I like the SOG Seal XR. One note on sharp jimping, or deepened/spaced jimping on the spine, sharper jimping specifically on a raised portion or thumb ramp will achieve pocket deployment/"wave" opening potential. Another non pocket catch cutout, or separate hardware enabling plate or similar hardware variation/mod reliant means is often achievable if the thumbstuds exceed/portrude past the width of the frame. I can usually tell by a picture whether this will be a potential for a given model. Placement, and shape can reduce the size/proportions of the studs necessary to potentiate the capability. I have been playing with some prototypes to create cool, personalized, ornamental mod hardware from a number of beads for jewelry and lanyard making pieces, that have a shape/concavity/size and often an asset or benefit to a more secured/versatile ergonomic stability, and actually accommodate and enhance that in use, added and improved alternate opening options, improve different grips and offer a more comfortable digit placement or rests, and at the very least do not impede on draw/grip/performance or repocketing. My first go was a skull with an Aztec headdress, where the mouth of the skull was the "wave" facilitatot on a CS Recon. I have found the heads of dragons, Dogs, other skulls, crocodiles, chamelions, etc. I have basically scoured niche depths to find pieces that are sized and shaped to be cool, effective and conducive to attachment with minor material removal. Also have played with a couple thumb disc swaps where certain pre-drilled portions on the spine for the discs are easily replaced with correctly sized and drilled perfectly. But I wouldn't mind designing original or custom mods that would require drilling DIY into thicker spined blades. I have been lucky random hunches in finds that added a lot more character and function with wild anesthetics, and fit perfectly for different models, thru cutouts, in conjunction with studs, discs, ramps or just affixing to spines. It's fun to have a skull's open jaw as a blade catch, or animals of all sorts, even Geiger mods ...
The Harnds Beak is a budget S curve in 14C that really stands out in ergos, well placed and plentiful jimping where you want it. I do like raised subjimping on the spine where it meets the blade. It's awesome when it's well thought out for multiple grips, and precision or force desired. The more, the better. Don't understand why so many add pointless, minimal or tractionless jimping
You sure on that? 10Cr15MoV is the same as VG10. AUS-10 is a competitor to VG10, but doesn't perform as well. I will agree that AUS-10 has 0.2% vanadium in the mix that 440C doesn't, but it lacks the cobalt. Performance-wise, I see most everywhere considers it to perform on par with 440C, with VG10 being superior (closer to 154CM/ATS-34).
@@JerryLoffelbein Hi Jerry, AUS-10 and VG-10 are very similar in both performance and chemical composition. Those two plus 10Cr15MoV are essentially siblings, like 154CM vs ATS34 vs 14-4CrMo (Labrobe's version of 154CM)
@@JerryLoffelbein The challenge with comparing AUS-10 to 440C is that the base stainless steel family of them are different. AUS-10 and others in the AUS family are based on 420 series of stainless steel, whereas 440C belongs to the 440 family. Personally I like AUS-10 quite a bit over 440C😁
Just got the two sun vandal to finally spidey flick . Thumb flick is easy but spidey flick took a minute . Only works for me at the bottom of the cutout pushing on the blade mostly flies right open , it’s even more awesome now . I did notice the blade has to be centered to thumb and spidey the blade . The pivot came loose the first week but a little blue loctite and gone . I don’t know if it broke in or I got gud at flicking the knife ? Anyways , it didn’t get rave reviews but is easily one of my favorites since it broke in . I liked it with just the button lock feature and how it hangs nice in gym shorts for summer , seriously 👍👍
I might get the kubey atlas next . Looks to be a knife we ll both like 👍. For what it offers it looks to be worth the $160 for it’s size too . It’s underrated imo . I can tell by it’s sizes and a cpl reviews .
I'm not familiar with your cut test procedures. Are these testing the factory edge or your sharpened edge? If your own edge, what do you do for sharpening? It's great to see the TS303 do so well because I have one, and I'll bet it is tough to sharpen. I always wonder about twosun's S90V because only a few models have it, and the TS128 Dynamo had terrible results by other reviewers. That was a while ago, so hopefully TS is getting better at their heat-treats - assuming they have any control of that. Thanks for your time and resources in testing, I appreciate it very much. Looking forward to the TS162 S90V results and any future cut tests. Thanks for sharing!
