Para 3 Maxamet under a loupe?

S

strideruser

Joined
Sep 1, 2008
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I dont frequent here that much but have found a new interest in Spyderco and the ''new steels''

I quick question....

I recently picked up a para 3 in Maxamet and just now looked at the blade and edge under a cheap Loupe at x12. I can clearly see loads of black holes and inclusions? i dont know if that is the right way to describe it but it looks like the carbon bits when you look at a diamond (lower quality that mere mortals can afford) through magnification. There are also random tiny holes in the flats of the blade... is this normal?

Dont ask me to take pics of it as my camera on macro can barely do a close up of 4 inches away!
 
Is it possible that it’s small spots of corrosion? I don’t think there would be holes in the blade big enough to see under 12x magnification aside from the opening hole.
 
Could be? i found my 60x -120x pocket microscope so i will look closer with that. the holes appear to be pin prick size (like made from a fine needle) and you cant see them without magnification...

its weird as its similar to pitting but only one ''pit', not lots of them

You would be surprised what you can see on a loupe at 12x!
 
strideruser said:
Could be? i found my 60x -120x pocket microscope so i will look closer with that. the holes appear to be pin prick size (like made from a fine needle) and you cant see them without magnification...

its weird as its similar to pitting but only one ''pit', not lots of them

You would be surprised what you can see on a loupe at 12x!
Click to expand...

If not pitting, then probably large carbides. Voids and inclusions would be my other initial hypotheses.

I would probably only concern myself with the area around the plunge grind and spydiehole. You really don’t want any additional stress concentrations near these areas. There are more than few examples of people breaking Spyderco Maxamet blades near the plunge grind & Spydiehole.

If you find any cracks, I would suggest returning it. That being said, you would probably need dye penetrant or magnetic particles to find any cracks.
 
Been using it, not heavy but i dont think it has any cracks.... if it does it will go back to spyderco.

I sharpened it, it didnt need it but i wanted to see what it was like! not as bad as i thought TBH... Now its not quite hair whittling but a level below that. Factory, it was sharp but not crazy sharp...
 
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