Why is the Paramilitary 2 so easy to get beyond sharp??? Its almost mystical.

M

mystro

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Aug 26, 2010
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I own a lot of knives and have been sharpening knives for over 30 years. There is always a knife you can sharpen beyond all others. I can get a lot of knives hair popping sharp but for some reason the Spyderco Paramilitary 2 just goes beyond that and achieves this mystical sharpness easy. Why is that??? Its a S30V steel. It isnt exactly a soft junk steel that can be formed easily. I put a 20 degree edge and strop the blade to a polished edge and it easily is the sharpest knife i have ever owned. What magic is Spyderco doing to their knives?? Anyone else notice similar results??


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Agree, they come incredibly sharp and are easy to keep that way. I suppose it's a combination of the steel, the heat treat, the blade grind. Beyond that, hard to say. But I'm keeping mine, same handle as yours except a satin blade.
 
I feel the same way. I am a beginner knife sharpener and can get this knife very sharp. On some knives, no matter what I do, I cannot get them sharp (mystical dullness?).

Para2 + Sharpmaker + Strop = One Darn Sharp Knife
 
i don't personally consider S30V a steel that "likes" a really fine edge. there are many other steels that take finer edges, and take those edges easier than S30V.
 
Explain what you mean by mystical sharpness? I find that most people's mystical sharpness is fairly dull to others. just cuz you can push cut paper or even newsprint doesn't mean its mystically sharp. neither does shaving arm hair.






mystro said:
I own a lot of knives and have been sharpening knives for over 30 years. There is always a knife you can sharpen beyond all others. I can get a lot of knives hair popping sharp but for some reason the Spyderco Paramilitary 2 just goes beyond that and achieves this mystical sharpness easy. Why is that??? Its a S30V steel. It isnt exactly a soft junk steel that can be formed easily. I put a 20 degree edge and strop the blade to a polished edge and it easily is the sharpest knife i have ever owned. What magic is Spyderco doing to their knives?? Anyone else notice similar results??


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"mystical sharp"='s whittling wet toilet paper and maintaining that degree of sharpness.

eccvets said:
Explain what you mean by mystical sharpness? I find that most people's mystical sharpness is fairly dull to others. just cuz you can push cut paper or even newsprint doesn't mean its mystically sharp. neither does shaving arm hair.
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Even the blade shape helps compared to the Military. Though I like the Millie better the para 2 is easier to sharpen. great knife.
 
My H1 is the sharpest knife I have ever owned. They are doing something in that shop
 
no expert here, but i have a Buck Alpha hunter w/420HC; in an evening of pier fishing, a buddy used it to cut bait directly on concrete - i thought the edge was trashed - but after 15 minutes on a combo stone, followed by a ceramic rod, the edge was as good, if not better than better - to me, that's magic in the $45 knife!
 
mystro said:
I own a lot of knives and have been sharpening knives for over 30 years. There is always a knife you can sharpen beyond all others. I can get a lot of knives hair popping sharp but for some reason the Spyderco Paramilitary 2 just goes beyond that and achieves this mystical sharpness easy. Why is that??? Its a S30V steel. It isnt exactly a soft junk steel that can be formed easily. I put a 20 degree edge and strop the blade to a polished edge and it easily is the sharpest knife i have ever owned. What magic is Spyderco doing to their knives?? Anyone else notice similar results??
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two questions:
1. what other steels/knives are you basing S30V against?
2. what are you using to sharpen your knives? what is your sharpening routine?

p.s. a lot of the "magic" that contributes to a blades "sharpness" is in the blades design and geometry.
 
Just got my first paramilitary and after some light use I used fine rods and cardboard stropped it. Afterward it passed the TP test, then again, I'm using the m390 version so it will yield different results.
 
I have 6 folders with S30V blade steel. I think that the PM2 is very easy to sharpen because of the thin blade geometry.
 
eccvets said:
Explain what you mean by mystical sharpness? I find that most people's mystical sharpness is fairly dull to others. just cuz you can push cut paper or even newsprint doesn't mean its mystically sharp. neither does shaving arm hair.
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Mystical--sort of like when YOU know what MOST people think is sharp...
That's a lot of people to know...!!!
 
I think it's spydercos in general because they lay that edge bevel way back so when you sharpen it you are removing minimal metal. Makes it much easier to sharpen and get it super sharp.
 
whoa, does whittling = push cutting wet toiletpaper? If so, I gotta see a video of this cuz I have yet to see anyone do this. I mean I can get pretty much all of my knifes to push cut dry TP, even the cheap stuff which isnt as stiff as the charmin red stuff which seems to be the standard but wet TP... idk man

I have seen this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vlgfxeAv6k but that's a paper towel which is way way way thicker and stiffer then any TP and he is slicing it which doesn't really count.










mystro said:
"mystical sharp"='s whittling wet toilet paper and maintaining that degree of sharpness.
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I'd like to see a video of push cutting dry TP!
I have an Edge Pro and have no problem getting my blades to push
cut newspaper; but TP is a whole 'nother matter.
How would one sharpen a knife to push cut TP?
Lenny
 
Lenny said:
I'd like to see a video of push cutting dry TP!
I have an Edge Pro and have no problem getting my blades to push
cut newspaper; but TP is a whole 'nother matter.
How would one sharpen a knife to push cut TP?
Lenny
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It depends alot on the tp. The tp at my work is more like newsprint than nice soft tp.
 
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