These cut tests are performed by cutting through 3/8" (9.53mm) twisted sisal rope onto a poly cutting board until the portion of the blade utilized catches when trying to slice through standard printer paper. Fairly similar to Pete from Cedric & Ada's channel. In general (and I'll mention if it's different for a model), I will reprofile the blade before cut testing. 20 degrees for simple stainless (440, xCrxMoV, 12C27, etc.), 17 degrees for upscale ingot steels (154CM, 14C28N, Nitro-V, D2, etc.) and 15 degrees for powder metallurgy steels. In this particular set, the Spyderco was using the factory edge. I sharpened it afterward, and it luckily was already set at 15 degrees at the factory, but I could probably eek out a little more performance after the sharpening. My TS128 also has abysmal performance, but it's also a much older sample, like the other reviewers ones. It got 300 cuts, which did worse than a 12C27 blade from them. Since they still manufacture that knife, I'm tempted to buy a newer one and put it through the same paces to see if there's improvements. (Speculation) Amazingly, the recent TwoSuns I've tested that have great results (TS303 in M390, TS261 in S110V & TS162 in S90V) haven't been difficult to sharpen. My assumption on that is that they harden them a touch softer than some other companies. Their microcrystalline structure seems to be great though, and together that causes them to roll rather than chip (especially with S90V & S110V). When you combine that with a thin cutting geometry, it will continue to slice paper more efficiently than a chipped/flattened cutting surface that will snag on the paper. BTW, the TS162 is now up to 2500 cuts and still going!
@@JerryLoffelbein thanks so much for the detailed reply! I should really should go back and watch more of your older videos which might’ve answered my questions. These insights are interesting and incentivize my already unhealthy addiction to Twosuns!
Excellent work, always digg your presentation and delivery. Any guess where the Velona in 14C would stack in comparison? And have you cut tested your TS224? Can't recall if you got that in M390 or 14C. I just got that beauty in M390, and finally nabbed a Cobra. Both are marvels to behold, but the Cobra is kind of blowing my mind. Also got a Jelly Jerry 'Delta' from Kizer in s35 that has a fairly similar vibe as the 224 aesthetically, gorgeous pairing. AUS-10 is compared to 440C, but taken up a notch. Cold Steel and Kubey are really the only companies that have been known to use the hell out of it, and both in my experience and some testing I've seen done more clinically, show them to kick some serious ass. CS uses AUS-10A of course, which is kind of a weird signifier, as 440A is the lowest grade of 440, but it is apparently the same composition as AUS-10. Been blown away by some of your results, especially that TwoSun Oval in 14C and this M390 303. That classic s90v Wong design is performing refreshingly well. Have you tested any s35vn, or have any experience with any models/brands s35 that stands out as particularly excellent or horrible? Thanks brother, hella appreciation and respect
My TS224 is in 14C28N. There's been some Kizers I have that were available in S35VN, but I ended up getting them in differing steels (3V, 4V & 10V) I have much more experience with S30V than S35VN, but I'm looking to change that. Just got ahold of an Artisan Cutlery Sirius in the stuff, and I have others I should get around to testing (Spyderco China, Case, Civivi, Boker +, and a couple Cold Steel that aren't practical for rope cutting). I've reprofiled them all to 15 degrees, and the Case and Boker + took much longer than the others to complete, which makes me think they're a higher HRC than the others. An indicator, but not proof that the edges will last longer.
@@JerryLoffelbein I got the Critical Mini in 3V, and have an XL Cormorant in 3V on the way. Alzo have the C01C in 4V, and the mini. I am planning to get one of those awesome DLCed 10V C01Cs while I can. I was lucky enough to acquire 2 PM2s, a Manix 2,, and Native 5 in DLCed 4V, because it was only months before I saw them selling for hundreds more than I'd paid. Would love to see an exclusive Sheepdog XL in 4V. Also have 3 Maxace Mammoths in V4E. Was a steel of obsession at the time. I just noticed the Resilience is up there in size with the P4/Military, and not a lockback, so very curious about that s35 performance. Would like to see a damned DLC/PVD option on one of the K390 family, I love that steel, but some corrosion protection would be nice, and sensible. Maybe do gym class gauge rope cut testing with the Cold Steels!
Twosuns m390 and S90v is spotty some good, some ok and some bad. I have sharpened some Twosun m390 that is amazing and some that is bad.. my ts129 was terrible m390 lol sold it and ordered me one for aliexpress in 14c28n and it's lovely.
Absolutely! I've had some VERY disappointing M390 and S90V from TwoSun (mostly, but not exclusively, older models). In general, it's why I end up doing more cut tests from that company than others.
Great testing, really curious what the hrc on that 303 is. I actually returned my TS162 because of slightly sharp edges on the handle and the new bead blast they did. Seems like they're changing the finish on a lot of re-releases without updating the photos. Recently got the TS129 - m390 and its stonewashed instead of satin.
