Thoughts on using Rocksteads with ZDP 189 in the Electrical trade.

murat1983 said:
Depends on how you define the damage. If the chipped edge is a damaged knife for you, then yes it will get damaged. If what you meant as damage is the broken blade, no then the task you are talking about will not break your knife unless you try to baton through a thick armoured underground electrical cable.

I had some site experience as an electrical engineer and used my S30V knife on my leatherman to strip some thin electrical cable and after some use, I started to get microchips. Not because of the wire itself, but mostly you need to strip the cable by putting it on a stable surface, so most of the damage to the knife is sourced from unintentional contact between the edge and supporting material (mostly concrete). But this did not bother me much as I could sharpen it easily, which I do not think is the case for a Rockstead.

I understand your enthusiasm of wanting to use your expensive knives, we are all like you, trying to cut something with our precious knives whenever we find a chance, but there is a saying, right tool for the job. And the Rockstead is not the right tool for cable stripping. You might consider getting yourself a good quality multi-tool, such as Leatherman Charge TTi. In my experience, my Charge TTi proved to be the most useful thing I can have on me on site. It saved my life on a couple of occasions where I got locked up in a cable storage warehouse at 45 degrees celsius where the door handle was broken from inside. I used the pliers to get a hold of the lock mechanism to rotate it and open the door. These were the times when mobile phones were not as popular as it is now and nobody knew that I went to the warehouse to load the truck with cables and I was alone. I am not saying I would be dead if I did not have my multitool, but I will certainly have some unpleasant time in a hot warehouse without any water.
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Thanks for your thoughts and experiences. I have decided to carry them at work, but not use for stripping back cables. I'll stick to my razor knife, or some others that I have that are M390, S30V , etc. I don't want to chip a blade on something if it can be avoided.
 
Sorry it’s been awhile on this thread but I saw “electrical trade” and was like that’s me!

I’m an electrician in SF and this is the best utility knife for the job imo
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Delica wharncliffe k390 with flathead backspacer. My 2cents
 
Paratrooper06 said:
Rocksteads are safe queens. I would not use a high polish blade painstakingly sharpened by hand in Japan as a beater knife for electrical work. How mad would you be if you chipped the edge on a wire, or caught a live wire while cutting and blew a small hole in the edge? Also, it would need to fly back to Japan for any sharpening or warranty work.

I’d look more toward Spydercos Chinese manufactured line of products.
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I assume you mean Taiwanese Spydercos, or are they having knives manufactured by Reate, etc.?
 
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Any Seki spyderco with K390 is one of the best knives for electrical work. Just my 2 cents as an electrician.
 
My EDC is just a small fixie in plain old 1095... I can get it sharp in no time and not only it never chipped, but I even pried with it.

But if you have plenty of Rocksteads and want to use one to see it perform - then by all means just do that. Otherwise you'll never know.

Personally, I prefer toughness and durability over edge retention, everything else is far less important.
 
I know this thread's a little older but it calls for so much of my applicable experience that I couldn't pass it up. Now while I have no experience with Rocksteads, I have plenty to tell about ZDP-189 in the electrical trade. TL;DR: works great with no real issues.

I've been using a ZDP Delica for several years (in fact, the knife I bought that started this madness) in the trade. Stripping wires and smacking junction boxes are probably the two things that put it at risk of chipping the most. That and maybe cutting old caulking/sealant/dried paint around the edge of things. If it has received any considerable chipping as a result, it hasn't affected performance enough for me to even notice. And the more it's used and sharpened, the thicker behind the edge it will become and hold up even better. I've done it all with this knife: wire stripping, fiberglass insulation, foam, cutting nm sealtite conduit, skinning metallic sealtite, scoring and notching drywall and ceiling tiles, carving out notches in wooden desk panels for device box screws, hoses, foil seals, boxes, even light duty scraping. Just about everything but prying and similar nonsense.

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And two images at its present state.

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DrubieG said:
Sorry it’s been awhile on this thread but I saw “electrical trade” and was like that’s me!

I’m an electrician in SF and this is the best utility knife for the job imo
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Delica wharncliffe k390 with flathead backspacer. My 2cents
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soc_monki said:
Any Seki spyderco with K390 is one of the best knives for electrical work. Just my 2 cents as an electrician.
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I hear that.

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Why not use a tool designed for the job, like wire strippers? I get having something on hand to be a back up plan, but wire strippers are a tool specific to your job that remove wire insulation cleaner and must more efficient than a knife would.
 
^thats true for anything 10awg or smaller, strippers is what I use. But big stuff needs a knife
 
Alpha556 said:
Haven't decided what to do about it yet. Ill take some pics tomorrow so you can check it out.

If you have a CRK that would be a great knife for electrical work. dcdavis shows everyday the various cutting tasks he handles as a electrician and the inkosi looks like it holds up very well.
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I was just about to say that! That guy is awesome. Uses the hell out of his crk.

I say do it man!!!! And take pics like dcdVis does. I don't think you're going to chip the knife. Unless you drop it on concrete or the like. You will get to experience the knife's potential. I would love to see and read about how it goes!
 
Alpha556 said:
https://imgur.com/a/AoxBOxW

Its hard to capture in the pic but you can see towards the tip end the very apex of the edge has broken off in a couple spots.
This was dropped on concrete so in guess it could have been worse.
Rockstead edges are so perfect that any slight damage is readily apparent.

Don't think I'll be sending it in tho. I might sale it for a heavily discounted price or try trading it. If anyone has a spyderco paysan and wants a rockstead I'm your man.
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Geez, why not just sharpen it out and strop it with some flitz polish and it’s almost like brand new?
 
So much that I could say about this.

1. ZDP-189 is known to be chippy.
2. From everything I very learned and read,there is a correlation between edge retention and toughness, where the better the edge retention, the worse the toughness. However this is not always true. Tool/high carbon steels can have both, but a sacrifice in corrosion resistance. High hardness often means less toughness as well.

3. I agree, rocksteads are safe queens or light users at best in my opinion. They focus on beauty rather than functionality.

4. I find using a knife to strip wire to be a case of wrong tool for the job. Sure, in an emergency, it'll do, but if you are an electrician, I'd think you'd carry/have a wire stripper as part of job.

5. I won't own a knife I'm afraid to use, but I don't judge those that feel otherwise. I know I'm an odd, eclectic person to put it mildly.

6. I'm not sure how Rockstead's warranty works, but such use might be considered abuse and void it.

7.It is your knife, and ultimately your choice. I wish you the best no matter which you choose.
 
A.L. said:
Geez, why not just sharpen it out and strop it with some flitz polish and it’s almost like brand new?
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It's not as easy as it sounds. A mirror polish zero edge could be just as easily be ruined by a sharpening. If the edge was rolled it would have been easier but the chips would have meant a lot of steel would have to be removed to fix it. I wasn't that confident in my ability so decided to just move it on.
 
K.O.D. said:
4. I find using a knife to strip wire to be a case of wrong tool for the job. Sure, in an emergency, it'll do, but if you are an electrician, I'd think you'd carry/have a wire stripper as part of job.
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Strippers generally only go up to 10 AWG. Anything larger necessitates stripping with a knife.
 
William Henry has been using ZDP for many years, often as a core for some of their SS Damascus blades. There is a correlation between hardness and chipping, but I haven't had any issues. But I don't cut wire, etc.
 
sailfish said:
Strippers generally only go up to 10 AWG. Anything larger necessitates stripping with a knife.
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I was unaware, but then again, that is neither my occupation nor my bailiwick. Thanks for the info though, the more you know...
 
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