- Joined
- Jun 13, 2007
- Messages
- 11,143
I purchased a Knifeworks Grip in M390 around thanksgiving. I sharpen a lot of knives every year and with that comes the experience of grinding pretty much every steel imaginable. M390 is one of those steels that many talk about and I've sharpened enough to at least have the experience to say it sharpens easily and takes a very nice edge regardless of the finished grit. So with all the glowing reports of edge retention I decided to purchase the Grip from Knifeworks.
I received the knife and being my first Grip I was excited to employ it as my new work/EDC knife. The first order of business was to give it a good edge, the factory edge was hardly more than a bump on the grinding wheel that would just begin to rip paper. I started with my 140 Atoma Plate and progressed to my Coarse DMT plate where I stopped. Typically this edge is good for high alloy steels but I quickly developed chipping and rolling in the edge. At first I placed blame on the things I cut throughout the day but after resharpening and continued rolling and chipping I knew something was wrong.
I've used different stone finishes and angles trying to resolve this problem but overall the steel feels a little on the soft side. The edge performance is hardly on par with VG-10 and my 908 in 154cm, nowhere close to S90V or 204P, even has S30V calling it names.
So, the real question is what to do now. I would like to think sending it in and getting the blade swapped out would fix the issue (if even possible) but what's not to say a whole batch of blades didn't received a botched HT? A pat on the back with a "she's fixed!" from BM might sound great but deep down I know the issue will not get properly resolved, no one digs that deep into a problem anymore.
I received the knife and being my first Grip I was excited to employ it as my new work/EDC knife. The first order of business was to give it a good edge, the factory edge was hardly more than a bump on the grinding wheel that would just begin to rip paper. I started with my 140 Atoma Plate and progressed to my Coarse DMT plate where I stopped. Typically this edge is good for high alloy steels but I quickly developed chipping and rolling in the edge. At first I placed blame on the things I cut throughout the day but after resharpening and continued rolling and chipping I knew something was wrong.
I've used different stone finishes and angles trying to resolve this problem but overall the steel feels a little on the soft side. The edge performance is hardly on par with VG-10 and my 908 in 154cm, nowhere close to S90V or 204P, even has S30V calling it names.
So, the real question is what to do now. I would like to think sending it in and getting the blade swapped out would fix the issue (if even possible) but what's not to say a whole batch of blades didn't received a botched HT? A pat on the back with a "she's fixed!" from BM might sound great but deep down I know the issue will not get properly resolved, no one digs that deep into a problem anymore.