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Thread: RFI: Fixed Blade Knife for Swimming/Water/Workout

  1. #51
    The R in F.A.R.T RevolverRob's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by spyderco monkey View Post
    The other factor is, does this user know how to sharpen knives? If the answer is No, then SE all the way.
    I concur with you for the most part.

    I do wish more makers would do plain-edge folders with a 20º bevel, simply because that is what most kitchen knives are set at. Lots of people have carbide kitchen knife sharpeners in their house (including me). A few licks through a carbide sharpener will touch an edge up to make it work-level sharp in moments. Many people would do just fine with that level of sharpness, where it isn't unsafe but isn't hair popping and can maintain that level of sharpness rather easily.

    This is also why I don't care much for harder stainless steels like S30V and S35V on carry knives for the average person. I have a bunch of diamond stones and strops to get blades scary sharp. The average person does not. S30V would take just short of a decade to sharpen from dull to sharp with a carbide-type sharpener. Where as it takes a few minutes with a diamond stone.

    I have a couple of folders I've reprofiled to hold a secondary bevel to 20º on and they work great for just about every task I normally need a blade for.

  2. #52

    I’m a fan of these hand made customs.

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  3. #53
    Site Supporter Maple Syrup Actual's Avatar
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    Who makes those?

  4. #54
    Quote Originally Posted by misanthropist View Post
    Who makes those?

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  5. #55
    Member JHC's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by spyderco monkey View Post
    Well the two biggest factors are:

    -Will this knife be used around Water?
    -Does the user know how to sharpen knives? And if so, how do they sharpen?

    If the knife is being used around / under water, then I like serrations. There's something about 'wet' material, especially things like wet rope, that can make Plain Edge(PE) kind of 'slide off' the material as opposed to cutting it. SE, due to the little spikes, tends to grab into even whet materials and help initiate the cutting process, preventing the blade from sliding off wet materials. Obviously PE will cut wet materials, but its a faster and more reliable process with the SE.

    When I got my cousin a knife for his entrance into a diving based military, I made sure it was a SE Pacific Salt for that reason.

    The other factor is, does this user know how to sharpen knives? If the answer is No, then SE all the way. A SE knife will be able to still cut through materials quickly and aggressively for years in between sharpenings. I got my friend a SE Native when he went off for a 1 year trip to India for that reason. When I caught up to him a few years later, he was still carrying the knife. It was 'dull' by my knife OCD standards, but for him, it was still easily cutting through boxes / cord/ food, and he still though it was quite 'sharp.'

    Likewise, I've bumped into other friends and acquanitences carrying PE knives that were just straight up Dull AF- like as dull as a typical $1 kitchen knife. They don't know how to sharpen, but since the knife can still open a amazon box, its still 'sharp'...they would have been much better off with a SE knife.

    The last wildcard is the H1 steel used in the ARK. H1 steel is 'work hardening,' which means that the process of grinding the knife actually hardens the edge. The result is that PE H1 knives have a RC hardness of ~57, while the extra work hardening of grinding the Serrations bumps the SE H1 hardness to RC 63-64. So the SE H1 will hold its edge much longer between sharpenings.


    Now for the flipside, my personal use.

    I don't work around/under water. And I know how to sharpen knives to 'hair popping' levels of sharpness, and I make sure to touch up my knife every few months so they are always sharp.

    For me, its PE all day everyday. On dry land, a properly sharpened PE blade with good blade geometry (full flat ground with thin edge) will outperform SE. The PE knife glides more easily through thick cardboard, and slices through thinner cardboard and plastic without tearing or snagging.

    More importantly, if you know how to sharpen, a PE blade is much, much easier to sharpen and maintain. 2 minutes on a Lansky V sharpener will return a PE blade to hair shaving sharpness. With SE, you need a Spyderco sharpmaker, and even then the SE will never really quite get back to 'factory fresh' sharpness. For that reason I typically will just use a SE blade for ~ a year then send it back to Spyderco to have it resharpened by the factory for $5.