I'm guessing it's a little softer than a lot of other companies aim for. It's fairly easy to resharpen. I think that's the case as the edge eventually rolled too far, rather than chipped/flattened out, and a thin slightly-rolled edge can still slice paper more efficiently. I know they changed the finish on newer TS380's from bead blast to satin. Wonder why they're changing up finishes so frequently right now.
@@JerryLoffelbein Maybe to make it so we collect all the different finishes. I mean this whole knife thing started with me loving my ganzo knife except for the pocket clip. So I looked for something to replace it, and here I am 4 months later with 30 more knives and two sharpening systems.
The Spidie in M4 was on it's factory edge (amazingly, it was set to 15 degrees from the factory, which is what I sharpened it to afterward). The rest of them were reprofiled and sharpened before the test. In general, simple stainless (AUS-x, 440C, xCrxMoV) I'll profile to 20 degrees, higher end ingot steels (D2, 14C, Nitro-V, 154CM, etc) is sharpened to 17 degrees & almost all powder metallurgy I do at 15 degrees.
That's crazy high numbers on the Miguron Velona. Do you know what angle the edge was sharpened to on your cut test? I know Outpost76 did not like his DC53 when he tested it out and it kept blunting on him. I sharpened my own Velona to 19° perside on my wicked edge gen 3 and stropped it up nicely with 9 micron Gunny Juice then broke down about 8 very large Chewie delivery boxes into small 2" wide but 6" long strips and that had to have been a few hundred cuts and it was perfectly fine after
I'd sharpened it to 17 degrees on the Worksharp Precision Adjust (with lapping films up to 1 micron). It's possible Outpost76 either got a bad sample, or I got an exceptional one. With their inconsistent swedge grinds on the Velona and Vaso, it wouldn't surprise me if their heat treat might have been a bit inconsistent as well.
You would laugh at the little civivi odium I got today . , I did . So small dude . I mean it’s tiny . I can spidey flick it but don’t get it , the riffle is so much better
Congrats on 750, Jerry! 1K is right around the corner!!
Spyderco has the best jimping in the business no doubt!
100%
I like the SOG Seal XR. One note on sharp jimping, or deepened/spaced jimping on the spine, sharper jimping specifically on a raised portion or thumb ramp will achieve pocket deployment/"wave" opening potential. Another non pocket catch cutout, or separate hardware enabling plate or similar hardware variation/mod reliant means is often achievable if the thumbstuds exceed/portrude past the width of the frame. I can usually tell by a picture whether this will be a potential for a given model. Placement, and shape can reduce the size/proportions of the studs necessary to potentiate the capability. I have been playing with some prototypes to create cool, personalized, ornamental mod hardware from a number of beads for jewelry and lanyard making pieces, that have a shape/concavity/size and often an asset or benefit to a more secured/versatile ergonomic stability, and actually accommodate and enhance that in use, added and improved alternate opening options, improve different grips and offer a more comfortable digit placement or rests, and at the very least do not impede on draw/grip/performance or repocketing. My first go was a skull with an Aztec headdress, where the mouth of the skull was the "wave" facilitatot on a CS Recon. I have found the heads of dragons, Dogs, other skulls, crocodiles, chamelions, etc. I have basically scoured niche depths to find pieces that are sized and shaped to be cool, effective and conducive to attachment with minor material removal. Also have played with a couple thumb disc swaps where certain pre-drilled portions on the spine for the discs are easily replaced with correctly sized and drilled perfectly. But I wouldn't mind designing original or custom mods that would require drilling DIY into thicker spined blades. I have been lucky random hunches in finds that added a lot more character and function with wild anesthetics, and fit perfectly for different models, thru cutouts, in conjunction with studs, discs, ramps or just affixing to spines. It's fun to have a skull's open jaw as a blade catch, or animals of all sorts, even Geiger mods
...
The Harnds Beak is a budget S curve in 14C that really stands out in ergos, well placed and plentiful jimping where you want it. I do like raised subjimping on the spine where it meets the blade. It's awesome when it's well thought out for multiple grips, and precision or force desired. The more, the better. Don't understand why so many add pointless, minimal or tractionless jimping
Correction, AUS-10 is chemically equivalent to VG-10.
You sure on that? 10Cr15MoV is the same as VG10. AUS-10 is a competitor to VG10, but doesn't perform as well.
I will agree that AUS-10 has 0.2% vanadium in the mix that 440C doesn't, but it lacks the cobalt. Performance-wise, I see most everywhere considers it to perform on par with 440C, with VG10 being superior (closer to 154CM/ATS-34).
