping in the future with this blade I would need to really pay attention to how I applied force to the knife.
- I think, from my first hand experience, that for cutting ties the CTS-XHP in my some what similar (thinnish blade and super steel) Cold Steel Hold Out III knife is better suited for cutting ties.
This does not mean I dont like the Dragonfly in ZDP-189; I do like it.
Wowbagger
Gold Member
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Well said and I forgot to say thank you for doing all this and posting Vids no less.
THANK YOU !
I too think in metric (was hammered into me in American schools and then it failed to show up in our modern (USA) life.)
~ 2.1mm blade back
Now youre talking !
(and ~ .38 mm at the edge is a given)
I understand the attraction of cutting the cardboard and mdf etc as it is every day material but I am drawn to and suggest for testing purposes a more consistent material such as heavy plastic or maybe even aluminum.
I dont know it just seems it is so easy to have a rogue hunk of grit or even a stone in cardboard or rope that makes an otherwise great steel look bad because of an early collision with said rock.
For thin blades to really shine for me they need to be cutting wide fairly rigid media such as say thick plastic or a firm apple. Those aren't the best examples but maybe you know what I mean. Anything can cut flesh and string. The problems start when the edge gets held out of the cutting at the edge by the rounding of the honed edge or the blade gets "steered" by the material pressing on one side or the other of the spine of the knife
The other thing that came to mind right off was edge shape. The edge shape you have chosen, at least when hand held, for me, kicks out of cardboard. The rounded area rides up onto the surface. A straight blade edge, ha, ha such as a box knife, stays down in the cut. Partly why I put no curve on my abomination that you may have seen here recently my #12 Opinel with the Sawedoff short blade.
One grind stone media that works well for sharpening and preventing heat and warp are the BLUE stones e.g. Norton's SG (ceramic alumina). I dont know what that translates to for surface grinders but for hand grinding it is hard to beat.
One last thought/ bit of feed back : when you get around to testing 1095 I have read and believe that all 1095 is not created equal. May not be homogenous across the specimen. I would strongly encourage going with a high end plain high carbon steel such as Hitachi White Paper steel or some such.
Cheers and Good On Yah !
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Looking forward to the tests 😊
I guess I'm still a week or two away from having my blades back from heat treat but I'm not completely dead in the water. I'm waiting on some parts to arrive before I start making my test rigs but at least I got the sharpener sorted out. I was going to get a Wicked Edge but was having a hard time swallowing that pricetag so I built my own thing out of some wood I had hanging around.
I've got it set up for the dual sided DMT diamond hones but it would be easy to adapt to just about anything. I really like these hones and plan to make a balsa strop the same size. The pic shows the guide set for 20 dps and it will do 15 with the shorter back block installed.
I've got it set up for the dual sided DMT diamond hones but it would be easy to adapt to just about anything. I really like these hones and plan to make a balsa strop the same size. The pic shows the guide set for 20 dps and it will do 15 with the shorter back block installed.
Thanks!
Yep, seems to work exactly per plan. I touched up my D2 mini griptilian and 154CM mini barrage tonight and it worked like a champ. Because of the width of the angle block, it rocks up a bit and the tip gets sharpened a few degrees steeper than the rest of the blade, as intended.
I'm hoping with the diamonds I'll get equal edge quality on all the test blades regardless of hardness or wear resistance. The strop will only be for my EDC knives. Test blades will be honed only since my goal is to make them as consistent as possible.
Love that bloodwood. It not only feels good in the hand, it's some really hard dense stuff. My son took a little off-cut piece and dropped it into a cup of water. Right to the bottom it went! He'd never heard of wood that didn't float before, hahah.
Yep, seems to work exactly per plan. I touched up my D2 mini griptilian and 154CM mini barrage tonight and it worked like a champ. Because of the width of the angle block, it rocks up a bit and the tip gets sharpened a few degrees steeper than the rest of the blade, as intended.
I'm hoping with the diamonds I'll get equal edge quality on all the test blades regardless of hardness or wear resistance. The strop will only be for my EDC knives. Test blades will be honed only since my goal is to make them as consistent as possible.
Love that bloodwood. It not only feels good in the hand, it's some really hard dense stuff. My son took a little off-cut piece and dropped it into a cup of water. Right to the bottom it went! He'd never heard of wood that didn't float before, hahah.
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- Nov 15, 2014
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Great thread :thumbup: And that's one nifty sharpening setup
Still waiting for my blades to come back from heat treat. Should be here any day from what Brad told me last week. I've still got some test rig building to do but I'm nearly done with the paper slicer, which will the the most complicated. Still need to make the blade mount (after I get the blades back) and a shut-off switch that will be easy.
Started off with some plastic from a surplus store and a $10 printer found on Craigslist. No detailed build pics but you get the general idea of junk collecting and adaptation
Ten bucks and it still sorta worked!
Found these goodies inside:
Put the plastic across the table saw a couple times and cut some parts up with a radiac wheel.
Little bit of milling here and there, make one simple bracket and she's ready to try...
It's a little slower than I hoped but it seems to feed reliably so I probably won't try bumping it up over 6V. Don't want it to burn up in the middle of the project, I might never find another one of the same printer!
[video=youtube;guwSRV8A3-Q]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guwSRV8A3-Q&feature=youtu.be[/video]
Started off with some plastic from a surplus store and a $10 printer found on Craigslist. No detailed build pics but you get the general idea of junk collecting and adaptation
Ten bucks and it still sorta worked!
Found these goodies inside:
Put the plastic across the table saw a couple times and cut some parts up with a radiac wheel.
Little bit of milling here and there, make one simple bracket and she's ready to try...
It's a little slower than I hoped but it seems to feed reliably so I probably won't try bumping it up over 6V. Don't want it to burn up in the middle of the project, I might never find another one of the same printer!
[video=youtube;guwSRV8A3-Q]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guwSRV8A3-Q&feature=youtu.be[/video]
Last edited:
Sonnydaze
Gold Member
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You have an interesting project, and have mentioned that you're looking for the perfect pocket knife. I enjoy thin blades for my casual use, but would caution that too thin of a blade, encompassed in "rather standard thickness scales", may result in a folder thickness that is too thin to fit the hand comfortably.
I find that I prefer folders, in my hand, that have a minimum thickness of roughly 0.350". This includes favorites such as the Spyderco Caly series and Sage series. Anything thinner in a folder becomes very difficult for me to control. My actual preference for a folder is about 0.450"-0.460" in the PM2's, CRK Sebbies and so forth.
Certainly, individual preferences are rampant and I will enjoy reading the results of your experiments.
I find that I prefer folders, in my hand, that have a minimum thickness of roughly 0.350". This includes favorites such as the Spyderco Caly series and Sage series. Anything thinner in a folder becomes very difficult for me to control. My actual preference for a folder is about 0.450"-0.460" in the PM2's, CRK Sebbies and so forth.
Certainly, individual preferences are rampant and I will enjoy reading the results of your experiments.