Spyderco ParaMilitary 2 S110V

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After waiting 2 months, i finally received my Paramilitary 2 with S110V blade. To be honest its not that sharp and my Delica was a lot sharper thaan this one from factory. Still new to sharpening so i guess i will have to wait to try my luck on this one, unless someone wants to give it a shot.

 

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One more

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I’ve had this same knife for about two months now, and just love it. It came sharpened at the usual 15 degrees per side from Spyderco. And it was delivered very sharp to me, like all my Spyderco’s. I have sliced a TON of cardboard with it, and it is still sharp. This S110V must be really hard. For sure, this knife is a slicer. Of all my knives, this one slices way better than any other. It goes thru cardboard like butter. It is a great knife!

I also have the Bento Box sprint run in M390 steel and blue handle, but that is a safe queen so far.

If you want it to be a little sharper, I’d just touch it up a bit at the factory 15 degrees, and see what you have.

Thanks for the photos, nice to see. Love the translucent “blurple” color…

 

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Alan, mine will not shave hair much. I could have received one quicker but the price that i got this one was too good to pass up from midwayusa. Pretty much $50 cheaper than everyone else.

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Congrats, guys! I envy you . I’m really curious how S110V sharpens.

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Congrats… nice knife. Don’t be intimidated by the steel, the picture you posted a while back of another knife you did looked good to me. As Alan suggested, easiest (and safest) thing to do initially is just match what is on there, then use a fine stone and/or strops to touch up to your liking. This will also tell you what angle(s) the knife is sharpened at.

Unless I’m missing something here, I think you’ll be fine.

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I wonder if 15 dps is a standard for S110V? I don’t think it’s a Spyderco standard, as my Delica in ZDP-189 came with a little over 20 dps. Maybe it’s steel-dependent?

I’d also be interested in what the hardness of the S110V is. They list RC64 for the ZDP, but don’t mention hardness for the S110V.

I see that S110V has something like 9% Vanadium, which is a lot, while ZDP has only a trace. Vanadium is known to increase toughness, which would explain outstanding performance on cardboard.

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Tom, on the Spyderco forum when they first came out Sal stated around 62-63 hrc. Also, I may be wrong but from research I have done Vanadium doesn’t increase toughness (it actually lowers it)… Vanadium increases wear resistance as it is a type of carbide. See here.

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From the “Knife Steel Chart” app..

Contributes to wear resistance and hardenability, and as a carbide former (in fact, vanadium carbides are onf of the hardest carbides) it contributes to wear resistance. It also refines the grain of the steel, which contributes to toughness and allows the blade to take a very sharp edge.
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Josh caught me on that one - it was wear resistance that I was thinking of as it related to cutting cardboard. Toughness is a measure of the steel’s ability to absorb energy (as with an impact) without fracturing. That’s why Sears guarantees their tools for life. They add Vanadium to protect against boneheads pounding on them with BFH’s.

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Looks like we were both right Tom! From what Curtis posted hehe

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Tried to sharpen last night. Not sure what i was doing wrong but as i went through the stones starting with 400 through 1200 i was noticing that my angles were somehow changing and i did not adjust any settings once i started. It did get a little sharper than the factory i find but not super sharp.

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My initial thoughts would be

  • Lay your stones on a flat surface and see if they're the same height
  • Clamp a practice knife, go thru the same progression, marking the edge with a Sharpie and see if there's a change. (You could also check with an angle cube, but the Sharpie might be quicker and more accurate).
  • Also make sure everything is tightened down on the W.E.
Out of curiosity, what angle was it at?
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It seemed like it was more than 20. I started with that and when i placed the sharpie mark on the edges it was removing the the bottom marking and not touching the cutting edge at all. i went ahead and just kept it at 20 degree angle.

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Could it be the FFG blade is moving side to side?..or the tilt angle changed? BTW are you using an angle cube or just the graduated marks on the bar? These could all contribute to a negative result…

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Used an angle cube.

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This is a good point… especially the FFG moving side to side… wouldn’t take much to change the angles, so worth checking. I’d also still Sharpie between stones, you don’t have to mark the whole blade, just enough to insure things are staying aligned.

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Thanks and i will try that. System is still new to me even though i had it for a bit now but do not sharpen many knives.