zdp 189

J

joeslat

Joined
Nov 7, 2008
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8
what are your thoughts on this steel? is it worth the money? I hear edge retention is great, but does anyone find it too brittle? whats your favorite knife with it? any thoughts would be appreciated.
 
I haven't chipped any of my ZDP knives yet. I like the Spyderco Stretch CF a lot.
 
joeslat said:
what are your thoughts on this steel?
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Excellent steel. Very high wear resistance, works great with super thin edges, easy to get to extreme levels of sharpness when utilizing very thin edges with microbevels.

is it worth the money? I hear edge retention is great, but does anyone find it too brittle?
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I find it worth the money. If you don't reprofile your factory edges or care much about edge retention it wouldn't matter as much. I don't find it brittle. I've chopped and whittled hard wood with a reprofiled ZDP189 Endura and had no issues. It's cut aluminum cans, drywall, thick plastic and cardboard and done some food prep, with no rust, chipping, edge rolling or other issues.

whats your favorite knife with it?
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Calypso 3 and Endura 4. Though Yuna's knives look tempting if I had a spare half G laying around. :)
 
The ZDP-189 knife that gets the most time in my pocket is an Endura that Tom Krein reground to full flat and 0.010" thick behind the edge. It cuts like a razor, and I touch it up about once a month. My knives do not get treated gently and I've had no chipping or rolling of the edge. I am, however, quite used to using thin blades, something to keep in mind if you are thinking about getting one thinned out.

The Stretch II sees a lot of use as well, although with the stock grind it is not as ferocious a cutter as the Krein Endura.

For me, ZDP-189 is worth the extra money, but I like S90V even better.
 
At first I was a little dissapointed with ZDP-189 because I expected it to hold a razor edge for a long time. More recently I've discovered that there really isn't any steel out there (yet) that will do that, but what it does do is hold a decently sharp edge for a very, very long time.
I've been EDCing the ZDP Caly 3 for a while now, and it went the whole summer without resharpening. most notably it cut and trimmed the leather for two sheaths. After the first one (mid june) I thought it was still passably sharp, good enough that some stropping was enough. Then later that summer I put together another sheath (for the Rock Salt) and that time I did a lot of scraping to smooth out the sides of the sheath (imagine spending half an hour scraping the edge of your knife sideways on a one inch stack of leather). I was sure that it would be dull as a stick by the time I had finished.
Well a few days later I was trying to open a plastic bag and found the Rock Salt just wasn't cutting, so I whipped out the Caly 3 and what do you know? It cut really well! It wasn't even close to shaving sharp, but it sure worked well on plastic, and still did ok on paper too.

Since then I've come to appreciate high alloy steel much more. Not necessarily because of initial sharpness, but more for long term endurance.
 
joeslat said:
what are your thoughts on this steel? is it worth the money? I hear edge retention is great, but does anyone find it too brittle? whats your favorite knife with it? any thoughts would be appreciated.
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Bets stainless for small knives (less then 5"). Edge holding superior to any other stainless:

http://playground.sun.com/~vasya/Manila-Rope-Results.html

Not britlle at all - it is more britlle then simple carbon steel, but not britlle at all in terms of use - and I use my Yuna everywhere - exotic hardwood (wenge etc), drywall, aluminum.

In terms of coast - it is underpriced if you are talking about Endura or Delica IMHO.

Thanks, Vassili.
 
I bought a zdp william henry in 2005 and have used it a lot, both at work (at a blue-collar job) and at home with no chipping. I used to be an inveterate clipper of newspaper articles and paper is actually pretty hard on the edge. ZDP is the only thing I've found that will keep cutting newspaper without having to be constantly touched up.
 
Joshua J. said:
At first I was a little dissapointed with ZDP-189 because I expected it to hold a razor edge for a long time. More recently I've discovered that there really isn't any steel out there (yet) that will do that, but what it does do is hold a decently sharp edge for a very, very long time.
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I think Joshua raises a very important point on expectations. No knife will keep that hair-whittling, tree-top trimming edge for long when you use it. That's for personal satisfaction and showing off.... :D

But ZDP, as noted, will keep a sharp edge for a long time. It will be somewhat like an armhair shaving edge (without having to really bear down and scrape). But it will hold it. Some other steels that also perform this way are 3G, D2, M2 HSS, CPM 10V, and CPM M4. I'm not sure exactly where in this pack it falls, but it is ahead of the middle.

Don't forget geometry plays a huge role in this. I agree with the others, ZDP really shines when it's thin!
 
I am loving my Kershaw Shallot with the ZDP 189 composite edge. I have only had it for a tad over a week though... It is still razor sharp! Money well spent in my book ;)
 
sodak said:
I think Joshua raises a very important point on expectations. No knife will keep that hair-whittling, tree-top trimming edge for long when you use it. That's for personal satisfaction and showing off.... :D
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It is true and hair whittling sharpness goes away really fast. However for me it is not show off, but indication that edge is not rolled during polishing - commom mistake by many, who usually complain then that polished edge is worse then so called toothy "working" edge. Before I shave my arm on both side of the blade to indicate that there is not burr and sharpening is finished, now to see if I am done - I whittle hair. Whithout this only statistical thread sharpness test can verify that you did sharpen knife properly, but this require way more effort.

Thanks, Vassili.
 
Have you tried using a flashlight on the edge? Some people swear by it for checking burrs, I think it's easier, like you say, shaving both ways. That tells me what I need to know pretty quick.
 
sodak said:
Have you tried using a flashlight on the edge? Some people swear by it for checking burrs, I think it's easier, like you say, shaving both ways. That tells me what I need to know pretty quick.
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I use flood light 120W during sharpening to check burr - I need to see it any way - this indicated readyness of one side and on EF this burr really tiny on top steels, and it also warm Green rouge, which is very important for polishing as well.

I has no problem for making any steel to whittle hair so I do not really need any substitution for whittling hair.

Thanks, Vassili.
 
nozh2002 said:
Well, I provide some info on why I think that it is not brittle.

Can you provide some info as well? What knife? What is your experience?

Thanks, Vassili.
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Same story again, no any information to support this claim.

Thanks, Vassili.
 
I just made it up to see you get your shorts in a knot over it. ;) After 11 years of experience in the knife industry, I feel I have a right to express an opinion without having to prove anything to you. So my advice would be to simply ignore what I said. Fair enough?
 
Knife Outlet said:
I just made it up to see you get your shorts in a knot over it. ;) After 11 years of experience in the knife industry, I feel I have a right to express an opinion without having to prove anything to you. So my advice would be to simply ignore what I said. Fair enough?
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Of course you're free to do that, but why post an opinion in a thread about a knife steel and not follow it up with stories detailing why you have that opinion? It's very unproductive to not to so, and makes your posts rather meaningless when they could offer another perspective to people wanting to read about ZDP189.
 
Knife Outlet said:
I just made it up to see you get your shorts in a knot over it. ;) After 11 years of experience in the knife industry, I feel I have a right to express an opinion without having to prove anything to you. So my advice would be to simply ignore what I said. Fair enough?
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Same story again, no any information to support this claim.

Thanks, Vassili.
 
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