ZT0350 knicks in edge

M

motocross308

Joined
Mar 12, 2013
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4
I just bought a 0350 about a week ago as a edc knife to replace my cold steel voyager ( that replaced my old handy kersaw 1920 stwm) and used it today for the 1st time. I use my knives to cut various things at work and today i had to cut some plastic bailing ties off of skids. Well i talked this knife up to a work friend so at break he wated to see it. So i haded it off to him and he started to chuckle and said oops you got a lil knick in it allready. Im totally OCD over things like that so i took it and looked at it .. sure enough , a tiny knick in the cutting edge . Over the day it got several more little knicks. They arnt enough to really hurt it but over a few days of use i think i will be very unhappy . My voyager and old kershaw ate that stuff no problems . Did i expect too much from this knife? Is that type of cutting inappropriate for this blade ?
 
Got any pics of the chips? And maybe the ties you were cutting. Iv cut some pretty big zip ties before with s35v with no problem but iv seen the same zip ties tear up a few other guys knives.
 
ill get some later . they arnt terrible but enough to make me wonder if its got a defective blade in it considering i have used cheaper knives of like design to do the same for years .
 
You might try sharpening them out, cutting with it again, and see if the edge still gets knicked. I've had this happen to me a couple of times with factory edges (actually never with my ZT's, but I've had a Benchmade, Mora, and Becker that had kind of a funky factory edge). If it still gets chipped after that, you could try contacting Kershaw Warranty and see what they say. The S30V on the 0350 should be plenty tough.
 
I cut a tin can with my 0350 & rolled the edge a little bit but no nicks in the blade at all. I would call Kershaw & see what they have to say.
 
I think you need to reprofile your edge with a touch more obtuse angle. A little more meat behind the edge will help. Sometimes for whatever reason the edge can be brittle from the factory and that first sharpening helps get past that. I have one that did the same thing, reprofiled lightly and its good to go now. It seems s30v can tend to chip more than roll, from what I have seen but mine has been good since reprofiling.
 
bad_juju said:
I think you need to reprofile your edge with a touch more obtuse angle.
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Thats what I was going to say, and then keep using it and see what happens. Odds are that the edge will be fine after either resharpening or reprofiling it a little.
 
Wasn't there a guy who posted on here about how his ELMAX 0560 was chipping from cutting cable ties, and it turned out he wasn't driving the edge into them, he was just prying them to the point of breakage? Similar experience?
 
Turbo Tension said:
Wasn't there a guy who posted on here about how his ELMAX 0560 was chipping from cutting cable ties, and it turned out he wasn't driving the edge into them, he was just prying them to the point of breakage? Similar experience?
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That was going to be my guess. But then again, I've had vg-10, s30v, 154cm and the link chip really badly cutting cardboard. One VG-10 blade in particular was unsaleable after cutting about 12" of card board.

Sharpen the knife and if it won't stay chip free cutting things that a knife can cut, then you're probably doing it wrong :D Or the knife is defective. And I'll do you a favor and take if off your hands for $10.
 
IMHO you may have had a wire edge on the blade and its brittle. From what Ive heard steels like s30v will do better to have a polished edge for best performance. the reason you many not have had edge chipping issues in the past is your other knives may have had softer more pliable steel that would roll rather than chip. What I would do is put a mirror edge on that thing and if the issue persists then bring your issue up with Kai and possibly try to arrange a replacement if it wasnt a blem.
 
well , i put a new edge on it and used it for a day ... 2 more little ding from just cutting the flaps off cardboard boxes. im pretty disappointed in this thing. in the drawer it goes as i cant bring myself to damage it anymore .
 
I think I read somewhere that the virgin edge of a knife is more brittle. And that once you sharpen a couple of times it will become stronger.
 
If you have not done so yet, I would get in touch with Kershaw and see what they have to say. If it is getting damage that easily something must have gone wrong with the blade. At least I would think so.
 
I would give Kershaw a chance to check it out, sounds like a defective blade, if it is they will probably replace it. You spent good money on it, don't let it just sit in a drawer!
 
Sounds like something may be wrong if it's still chipping that easily. You might contact the dealer you bought it from and see if they'll do anything for you. Otherwise, I'd suggest getting in touch with Kershaw/ZT warranty and have them take a look.
 
I suppose you could toss the $100 knife (or however much you paid for it) in a drawer and never use it again, or invest in about $4 of postage to send it to Kershaw and have them fix it so you can use it.
 
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