    BTW a few weeks back and bought the serrated version (I do have the Spyderco sharpmaker) of that Spyderco neck knife. It's very cool. It's smaller/lighter than I imagined it to be. Thanks again for all the info.
    “Remember, being healthy is basically just dying as slowly as possible,” Ricky Gervais

  6. #56
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    Quote Originally Posted by JHC View Post
    BTW a few weeks back and bought the serrated version (I do have the Spyderco sharpmaker) of that Spyderco neck knife. It's very cool. It's smaller/lighter than I imagined it to be. Thanks again for all the info.
    Can you give your impressions of the ARK sheath? It seems incredibly bulky for such a sleek little knife.

  7. #57
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    Quote Originally Posted by javemtr View Post
    Can you give your impressions of the ARK sheath? It seems incredibly bulky for such a sleek little knife.
    Well constructed and very flat. It doesn't strike me as bulky, probably because it is so flat. It is very secure with a small paddle to disengage a "lock" securing the blade in the sheath. I'd like to figure out a way to configure it for belt carry some time.
    “Remember, being healthy is basically just dying as slowly as possible,” Ricky Gervais

  8. #58
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    Quote Originally Posted by spyderco monkey View Post
    Well the two biggest factors are:

    -Will this knife be used around Water?
    -Does the user know how to sharpen knives? And if so, how do they sharpen?

    If the knife is being used around / under water, then I like serrations. There's something about 'wet' material, especially things like wet rope, that can make Plain Edge(PE) kind of 'slide off' the material as opposed to cutting it. SE, due to the little spikes, tends to grab into even whet materials and help initiate the cutting process, preventing the blade from sliding off wet materials. Obviously PE will cut wet materials, but its a faster and more reliable process with the SE.

    When I got my cousin a knife for his entrance into a diving based military, I made sure it was a SE Pacific Salt for that reason.

    The other factor is, does this user know how to sharpen knives? If the answer is No, then SE all the way. A SE knife will be able to still cut through materials quickly and aggressively for years in between sharpenings. I got my friend a SE Native when he went off for a 1 year trip to India for that reason. When I caught up to him a few years later, he was still carrying the knife. It was 'dull' by my knife OCD standards, but for him, it was still easily cutting through boxes / cord/ food, and he still though it was quite 'sharp.'

    Likewise, I've bumped into other friends and acquanitences carrying PE knives that were just straight up Dull AF- like as dull as a typical $1 kitchen knife. They don't know how to sharpen, but since the knife can still open a amazon box, its still 'sharp'...they would have been much better off with a SE knife.

    The last wildcard is the H1 steel used in the ARK. H1 steel is 'work hardening,' which means that the process of grinding the knife actually hardens the edge. The result is that PE H1 knives have a RC hardness of ~57, while the extra work hardening of grinding the Serrations bumps the SE H1 hardness to RC 63-64. So the SE H1 will hold its edge much longer between sharpenings.


    Now for the flipside, my personal use.

    I don't work around/under water. And I know how to sharpen knives to 'hair popping' levels of sharpness, and I make sure to touch up my knife every few months so they are always sharp.

    For me, its PE all day everyday. On dry land, a properly sharpened PE blade with good blade geometry (full flat ground with thin edge) will outperform SE. The PE knife glides more easily through thick cardboard, and slices through thinner cardboard and plastic without tearing or snagging.

    More importantly, if you know how to sharpen, a PE blade is much, much easier to sharpen and maintain. 2 minutes on a Lansky V sharpener will return a PE blade to hair shaving sharpness. With SE, you need a Spyderco sharpmaker, and even then the SE will never really quite get back to 'factory fresh' sharpness. For that reason I typically will just use a SE blade for ~ a year then send it back to Spyderco to have it resharpened by the factory for $5.
    An excellent post that covered pretty much everything that I was going to write. A few additional points...

    I used to be a fanatic for partially serrated blades, but these days I rarely use them. Now days I much prefer a plain edged blade, but if I want serrations I want them the entire edge. My father has carried around an old plastic clip Spyderco Rescue for over 20 years as his rough jobs knife to back up a Victorinox, and he might want me sharpen it once a year.

    I have a Spyderco Sharpmaker that is probably 26-27 years old, and shows it, but still works great. I keep it at the office for touching up knives that are still pretty sharp (everybody there brings me their pocketknives to sharpen).

    The best trick that I every learned (don't remember where I got it from) was to use a sharpie on the edge several millimeters back up the blade so that you can easily see where you are actually removing steel.

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