Cutting cardboard with Paramilitary 2

V

Vader1

Joined
Jan 11, 2014
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142
I seem to have a never ending pile of cardboard boxes to cut up at my house. Last night I tried my brand new paramilitary 2 to see what it will do. It gets hung up in the cardboard real bad. Then I try my old Uncle Henry LB7 hollow grind and it cuts the cardboard like butter. I thought for sure the paramilitary would do better. It seems as if the DLC coating on the paramilitary is hanging up the blade. Can anyone give their thoughts on this ?
 
IIRC, the LB7 blade is both thinner and narrower than the PM2 blade. As you mentioned, the LB7 was also a hollow grind, which means that the blade is going to be a good bit thinner than the flat ground PM2 at the cutting edge. The DLC coating on the PM2 blade could be a part of the issue, but I suspect that the PM2's thicker and wider blade is more to blame.

The Spyderco may need both a sharpening and a thinning of the edge to compete favorably with the UH.
 
The coating will cause more friction and drag at least in my experience. That's why I don't like having coated blades.
 
I find that the Millie, and the one PM2 that I have do really well at a 17* edge angle. I have found that they still possess enough strength to hold up and not chip out, but that is thin enough to really slice great. Granted, chipping issues can be caused by many things ie: steel type, hardness, toughness, heat treat etc. speaking in generalities though, edge angle is a balance of all different things. Too thin and we all know it won't hold. Too thick, it won't cut as well and we don't take advantage of the steel. I like a 17* edge because for me, in my use, it is the balance point. I won't take my "hard use" knives that low. I keep my Strider CPM154 and my Hinderer XM-18's at 20* per side. Still cuts great, but stronger to resist chipping issues.

This is one person's opinion. Your mileage may vary. Take it for what it's worth. :)
 
Do not cut perpendicular to the cardboard. If you have a veritcal sheet of cardboard, and cut from top to bottom, hold the blade at a 45 deg to the sheet when looking from the top. It will zip right through with much less resistance, even for thicker blades, because now the board can part easily without wedging the blade.
 
Thanks everyone I'm going to try a few different knives. So far my old hunting knives seem to be doing the best. Buck 501 and the LB7. I want to figure out why the pm2 is such a struggle. I truly feel its the ldc coating because the knife is razor sharp. No big deal anyway, just sort of odd. I wish I had a plain satin paramilitary to compare.
 
I have an old US made Schrade LB7, it must be the same to what you have Vader. I haven't had it long, but I felt nostalgic and bought it as a piece of an old company that made great cutlery. I will say that it is older and much tighter than my Buck 110.
 
If you cut cardboard like it's going out of style just get a damn box cutter.
 
I prefer a knife over a dam box cutter. knives are a hobby to us here on blade forums . If I was cutting boxes all day every day... I would use a box cutter with a disposable razors and be on a box cutter forum. This is mostly a knife forum last time I checked and testing knives on horrible materials like cardboard is always fun. There is always people like you that have to get off the topic of the post. I predicted someone like yourself would be chiming in, It didn't take long. No big deal, it was a brilliant piece of advice. Lol.
 
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RevDevil said:
I have an old US made Schrade LB7, it must be the same to what you have Vader. I haven't had it long, but I felt nostalgic and bought it as a piece of an old company that made great cutlery. I will say that it is older and much tighter than my Buck 110.
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Very cool. I got my LB7 when I was a young kid, I'm now 41 years young.
 
I prefer knives over screwdrivers and hammers. Different tools for different jobs. If it gives you a half-chub to slice away at cardboard with a knife like it's an Olympic event, then that's cool, but it's not the ideal tool for the job. :p
I digress, the reason it's hanging up is probably because it needs a touch up. Hit it on some ultra-fine stones and maybe get a strop to help maintain the edge between cardboard cutting j.o. sessions.
 
Jibbles said:
If you cut cardboard like it's going out of style just get a damn box cutter.
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I agree..... :D

When I worked in a warehouse, and even my IT jobs, I always had a box cutter in my kit. Always seemed the right tool for the job.
 
i cut loads of cardboard at work every day. i have a black on black pm2 that has a 15* per side 30* inclusive edge with the dlc coating. and it slices right threw the cardboard just fine. it never chips or losses its edge fast or anything. and after 2 or 3 days i just run 10 passes on the strop and back to pooping hairs off my arm. it never gets help up or anything. maybe you need a thinner edge or a good sharpening.
 
stinkyspice said:
i cut loads of cardboard at work every day. i have a black on black pm2 that has a 15* per side 30* inclusive edge with the dlc coating. and it slices right threw the cardboard just fine. it never chips or losses its edge fast or anything. and after 2 or 3 days i just run 10 passes on the strop and back to pooping hairs off my arm. it never gets help up or anything. maybe you need a thinner edge or a good sharpening.
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Why don't you just use a dam box cutter bro ? Just kidding, this is exactly the answers I was looking for. Thank you. The point of my post isn't about using a box cutter on cardboard, it is actually about my brand new pm2 not performing very well. I happened to realize this when I tried it against an old hollow grind I had. The cardboard just happened to be the test material. If I cut cardboard for a living, I would indeed get a cheap box cutter. Since I'm into knives as a hobby, I thought it would be good to find out what's up with my pm2. I actually just use the old knife to hack up a few boxes every other month. Then I happened to try my PM2 and just noticed it was jamming up bad. But if some want to talk about screwdrivers and box cutters that is fine.
 
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Brock O Lee said:
Do not cut perpendicular to the cardboard. If you have a veritcal sheet of cardboard, and cut from top to bottom, hold the blade at a 45 deg to the sheet when looking from the top. It will zip right through with much less resistance, even for thicker blades, because now the board can part easily without wedging the blade.
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I second this. Works with even thicker blades than the PM2. In fact, if you think about the average box cutter design, they have that angled end to the handle where the blade comes out which forces you to cut like this. Any knife can be a box cutter, but a box cutter will never be anything more. Poor lil things...
 
I find that most coatings increase resistance as well. I also agree the hollow grind is the Nissan GT-R which takes the lead for the first few laps, but the full flat grind is the Porsche GT-3 which after considerable time has endurance that can outpace the hollow grind in terms of long duration/heavy duration of usage, as well as doing so with lesser required maintenance.

Also keep in mind the PM2 has a taller blade...while slicing through cardboard, it has a LOT more surface area that is going to be caught up in the cardboard creating more friction.

S30V is a good steel for cardboard as it has good edge retention and good wear resistance. I keep my Paras around 18 degrees and agree with exactly what Vegas Blade said: the knife can slice although it is not the best slicer, but it can also withstand heavier work that an overly thin edge would not fare as well.

I do personally find that the full flat grinds and saber grinds tend to yield edges that are noticeably more durable than hollow grinds and especially deep hollow grinds. I've also noticed that they wear in a very predictable fashion and are generally easier to revive and that the FFG makes sharpening easy on almost every system. I've been considering grinding a microbevel on one of my S30V PM2's. I've never used one on a blade quite like it so I've been hesitant for a while but this thread has me thinking about it again!
 
I have used box cutters and u have to change the blade just as much as I can just strop my knife real quick. Plus I love knives so it's more fun for me :)
 
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