ZDP189 Calypso - initial factory sharpening question

Cliff Stamp said:
The one I got yesterday is also very sharp ... <snip> Numerically on thread and cotton it is within 10% of two blades I had sharpened by hand by Ben Dale, simply absurd sharpness on a production blade. However I have seen similar sharpness from Spyderco before, two VG-10 Temperances were extreme as well.
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I got mine today, and I fully agree, the sharpness is quite incredible for a production blade. Sharpest out of the box I've handled so far. I compared it with my other knives, and the only ones that are close in sharpness are two of my carbon steel folders and my Fallkniven U2, knives I sharpened by hand myself. None of my S30V blades are as sharp as this knife.

The interesting question is of course if this steel takes a keener edge than some other stainless steels, for instance S30V or CPM440V. This doesn't seem so far-fetched, because for instance a lot of people say VG-10 takes a keener edge than S30V.

Hans
 
My ZDP-189 Calypso jr. came yesterday. It's sharpness was equal to the Delica I bought about a year ago, which is very sharp. Both shaved arm hair straight out of the box. I just ran the Calypso jr. across my handamerican leather block, and without question, the Calypso jr. takes a keener edge than the VG-10 Delica. The Calypso now cuts (in my best Dr Evil voice) "like a fricken laser"!! I'll give it a workout this weekend to see how it holds it's edge.
 
Habeas Corpus said:
This doesn't seem so far-fetched, because for instance a lot of people say VG-10 takes a keener edge than S30V.
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A lot of this is influenced by geometry. I have compared S30V in a small Sebenza to a bunch of other knife steels, and it consistently does very well in terms of sharpness, as does a Manix and Paramilitary.

A lot of people are reporting initial edge problems with S30V though which is scuttling the performance and leaving them with a really poor opinion of S30V as a blade steel in general.

What I like about Spyderco's factory sharpening is the balance. The Calypso Jr. could push cut a piece of 3/8" hemp with ~12 lbs, but on a draw still had enough aggression to slice it with about ~7 lbs.

The blade while highly polished and push cutting well, easily push right through a piece of newsprint, still has decent aggression on a slice, whoever sharpens the blades get my vote for deserving a raise.

-Cliff
 
Just got mine, today.
By far, this is the sharpest that I's ever taken out of the box.
I agree with Cliff - give 'em a raise!
Oh yeah, and then there's the bug. Nice touch!
 
Mine will easily cut hair above the skin. I hate to use it and dull that great edge. I have been honing and stropping all of my VG10 and S30V blades trying to get them as sharp no luck yet.
 
redhawk44p said:
Mine will easily cut hair above the skin. I hate to use it and dull that great edge. I have been honing and stropping all of my VG10 and S30V blades trying to get them as sharp no luck yet.
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I think you will actually find the ZDP189 blade easier to sharpen. I returned mine to near-factory sharpness with not much special effort. It's a little rougher, but I haven't tried it with clean stones yet which should improve it even more.

My other blades will cut hair above the skin too, but a lower % of the hair actually gets cut. The ZDP blade will cut most of the hair in a few passes, while other blades only actually catch a few hairs per pass.
 
I seems solid to me as well after a quick inspection anyway. I cut through the bottom of a 2L bottle, ~55 lbs, edge was fine, cut up a pop can, 8 vertical slices, then cut the top off, edge still shaved, carved some hickory, cut some cardboard, some rope, a little work on CrO and it shaved very well. I really like this knife and the steel seems well suited to it so far.

-Cliff
 
From my original post, I have "reprofiled" the edge bevel to around 20 deg. I don't think I really changed the profile all that much. I used a Gatco clamp & Lanskey diamond stones, med. then fine, followed by a hard ceramic. I normally finish by raising the angle to the 15deg. slot for a few light passes but chose to skip the last step because of the high hardness of ZDP-189. I strope with an old belt tied to a door-knob with Blue Magic metal polish. I also wet the belt, although I don't feel that makes much of a difference.
NIB edge would shave hair and pull-cut a hanging paper towel and do nothing with toliet paper. Now it will push-cut the towel and can somewhat pull-cut toliet paper. This is the sharpest knife I ever owned, by far. As always, "work in progress" Walter ;)
 
Does the fact that the blade is stamped "Japan" on the back maybe indicate that it was sharpened in a differnt factory than the other Spydie?

Pardon my ignorance as this is the first (of probably many) Spydercos that I've purchased. I've never experienced anything as sharp as this with my Benchmades and Kershaws (and I think the consensus is that Kershaws are plenty NIB sharp.
 
All of the FRN (plastic) handled spydercos are made in Japan. I have no idea if they sharpen them there or in Golden, Co though.
 
yoda4561 said:
All of the FRN (plastic) handled spydercos are made in Japan. I have no idea if they sharpen them there or in Golden, Co though.
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Except for the first Natives (currently with s30v blades). Those are made in Golden.
 
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