KW Exclusive Military CF/Ti S90V + CQI Improvements
- Thread starter adamlau
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The blade swap is tempting. The idea of a Rex45 framelock Millie is very appealing, I just don’t want to invest that much money. I hated missing this one...I had been waiting on another half ti Millie ever since I missed the m4 release. Had this knife been announced in any steel other than s90v I would have been all over it. Heck, I would have even bought it in s30v.
Riz!
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I have not had a single issue with the S90V. Its held an amazing working edge that at its worst catches hair but doesnt clean shave them. Very short work on the sharpmaker stones and then a strop brings it right back to popping hairs. Its been the perfect knife for my use
P2P
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What qualities in S90V are turn offs for you? I’d say it would be it’s tough for me to put a razors edge on. If my skills were just a hair better I may give S90V another shot.
91bravo
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I have had great experience with s90v as well. Gets insanely sharp, holds an edge for what I need it for at work. It loses its hair splitting edge pretty quickly, but my s90v Millie has been my "beater" knife that I use at work. It just keeps cutting and keeps cutting. When you don't care about getting scratches on your blade, that's when you can see a lot of the potential in your steel.
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I don’t dislike the steel. I think it is a good steel (for me) for a fillet knife or a skinner where I want to do a lot of work with the knife at less than optimal sharpness. Im kind of fussy about sharp in my folders though. I find that s90v does not respond as well or as quickly as many other steels when making touchups on the microbevel. It will get plenty sharp but for me it requires a higher level of refinement to reach the same level of sharp. For example, I can get steels like hap40, m4 and even s30v to whittle free hanging hair off the Sharpmaker medium stones. With s90v I have to work all the way through the UF stones to get to that level. I prefer lower grit, toothier edges on my knives so it annoys me to have to use higher refinement to get the same sharpness.
None of that matters on something like a fillet knife where that high level sharpness is gone after a fish or two and I just want a knife that keeps going until the work is done. On my folders though, I like to do regular touchups and keep them all extremely sharp so I find steels like s90v/s110v are more of a liability than an asset. It’s not a matter of me thinking one is better than another it’s just that most steels better fit my edc/folder usage and sharpening habits. I get why people like it, I just prefer other characteristics.
Regarding sales, I reckon folks are a little bored with s90v. Imagine if this Millie had been released with 4v, cruwear, Vanax or some other steel that was perceived as newer or more interesting. It would have sold out in a day. I believe the fact that these are still available has nothing to do with the half ti scales and everything to do with the choice of steel.
P2P
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Agree completely, You can really feel the wear resistance of S90V on the stones. I also need to take my sharpening next level. Hair whittling on the medium spydie stone is definitely a goal of mine, or hair whittling at any level. Hap 40, 154cm, S35VN, Vg-10, M4, even 20cv isn’t bad touch up wise. I don’t want to take 30 minutes touch up an edge, one of the reasons I prefer tool steels.
Do you use the sharpmaker, or freehand stones?
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There is definitely some truth to that. Even the BHQ Millies took a while to sell out. Certainly not as long is this one though. I just believe that has more to do with the steel then the frame lock. Imagine if the BHQ m4 Millie had been released with a ti framelock and jade scale. I’m sure it would’ve sold out even faster. So if the frame lock is viewed as a “plus” then what was the negative on this knife that made it sell slower than its jade/m4 counterpart?
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I use both but I do all my microbeveling on the SM. I touched up a Vanax kitchen knife a few days ago that my girlfriend had used until it was butter knife dull. Wouldn’t even slice tomato. 30 seconds on the microbevel with the sm medium rods and it would catch arm hair above the skin. S90v can be brought back to life just as quickly, it just won’t get to quite the same level with the same stones. Life is soooo much easier with microbevels!
91bravo
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I touch up my s90v with my green 1200 grit stone and finish with the gold 2000 grit stone, followed up with stropping on black compound. I get fine, razor like edges after my touch ups. In my experience, my s90v blades hold an excellent working/cutting edge for me and they hold it for a long time. I
bigolegator
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I can’t believe the green/204p is still available also...but you may be right about the Millie, a Para2 version would be long gone.
