M2 TRYOUT!

000Robert said:
I got the M2 Tryout knife reprofiled and sharpened up at 20dps. I sharpened her to 600 grit. I'll take her out in a couple of hours and do some cutting. I'll make the tip look better after this cutting session. I must say that the M2 cuts pretty sweet with diamond stones. The steel also produces a well-defined burr. Here are some before photos of the bevels:



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I wish I could sharpen as good as you! :D
 
Crag the Brewer said:
I wish I could sharpen as good as you! :D
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I just take my time and only use enough force to keep the stones flat against the bevels. I believe that the biggest problem with some people using diamond stones is that they use to much force against the blade while sharpening/reprofiling. With diamond stones - lesser pressure is better. And I don't sharpen blades when I'm sleepy.
I didn't use my 50/80 grit stones reprofiling this knife because the blade is so thin. I used my 100 grit stones until I was a few thousandths of an inch from the tip, and then finished with 200 grit stones. Then I sharpened with the 400 grit stones and finished with the 600.
Sorry that I didn't do any cutting yesterday. I was waiting for it to warm up some outside and decided to take a nap. And I didn't wake up until 10 pm! I've been running around a lot the last few days and I guess that my body wanted to catch up on sleep. I rarely sleep more than 6 hours.
I'll get her done today.
 
I'm impressed with the M2 steel. She survived the wood cutting pretty well at 20dps - I'm sure that nobody is surprised by that. And after cutting the wood for about 7 minutes or so, she still cut printer paper pretty good. She also managed to get a little blood out of me.

David Mary-M2 Tryout-19a.jpgDavid Mary-M2 Tryout-20a.jpgDavid Mary-M2 Tryout-22a.jpgM2-20dps-600g-24a.jpgDavid Mary-M2 Tryout-23a.jpg

My new eyelets also seem to be bad. I tried 3 of them so far and they all split. $34 down the drain... what a fiasco! I checked my eyelet setter under the microscope and couldn't find a burr anywhere. I went ahead and sanded it some anyway just in case, and the eyelets are still splitting.

There must be something wrong with the metal - it's not malleable enough to stretch without splitting. I've never had that problem until I tried setting the new eyelets. I guess all the guys are buying their eyelets from the same manufacturer.
 
Here is a photo of my eyelet die. I can't find anything wrong with it. Like I said before, it's practically new. I probably haven't set 30 eyelets with it.

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000Robert said:
All things considered; I think it did pretty good.
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Does your knife sharpening go fast?

I currently do mine by hand on various baryonex stones, which I like.....but I'm wondering (if I plan on selling?) If grinding by hand/eye is acceptable to most people
 
000Robert 000Robert you have done more than your fair share on this. Let's get it on its way to the next person in line, unfinished sheath included. Worst case scenario is I bang it together myself once it arrives back here. But we really should keep this moving. My original intention was a week per person.
 
Crag the Brewer said:
Does your knife sharpening go fast?
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No, I take my time.

Crag the Brewer said:
I currently do mine by hand on various baryonex stones, which I like.....but I'm wondering (if I plan on selling?) If grinding by hand/eye is acceptable to most people
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I don't know. Some people freehand better than others. I can freehand pretty good as far as being sharp goes, but the bevels look like junk under magnification. My freehand is also asymmetrical with 20dps on one side and 17dps on the other.
 
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David Mary said:
000Robert 000Robert you have done more than your fair share on this.
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It is my pleasure. I really enjoyed being a part of this M2 Tryout. Thanks, David!

David Mary said:
Let's get it on its way to the next person in line, unfinished sheath included. Worst case scenario is I bang it together myself once it arrives back here. But we really should keep this moving. My original intention was a week per person.
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Ok. Sometimes timing has something to do with stuff like having a new granddaughter being born. I can't find any decent eyelets so I guess you may have to finish it. I've spent about $75 trying to find some decent eyelets and haven't found any that don't split. And I bought them from 4 different sellers. As can be seen in the photo, there's nothing wrong with my eyelet die, and I never had any problems until I started trying to use the newer bought eyelets.
But I forgot to try heating up the eyelets first. I'll try that right now and see what happens.
 
Well, I tried heat and the eyelet still split. I used one of the newest eyelets that I just received in the last few days. The eyelet was hot enough to melt the Kydex a little bit, and still split. I heated it with my heat gun while the sheath was on the bottom die in my press.
 
000Robert said:
Well, I tried heat and the eyelet still split. I used one of the newest eyelets that I just received in the last few days. The eyelet was hot enough to melt the Kydex a little bit, and still split. I heated it with my heat gun while the sheath was on the bottom die in my press.
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It would be interesting if you could sacrifice a few more eyelets in the passaround to someone who has not had previous issues with their set up.

Occam's says it's your press/die.... (If all those eyelets were from different manufacturers) I hope you get it situated, that sucks!

I know I appreciate all your efforts.
 
Crag the Brewer said:
It would be interesting if you could sacrifice a few more eyelets in the passaround to someone who has not had previous issues with their set up.
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Funny that you mentioned that. I sent 8 of them with the M2 Tryout knife that is on her way to Wild Willie.

Crag the Brewer said:
Occam's says it's your press/die.... (If all those eyelets were from different manufacturers) I hope you get it situated, that sucks!

I know I appreciate all your efforts.
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I know, and the press dies were my first thought. But I can't find anything wrong with them. And I sanded them up some anyway and the eyelets are still splitting, except for the eyelets that I bought years ago.
 
Tinkered a bit with this today. Unfortunately the eyelets I have are too short to rivet the sheath that David made, and the cord wrap hinders the fit of the kydex. I began construction of a sheath from the HDPE I have here, but completion was delayed by not being able to find my tapestry needles. A trip to the sewing section is in order.

The knife does perform well, tinfoil hat timmy tinfoil hat timmy 's cord wrap is excellent, and the edge put on by 000Robert 000Robert is of highest quality. The light weight and excellent geometry on this would definitely suit it for a backpacking knife, and it cuts cardboard like it isn't there.
 
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