Article: Folding Knife Review

[Green_Manelishi]

The Spyderco knives easily open with one hand wearing 5 mil gloves. Adding a tiny shackle and fitting a gate clip is standard for some commercial dive folks.

Sent from my SPH-P100 using Tapatalk

Five mil gloves? Why bother wearing gloves at all?

 

[Green_Manelishi]

I agree with those who stated Ti is cool and that's about it. Anything hard, including ceramic, is a b**** to sharpen and if it's that hard it can be snapped. Toughness is a better quality than hardness. That said I have a BudNealy fixed blade, ATS-34, with a "BlackTi" coating; in the dark you will never see it.

I've owned a SpyderCo Salt since late 2005. No rust. Does have some scratches because it's a user, not a safe queen. The only time I clean it is after cutting something that leaves a residue. I've sold most of the knives I have owned but the SpyderCo is a keeper.

 

[syntaxerrorsix]

Knife aficionados do not consider titanium to be a good blade material. H1 is far superior. The review did not address durability of the edge after cutting dozens of times. H1 would do even better than Ti once the blade had been used for a while.

Another point: a serrated edge is a superior cutter for fibrous material but otherwise a plain edge is a better cutter. And a plain edge is easy to sharpen while a serrated edge is difficult to impossible for a non-expert to sharpen. Most knife aficionados avoid serrated edges.

Your last statement is patently untrue and should be corrected to state most knife aficionados that have not learned how to sharpen serrations tend to avoid them. The rest of us know how to choose the right tool, for the job.

The Spyderco Sharpmaker is extremely easy to use and will bring back factory sharp edges on most style of serrations.

That coupled with the fact the Spyderco has a $5 lifetime sharpening policy and you really run out of steam..

 

[Green_Manelishi]

A plain edge is easy to sharpen while a serrated edge is difficult to impossible for a non-expert to sharpen. Most knife aficionados avoid serrated edges.

SpyderCo makes a ceramic sharpening kit ideal for serrated edges, plain edge, scissors, etc.

Can you provide evidence for your last statement?

 

[Ricky B]

Your last statement is patently untrue and should be corrected to state most knife aficionados that have not learned how to sharpen serrations tend to avoid them.

First, kudos to you if you have acquired the skill.

You undercut your assertion that it is patently untrue by adding a qualification. If it were patently untrue, no qualification would be needed.

If you spend time on BladeForums (and I suspect you have), you would see that most of the knife aficionados there who do know how to sharpen knives quite well nonetheless avoid serrations because they are a pain to sharpen.

So if you want to say that guys who have learned how to sharpen serrations and who want to spend their time doing so don't mind serrated blades, you are entirely correct.

I have the Spyderco SharpMaker, and it requires a learning curve to use. It requires a greater learning curve on serrations, and I don't think most divers would be interested in acquiring the skill just to sharpen a dive knife. Using the SharpMaker with a plain-edged blade, it is easy to keep the factory edge sharp (provided you don't let it get too dull.) But even there, it requires practice (as evidenced by all the posts on BladeForum from newbies asking why the SM isn't working for them).

I will say that, with the amount of cutting that a diver is likely to do with a knife, it's unlikely that the Spyderco with a serrated edge will need sharpening.

And I think that any Spyderco Salt is superior to any folding dive knife with a Ti blade.

 

[syntaxerrorsix]

First, kudos to you if you have acquired the skill.

If you are using the Sharpmaker as well all you need to do is turn the stones so that the apex of the triangle faces inwards. The mechanical actions of drawing the knife down the stones remains the same.

You undercut your assertion that it is patently untrue by adding a qualification. If it were patently untrue, no qualification would be needed. If you spend time on BladeForums (and I suspect you have), you would see that most of the knife aficionados there who do know how to sharpen knives quite well nonetheless avoid serrations because they are a pain to sharpen.So if you want to say that guys who have learned how to sharpen serrations and who want to spend their time doing so don't mind serrated blades, you are entirely correct.

I can live with that. Lot's of folks cannot be bothered with learning new skills and will opt to find an easier if less efficient means to accomplish their tasks. I spend more money than time on Blade Forums , everyone is entitled to their opinions but I see a lot of people on there that form opinions based off misinformation rather than actual use.

I have the Spyderco SharpMaker, and it requires a learning curve to use. It requires a greater learning curve on serrations, and I don't think most divers would be interested in acquiring the skill just to sharpen a dive knife. Using the SharpMaker with a plain-edged blade, it is easy to keep the factory edge sharp (provided you don't let it get too dull.) But even there, it requires practice (as evidenced by all the posts on BladeForum from newbies asking why the SM isn't working for them).I will say that, with the amount of cutting that a diver is likely to do with a knife, it's unlikely that the Spyderco with a serrated edge will need sharpening. And I think that any Spyderco Salt is superior to any folding dive knife with a Ti blade.

I also agree that many divers are simply not interested in knives. They have one because it's part of the "uniform" and it's also likely that very few will actually need a knife while diving. If anyone is interested in a true comparative review on plain edges vs serrated edges I highly recommend this article that can better explain which grind excel in certain situations and why.

Serrated v Plain

 

[Jim Lapenta]

As a former butcher I have a bit of experience with knife sharpening. We used to compete to see who could make a "laser beam" that would hold an edge. I came to appreciate the japanese method of a single bevel such as used on Samurai blades. Strong, easy to apply once you've done it a few times, and results in a damn fine edge. I am right handed so all of my bevels are on the right side of the blade. I don't like titanium blades as they are a bitch. When dealing with carbon steel the higher the carbon content the easier to sharpen but the more fragile the edge. My preferred everyday carry knives are the Kershaw Ken Onion designs. They use the single bevel on the serrations that make em easy to deal with using a small round diamond hone I have. It takes somes practice to put a good double bevel edge on a knife and I can do it. I just choose not to as there is no real benefit to one over the single. IMO

I also have nice triple stone to use.

 

[falcon125]

Spyderco wins hands down.

I collect knives and can verify that yes knife collectors and aficionados steer clear from serrated edges. The serrated edge rips more than it cuts, even though you can sharpen it you cant ever get it back to factory sharp.

 

[syntaxerrorsix]

Spyderco wins hands down.

I collect knives and can verify that yes knife collectors and aficionados steer clear from serrated edges. The serrated edge rips more than it cuts, even though you can sharpen it you cant ever get it back to factory sharp.

Some collectors and aficionados steer clear. I have no problem getting mine better than factory sharp :wavey:

 

[syntaxerrorsix]

Double post.