Spyderco cruwear edge retention

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nigol

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Nov 25, 2022
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I recently picked up a pm2 in cruwear and micarta. In casual use I noticed it seemed to be going dull quicker than expected. So i decided to do a test. I put a fresh 17 degree edge on both the pm2 and my manix lightweight with bd1n blade steel. I used cardboard, tree bark and plywood as test materials. Bottom line is the manix performed better overall and also held its edge longer. Pretty disappointing results from cruwear. The bd1n has continued to impress me since I have had the manix but I never expected it to top cruwear. Has anyone had problems with spyderco cruwear particularly in the crucarta pm2?
 
My only experience with Spyderco Cruwear is in a PM3. In my use on a combination of cardboard, wood, and plastic, it has given stellar performance, better than S30V, CPM-M4, Rex-45, Spy27, S110V, and M390 (all except the S30V are also from Spyderco). The only steels that I have that perform as well as Cruwear or better are S90V, XHP, K390, Maxamet, and ZDP. I really like Cruwear.

I wonder what is going on with yours.
 
lambertiana said:
My only experience with Spyderco Cruwear is in a PM3. In my use on a combination of cardboard, wood, and plastic, it has given stellar performance, better than S30V, CPM-M4, Rex-45, Spy27, S110V, and M390 (all except the S30V are also from Spyderco). The only steels that I have that perform as well as Cruwear or better are S90V, XHP, K390, Maxamet, and ZDP. I really like Cruwear.

I wonder what is going on with yours.
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Wish I knew. After the test it went back to razor with minimal honing on ceramic rod. No chips during the testing either which was pretty brutal. If it was a bad heat treat I'm thinking it would have chipped or at least rolled but did neither. I would say both knives performed well overall. They still cut note book paper when I was done. What surprises me is the bd1n did a little better than the cruwear
 
nigol said:
Wish I knew. After the test it went back to razor with minimal honing on ceramic rod. No chips during the testing either which was pretty brutal. If it was a bad heat treat I'm thinking it would have chipped or at least rolled but did neither. I would say both knives performed well overall. They still cut note book paper when I was done. What surprises me is the bd1n did a little better than the cruwear
Click to expand...
 
nigol said:
I recently picked up a pm2 in cruwear and micarta. In casual use I noticed it seemed to be going dull quicker than expected. So i decided to do a test. I put a fresh 17 degree edge on both the pm2 and my manix lightweight with bd1n blade steel. I used cardboard, tree bark and plywood as test materials. Bottom line is the manix performed better overall and also held its edge longer. Pretty disappointing results from cruwear. The bd1n has continued to impress me since I have had the manix but I never expected it to top cruwear. Has anyone had problems with spyderco cruwear particularly in the crucarta pm2?
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Interesting. In my experience with a Spyderco knives, BD1N was poor compared to VG-10 and SPY27, not much better than H1.
I have not used CruWear much, but you have inspired me to order a Para 3 in CruWear so I can run my own tests.
 
Cruwear little native is an absolute beast and one of my favorite steels because of it. I’ve had pm2 cruwear but never used them to know. Sounds like an issue, definitely not normal
 
Modernflame said:
Just throwing out a thought. It's possible the edge got a little too hot during factory sharpening, so it may not be a heat treatment issue per se. Keep it at 17 dps and sharpen it a couple more times. Sometimes it's that easy.
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I had that thought too. It's been sharpened twice on diamond plate. I'm leary of taking too much metal off. I do go pretty easy since I learned the hard way a couple times. Will give this a try. Thanks.
 
Probably unlikely, but you may not be removing the burr completely. A very small foil burr can fold along the edge and produce those results. It can seem razor sharp when slicing paper or whatever, but will seem to dull pretty quickly in use.
 
chalby said:
Probably unlikely, but you may not be removing the burr completely. A very small foil burr can fold along the edge and produce those results. It can seem razor sharp when slicing paper or whatever, but will seem to dull pretty quickly in use.
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I think this has happened to me on my pm2 crucarta.. hair splitting sharp off the edge pro, after some pocket time and light use I suddenly discovered that a half the edge reflected light, and I could see and feel a giant rolled-over edge.

After some careful re-sharpening and burr removal, it’s good!
 
Pr3inar said:
I think this has happened to me on my pm2 crucarta.. hair splitting sharp off the edge pro, after some pocket time and light use I suddenly discovered that a half the edge reflected light, and I could see and feel a giant rolled-over edge.

After some careful re-sharpening and burr removal, it’s good!
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Excellent advice. Will try
 
Sounds like unexpected behavior, especially considering how well cut testing has validated Spyderco's CruWear.

It could be the heat treatment, you leaving a burr on the edge, or an overheated factory edge from Spyderco's powered sharpening system. If I had to guess, though, it probably isn't the heat treatment.
 
How could this happen?

Oh, also I will say the BD1N and BD1 from Spydie are legit. It's no Cruwear... But I went swimming with the BD1
 
I resharpened and retested. My original testing was far from scientific so I used cardboard only for the second test. The cruwear managed to cut 500 feet before it got to the point of not cutting paper. Pretty respectable. I think what really dulled the crap out of it the first time around was the tree bark. Extremely hard substance on this particular tree. In any event the bd1n has really surprised me at how long it holds an edge. The manix 2 lw is my current favorite and the one I use at work every day. Has been a pit bull of a knife with anything I throw at it.
 
I'd guess a burr. Spyderco sharpens using coolant to keep it from heating up too much. People often throw that out as a guess but I have yet to see any evidence of it actually happening.
 
nigol said:
Wish I knew. After the test it went back to razor with minimal honing on ceramic rod. No chips during the testing either which was pretty brutal. If it was a bad heat treat I'm thinking it would have chipped or at least rolled but did neither. I would say both knives performed well overall. They still cut note book paper when I was done. What surprises me is the bd1n did a little better than the cruwear
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It could be the abrasives you're using are better suited for lower end steels. I've read how ceramics are not ideal for higher end steels, from people way more knowledgeable about it than myself.

The Mastiff said:
I'd guess a burr. Spyderco sharpens using coolant to keep it from heating up too much. People often throw that out as a guess but I have yet to see any evidence of it actually happening.
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I think it's been proven through Outpost76's testing, many times over. He repeatedly got far higher numbers after several sharpening compared to factory edges. If it's not fatigued metal from the factory sharpening, it's something else, but performance absolutely jumps after getting past the factory edge.
 
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