Spyderco Native – Maxamet
- This topic has 31 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 08/20/2018 at 2:32 pm by
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I’ve got a few Takeda knives in Super Blue and I love them. They’re wonderfully thin and agile, beautiful to look at and cut with. They’re also easy to sharpen and keep a very fine edge for a long time.
Clay the ” Super Blue” or also called “Aogami Super” is a little different than the hard stainless steels; HRc 62 and up. The Super Blue has a higher carbon content and the carbides molecules from what I understand are much smaller. I too have a couple Chef’s Knives made of this steel. I find them to be less reactive than High Carbon Steel that has nothing in it to prevent rusting or staining. The Super Blue Knives keep fairly well simply with washing and drying them well.
I have found the Super Blue to be the easiest and smoothest feeling hard steel I ever have sharpened. The feed back through the stones and the sound while sharpening it is smooth like silk. It probably sharpens smoother, faster, quieter and to a finer edge than any other steel I have experience with. A sharp Super Blue Steel Knife is the definition of “scary sharp”. Especially for a steel that’s rated HRc 64. I only wish it wasn’t reactive. I guess we can’t have everything.
Marc
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Here’s an update on my Spyderco Native with Maxamet blade: I’m over 3 weeks into using it and it hasn’t been sharpened. It’s been on two overnight backpacking trips and has been my exclusive EDC this whole time. This past weekend I cleaned out my garage and used the knife quite a bit breaking down big boxes (I got some really great rolling tool chests that took a lifetime to assemble and which came excessively packaged in cardboard and foam), I cut a fair amount of sisal rope, taping and trimming the ends of different pieces. The knife performed exceptionally well. It’s barely shaving now and will only take a couple of forearm hairs if I try hard. I’ll go another week with it as an EDC and test it again before I go to resharpen it. Here’s a funny story about sisal rope:
A few years ago, a friend asked if their daughter could come by and do a Cutco presentation. Since she was a college kid doing her summer job, we agreed. She went on about how sharp the knives were because of their unique serration pattern and she asked me to get one of my knives. She then took a thick piece of sisal rope and push cut through it with her demo knife. It breezed right through. Then she challenged me to do the same. Easy peasy. My pocket knife went through it with almost no effort and the poor girl was utterly shocked and at a loss for words because that’s not supposed to happen 🙂 This weekend, after all the heavy use my knife has endured, it still push cut through sisal rope with minimal effort. I guess the Cutco people are accustomed to everyone having VERY dull knives.
-Clay
I’ll go another week with it as an EDC and test it again before I go to resharpen it.
So I gotta ask, did you sharpen it yet? If so what was your stone progression and angle? What was it like to sharpen? I’m considering picking up a blade in this material. Between this and s110v.
I have been carrying it almost every day since I got it and I’m still really liking it. I eventually sharpened it at 16 degrees and polished it to 4 microns. I went through all the diamond stones up to 1500, then used 6 micron lapping film and 4 micron strops. After that, I made a tiny micro-bevel at 20 degrees with my 1500 grit stones. I have since touched it up a couple of times with different stones for a different finish on the micro-bevel. It’s currently finished at 800 grit and I’m really liking that.
It’s a breeze to sharpen, pretty much like any other steel.
-Clay
I think Clay would agree, I have found it very subjective, the reviews on the sharpen-ability of the newer super stainless steels. The same super steel made into two different knives by two different knife makers can be handled, hardened and tempered differently. The result will be two distinctly different sharpening steels.
I have some hard steels of the same # Hrc scale that are a breeze to sharpen and easier to sharpen than a less hard # Hrc steel. I also have the same hardness Hrc described steel, (eg, ZDP-189) made by two different knife makers that sharpens totally different.
The final kicker is I’ve read reviews where the same knife made with the same super hard steel by the same company has been described as too hard to sharpen and a dream to sharpen by different reviewers. It’s hard to figure out the differences. Is it in the steel batches. Is it in the eye of the beholder or is it based on sharpening ability and experience?
That said, I have had very different experiences with the same steel then others before me. Some times good and other times bad.
I’ve learned that with time, patience, and experience through trial and error, I can learn how to sharpen the difficult steels to get the results I’m OK with. Maybe not something I’m loving, but better then a knife I hate to use.
Marc
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Very interesting discussion indeed. I would like to know, what kind of microscope could take the picture like in the first post?
I admire people really sharpening and using the Maxamet, dare I say a steel made from the blood of the old gods. Likewise, the CPM REX 121 seems to be the next big thing.
Imo anything pass VG10 would require precise sharpening skill and decent abrasives. Unless there are a video showing everything there are just so much possibilities.
My preference for steel is now,
Kitchen: AEB-L, VG-10, X50 and other forgiving steels which really take on a fine edge. I see those fancy ZDP chef but those are too extreme for me, I may consider CTS-XHP if I really have to.
Pocket: XHP, s35vn, VG10 or steel with good amount of edge retention while being easy to repair and have finer grains.
Outdoor: AEB-L. CPM3V, M4, or similar low Chromium alloy steel if I really have to.
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“L” if you don’t mind the little bit of added maintenance with a more reactive higher carbon steel, a kitchen knife made with Aogami Super is very durable, (Hrc 64) and sharpens extremely easy to a very fine, sharp cutting edge. All-around, I have to agree, I find it hard to beat VG10. My experience is mainly in the kitchen.
Marc
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Just did the Para2 up through 1500 diamond then the 6 micron lapping and 4/2 strops. Not quite as refined as I’d like but getting better. So bout ready to try a harder steel.
Alan put in more time and effort, and attention to detail, with each and every grit along the way. It’s helpful to verify your guide rod angle settings with a digital angle cube for each and every grit change. That little bit of micro-fine angle tuning will help your consistency.
Marc
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The angle markings/divisions on all of the WEPS models are really only a guide to indicate your direction of angle changes and to help you keep track of where your starting from and where your moving the angle to when making adjustments. These angle increments are all but arbitrary for all but a very few knives. Don’t be concerned that the indicated angle increments are different from your digital cube. The angle markings and micro-adjustment positions may even differ from left to right side depending on the knife’s characteristic and clamping position. Use your properly zeroed Angle Cube to set and double check your sharpening/stropping angles.
My preferred strop angle for cow leather strops is 1-1/2° lower than my sharpening angles. For my technique and finger pressure with this angle difference I get a good balance of shoulder to tip without rounding the knife edge. Employing very light pressure and good technique you can strop successfully at the same angle as you sharpened the knife. A stiffer stropping medium that doesn’t compress is more suitable for stropping at the same sharpening angle.
I have had this same issue as you’re seeing with the stone/strop contacting the vice or jaws. Through experience I have learned when sharpening any knife I have never sharpened before with the WE, to clamp it and set the sharpening angle to visually check for stone/vice clearances and then reduce it to my stropping angle to visually verify I can achieve that setting, also. I do this dry run fitting exercise to determine if I should to be using the WE Low Angle Adapter, (LAA) or Tormek’s Small Knife Holder to elevate my knife to allow for the low angle settings. It is often possible to simply clamp the knife securely, higher up in the jaws, above the top holes, not resting on the guide pin, to get by without needing any height adapter. Stone/Strop contact happens usually when working with angles towards the lower limits of the WEPS model’s angle range.
Some of us WE users have found the slight variations in stone thickness can change the bevel angle by enough to cause a noticeable difference in our sharpened/polished bevel’s appearance. Checking the stone angles with each and every grit change eliminates one more factor to interfere with our desired results. After putting this to practice it became almost second nature and a very quick process.
Marc
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