MCM
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"I reckon folks are a little bored with s90v. Imagine if this Millie had been released with 4v, cruwear, Vanax or some other steel that was perceived as newer or more interesting. It would have sold out in a day. I believe the fact that these are still available has nothing to do with the half ti scales and everything to do with the choice of steel."
You might also be forgetting this knife was spec'd and 1st submitted to Spyderco back in 2010.
A year after the M4 Ti model (And turned down do to production difficulties) l And every year after till it was produced.
Sal said he actually lost money on the M4 Ti Millie. .
I doubt sales would have been slow if produced in say, 2011, 2012, 2013 etc. Just late to the party.
And am not sure if anymore in this configuration will ever be produced.
Rear view mirror is fun stuff. lol lol
You might also be forgetting this knife was spec'd and 1st submitted to Spyderco back in 2010.
A year after the M4 Ti model (And turned down do to production difficulties) l And every year after till it was produced.
Sal said he actually lost money on the M4 Ti Millie. .
I doubt sales would have been slow if produced in say, 2011, 2012, 2013 etc. Just late to the party.
And am not sure if anymore in this configuration will ever be produced.
Rear view mirror is fun stuff. lol lol
shunsui
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The S90V CF/Ti was a bit overpriced to start and was competing with a cheaper S110V Military that some people perceive as a better steel.
People are "tired" of S90V.
People are "tired" of frame locks.
People are "tired" of carbon fiber / Ti scales.
Let's not even get into the tiring sharpening problems.
And yet, it's a heck of a nice knife IMHO.
I'm wondering why there's still 52100 CF Para2's out there.
The knife business is a strange animal.
People are "tired" of S90V.
People are "tired" of frame locks.
People are "tired" of carbon fiber / Ti scales.
Let's not even get into the tiring sharpening problems.
And yet, it's a heck of a nice knife IMHO.
I'm wondering why there's still 52100 CF Para2's out there.
The knife business is a strange animal.
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Are they getting bored with 204P also? 204P is a great steel but the green 204p Millie is still in stock and it was brought out over 2 years ago..
The 52100 Millie is still in stock.
A K390 or A11/10V Millie would be cool.
A Cruwear Millie sprint has already been done so IMO another one would be redundant.
We will see how well the upcoming Rex45 Millie does..definitely in for at least one.
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All good points. It may have more to do with the Millie itself than the steel. I’ve seen a few s90v releases over the last few years sitting on shelves for a long time and it’s made me think that s90v is no longer the best “hottest” seller. Add in my personal lack of love for the steel in folders and it probably creates enough bias to make me see the steel as the “culprit”.
Leaving all my guessing aside, here’s what I know for sure.
- I love the half ti framelock Millie design and i’ve dreamed of owning one ever since I missed the m4.
- The Millie does not generate the sales that the pm2 does but I love the model (probably more than the pm2).
- I don’t have much love for s90v in folders but I don’t hate it either. I might have enough lust for a framelock Millie that I just bite the bullet and pick up one of these s90v beauties.
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Regarding the 204p Millie, I have no answer to that. I am always surprised when I see that one still in stock. Another thing that’s weird to me is it seems that m390 releases generally create more buzz/sales than 204p despite being essentially the same steel but more expensive.
MCM
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IMO the hobby it self may have changed a bit.
S90v has now been used in production knives for 20+ years.
Microtech was one of the 1st. M390? A solid 10 years. 204 is often touted as "Just as good as M390". Same steel more or less.
So thats not much of a sales pitch. Was less $$$ yrs ago, and had an impact. Now? Not sure.
When was the last time you have seen a LE sell out in preorder, weeks or months prior to shipping?
That used to be somewhat common with a home run LE.
Another factor, is Co's have caught on. Some may not be as eager to give a good run to a shop, when they can just do it themselves. See BM, near zero new outside LE's these days. Possibly zero....
Was a lot of fun when the limited run hobby was somewhat limited........... Saturation? So many really nice knives being sold at the same time may also be an issue. Who knows............
Just a few thoughts on the subject.
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