🕷️ Intro to Spyderco Knives For Beginners

@BladeHQ

When describing the characteristics of a steel, a few common attributes are commonly talked about. Each of these contributes to a knife’s overall performance. Here, we will discuss edge retention, toughness, ease of sharpening, and corrosion resistance.

Edge Retention
Edge retention often refers to the ability of a knife’s edge to maintain its sharpness during use. However, it can be somewhat complicated because an edge can dull from many causes – wear, micro-chipping, deformation, or corrosion. Most edge retention tests isolate wear resistance or how long it takes abrasives to dull your edge in whatever you’re cutting. Wear resistance comes from hardness and carbides, hard particles formed between carbon and another element like Vanadium or Tungsten.

Toughness
Toughness is the resistance to chipping or breaking. Tough steel can handle impacts without gross chipping or a tip breaking off. Steels that are higher in hardness and wear resistance are usually lower in toughness. This is one of the fundamental tradeoffs in steel. Steels that can be high in edge retention and toughness are desirable for general use knives. Steels high in toughness are excellent for knives likely to see hard impacts, like large chopping knives.

Corrosion Resistance
Corrosion on knife steels most usually takes the form of rust, patina, and staining. Corrosion is not only cosmetic. It can dull your edge, cause pitting, and damage the structural integrity of your knife. Stainless steels are more resistant to corrosion but remember that stainless steels stain less, and most of them will still rust in the right conditions. Being stainless is not an on or off property, and some stainless steels are more resistant to corrosion than others.

Ease of Sharpening
Ease of sharpening refers to how difficult it is to remove material with a sharpening stone. Wear resistance, be it high or low, is the most significant determining factor in ease of sharpening. Other factors include how thick your edge is, how dull your knife was at the start, the nature of the heat treatment, and what you’re using to sharpen your knife. The ratings in this article rate ease of sharpening primarily based on wear resistance, but if a knife is difficult to sharpen, there may be other factors in play.

“Premium” vs “Value” Steels
Many knife enthusiasts are concerned with categorizing steels as “excellent,” “good,” “poor,” etc. This isn’t exactly how steel works; different properties are difficult to increase without affecting something else. Steels do come at various price points, however, depending on the cost of producing them and the cost for the knife company to work with them. Steel with high wear resistance is more costly to manufacture, as the knife company goes through more abrasives to grind the knives. Steel high in carbides can’t be stamped out; it must be cut by a waterjet or laser, which takes time and is more expensive. Steels without these attributes are much less costly.

The most significant cost increase comes from powder metallurgy, used to create most of the expensive knife steels. Liquid steel is sprayed through a tiny nozzle, solidifying into a powder. Later, it gets heated and compressed into one ingot. It’s a costly and challenging process, but it makes extremely fine-grained steels, some of the best for knives, and makes some processes that were previously impossible a reality. The big names in powder metallurgy are Crucible (CPM- steels), Carpenter (CTS- steels), Bohler Microclean (M390), and Uddeholm Superclean (Elmax, Vanax).

Steel Equivalence
Many steels are very similar to one another but go by different names from different manufacturers. They differ little in composition and treatment. For example, Bohler M390, CTS-204P, and CPM-20CV are all nearly identical and indistinguishable in practice. If you’re having trouble finding the steel you want, see if another manufacturer makes something much like it.

[danieljurca]

It takes years and years to get in the mind of a Spyderco knife:) Nice collection.

[DuhYaThink]

I’d say the shaman and native chief are some really good models for edc. And regular knife usage. If you are prying something use a pry bar 👍🏻

[Trolldaddy]

Wouldn't pay 100 dollars for a wrench or hammer? You must never have heard of snap on lol

[hagninety]

Please also do an intro for Benchmade. This was great. I have a Bryd. It’s really well made.

[chrisv]

0:32 " you would'nt pay potential hundreds of dollars for a wrench or a hammer "

me - *laughs in snap on*

[maggotviolet]

there are, taiwan taichung, japan seiki city, italy maniago..spyderco ..

[GUSTAVINNESSONN]

Correct me if I'm wrong but you didn't mention the factory edge they come out the box with? Not only are they built brilliantly with great materials and excellent steels, but they also come ready to work with a razor sharp edge right out the box. A huge plus in my book as an amateur sharpener and I'd bet in many others eyes. Spyderco _have_ to be In at lest the top 5 knife best companies in the world, imho. I'm currently perusing over which beauty will be the next added to my collection. Any suggestions guys?

[mikehamilton]

My spyderco says g2 stainless- seki city Japan. Do you know when it was made? The handle says endura clip.

[tob]

So funny, I started the exact same way. I thought, “what’s the appeal of these ugly things?” Now I’m a loyalist and have been an evangelist for years.

[c.patricksadowski]

Can you put up a link for the blue wood looking cover?

[ToRor]

Most of mine are used 10% and playing(fidgeting) 90% or the time 😊

[richiebeirach]

where is the stainless steel serrated CRICKET ??? great knife for EDC

[steverodgers]

Was trying to find the Byrd knife company website could you provide a link ?

[ToRor]

I would say the Spyderco Shaman is a hard use knife.

[sonofliberty]

“I haven’t seen any Spydercos that I consider a hard use pocket knife…” There’s a Manix2 XL right in front of you, man. 🤦‍♂️

[MrIgottap]

7:53 ……………really?! This is how you typically use a pocket knife?

[sprinkleddonuts]

“That is consider hard use” uhhhh you have 16 right there in front of you.

NO KNIFE is “SUPPOSED” to be used for Prying. ANY KNIFE or rather ANYTHING is everyday carry.

What you have is you consider to be SAFE QUEENS THAT ONLY USED TO CUT PAPER AND CARDBOARD.
Does your wife get mad when you purchase just to look at?

[kickstothehead]

Find the blade shape you want then customize the perfect knife Because most of their handles are subpar

[stanglifemike]

Don't typically see someone make a video solely to show others how little they know about the subject. It's obvious this guy had just started collecting knives within the month and had never seen another knife video. 😕
If that isn't correct, do today's high-school kids believe having 2 or more of something makes you look like an expert, and that others will automatically believe anything you say?? 🙄

[claytonalexander]

The Taiwan factory i would NOT put in the category as "China" manufactured knives... Spyderco have 3x Factories. Golden Colorado USA, Seki City Japan, Taichung Taiwan... All 3 of them are pretty renowned for their own quality. There arent just some Sypdercos that are "made in china". Taiwanese manufacture isnt as expensive as American Manufacture but it is considerably more expensive than having knives made in China.