Got the Nilakka - Couple Observations and a Potential Issue

Wow, I ordered one. I love the design. I am not excited about fixing chips like that though.
 
oups ....

otoh that sounded obvious, even my thinnest dedicated kitchen slicers are more that 10 inclusive, slightly more but still, and that white steel @63 not s30v ...

maybe just sharpening it flat on a hard backed leather with sandpaper, it will look horrible at first as it will take some time to get the finish even on such a wide surface but a slight full convex may be enough to give some strength to the apex.

still want one though, and seeing a true full zerogrind knife from a non custom maker is still something i apprecite and trully respect, it taked balls to do that as they will have to deal with a lot of complaints.
 
pwet said:
oups ....

otoh that sounded obvious, even my thinnest dedicated kitchen slicers are more that 10 inclusive, slightly more but still, and that white steel @63 not s30v ...

maybe just sharpening it flat on a hard backed leather with sandpaper, it will look horrible at first as it will take some time to get the finish even on such a wide surface but a slight full convex may be enough to give some strength to the apex.

still want one though, and seeing a true full zerogrind knife from a non custom maker is still something i apprecite and trully respect, it taked balls to do that as they will have to deal with a lot of complaints.
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I agree, I hope the inevitable backlash Spyderco gets for edge damage on this knife doesnt dissuade them from taking risks like this in the future. Perhaps it will get a future revision to a more traditional lower scandi grind instead of the full scandi grind.
 
Thank you all for the posts. I love the design and it would be fun to own for looks, but I don't think I want a knife that requires reprofiling out of the box. But the idea of a folding puukko is awesome and I'm glad to see Spyderco make a valiant attempt at it with a good designer. I'd think a blade redesign including (a) no swedge, (b) no distal taper, (c) a secondary bevel, and (d) better steel would add up to make this one of the better outdoors folders on the market.
 
videl said:
So the stop pin is fixed into the tang, and moves within channels in the liners? Pretty neat.
That chipping looks nasty, would like to know what the actual 'intent' of the knife is, looks a bit brittle for wood working.
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Actually, it isn't chipped at all, it just bent.

Edit to add: I was not chopping. I was not prying. I did not twist the blade in a cut. Making a couple of cuts across the grain on knot free soft wood stretched the steel of the edge, leaving behind the ripples you see in the pictures. I had the same thing happen on a custom jackknife when I hit a very hard knot whittling hard pine. If you've ever tried using a straight razor for something other than shaving, you know what it is like to use this factory edge. I have in fact made similar cuts with a single edge razor blade without damaging it. I shudder to think what would have happened if I had tried shaving a strip off my knotty ash branch I usually use for testing new knives.
 
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I think this is more about pushing the envelope of what S30v can do. The thinnest I ever take any steel is 20 degrees inclusive so going below that with S30v sounds crazy. I'll still probably get one though.
 
I used a diamond plate and took the edge back past the chips on mine. Then I took a strop and wet dry sandpaper and put a secondary convex on mine. Even with that the edge is very thin. But I went out and tried it on the same limb that trashed my edge and some dried oak in the woods and it seems to be ok. I want this one to work out because it may be the nicest folder design I've ever had. I really love the scales.
 
It sounds like you figured out that edge. ^
I wish Spyderco nested those handle liners.
 
Here's a couple pics

This is what I cut

puk7.jpg


This is what happened
puk6.jpg

puk9.jpg


Just to test I cut the same wood with my Enzo Birk and no problem.


puk8.jpg
 
Good job documenting what happened. Maybe they will use a lower scandi grind on future runs.
 
Man! I thinks it's a bad HT? Or, the edge is not finished/stropped correctly.
 
Crappy cell phone pic, but this is the amount of carving that turned mine into an accordian.

Basswoodblock.jpg


The block is 2" wide by 1" thick. The circled area was done with my thumbnail just to see if the wood was really as soft as I thought.

Maybe they overheated the blades grinding them this thin, or maybe these were supposed to be sushi knives.
 
Honestly this is kinda pathetic, I wonder if any steel would stand to anything more than spreading butter with that grind. I get that its a light duty knife but how light can duty get? I'm struggling to understand the purpose of such a fragile tool, and such an expensive fragile tool at that.
 
If its at average hardness like it looks to be then it will never handle the grind given to it, S30V is just not that good and does not possess that level of edge stability. Run it harder or pick a different steel seems like the obvious options.
 
quoted myself from the other thread just to echo knifenut's comment. i'm pretty sure that a better suited steel could solve the problem. still have to take my caliper to it...

pwet said:
i'll take a look at my takeda if i have time today, with a ruler and a caliper. i said i had no knives that acute but i think that my gyuto is in line with what i read. it's sharpened flat on the grind, the grind is quite highand the thickness on top of the bevels is way less than on the nilakka. this knife is very delicate but still handles chopping food on a cutting board all day long.

so maybe the problem is more the steel than the geometry. the takeda is aogami super (super blue)at 63hrc.
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