@@JerryLoffelbein Hi Jerry, AUS-10 and VG-10 are very similar in both performance and chemical composition. Those two plus 10Cr15MoV are essentially siblings, like 154CM vs ATS34 vs 14-4CrMo (Labrobe's version of 154CM)
@@JerryLoffelbein The challenge with comparing AUS-10 to 440C is that the base stainless steel family of them are different. AUS-10 and others in the AUS family are based on 420 series of stainless steel, whereas 440C belongs to the 440 family. Personally I like AUS-10 quite a bit over 440C😁
Just got the two sun vandal to finally spidey flick . Thumb flick is easy but spidey flick took a minute . Only works for me at the bottom of the cutout pushing on the blade mostly flies right open , it’s even more awesome now . I did notice the blade has to be centered to thumb and spidey the blade . The pivot came loose the first week but a little blue loctite and gone . I don’t know if it broke in or I got gud at flicking the knife ? Anyways , it didn’t get rave reviews but is easily one of my favorites since it broke in . I liked it with just the button lock feature and how it hangs nice in gym shorts for summer , seriously 👍👍
Them spider co s r badass
I might get the kubey atlas next . Looks to be a knife we ll both like 👍. For what it offers it looks to be worth the $160 for it’s size too . It’s underrated imo . I can tell by it’s sizes and a cpl reviews .
I'm not familiar with your cut test procedures. Are these testing the factory edge or your sharpened edge? If your own edge, what do you do for sharpening? It's great to see the TS303 do so well because I have one, and I'll bet it is tough to sharpen. I always wonder about twosun's S90V because only a few models have it, and the TS128 Dynamo had terrible results by other reviewers. That was a while ago, so hopefully TS is getting better at their heat-treats - assuming they have any control of that. Thanks for your time and resources in testing, I appreciate it very much. Looking forward to the TS162 S90V results and any future cut tests. Thanks for sharing!
These cut tests are performed by cutting through 3/8" (9.53mm) twisted sisal rope onto a poly cutting board until the portion of the blade utilized catches when trying to slice through standard printer paper. Fairly similar to Pete from Cedric & Ada's channel.
In general (and I'll mention if it's different for a model), I will reprofile the blade before cut testing. 20 degrees for simple stainless (440, xCrxMoV, 12C27, etc.), 17 degrees for upscale ingot steels (154CM, 14C28N, Nitro-V, D2, etc.) and 15 degrees for powder metallurgy steels.
In this particular set, the Spyderco was using the factory edge. I sharpened it afterward, and it luckily was already set at 15 degrees at the factory, but I could probably eek out a little more performance after the sharpening.
My TS128 also has abysmal performance, but it's also a much older sample, like the other reviewers ones. It got 300 cuts, which did worse than a 12C27 blade from them. Since they still manufacture that knife, I'm tempted to buy a newer one and put it through the same paces to see if there's improvements.
(Speculation)
Amazingly, the recent TwoSuns I've tested that have great results (TS303 in M390, TS261 in S110V & TS162 in S90V) haven't been difficult to sharpen. My assumption on that is that they harden them a touch softer than some other companies. Their microcrystalline structure seems to be great though, and together that causes them to roll rather than chip (especially with S90V & S110V). When you combine that with a thin cutting geometry, it will continue to slice paper more efficiently than a chipped/flattened cutting surface that will snag on the paper.
BTW, the TS162 is now up to 2500 cuts and still going!
@@JerryLoffelbein thanks so much for the detailed reply! I should really should go back and watch more of your older videos which might’ve answered my questions. These insights are interesting and incentivize my already unhealthy addiction to Twosuns!
Excellent work, always digg your presentation and delivery. Any guess where the Velona in 14C would stack in comparison? And have you cut tested your TS224? Can't recall if you got that in M390 or 14C. I just got that beauty in M390, and finally nabbed a Cobra. Both are marvels to behold, but the Cobra is kind of blowing my mind. Also got a Jelly Jerry 'Delta' from Kizer in s35 that has a fairly similar vibe as the 224 aesthetically, gorgeous pairing. AUS-10 is compared to 440C, but taken up a notch. Cold Steel and Kubey are really the only companies that have been known to use the hell out of it, and both in my experience and some testing I've seen done more clinically, show them to kick some serious ass. CS uses AUS-10A of course, which is kind of a weird signifier, as 440A is the lowest grade of 440, but it is apparently the same composition as AUS-10. Been blown away by some of your results, especially that TwoSun Oval in 14C and this M390 303. That classic s90v Wong design is performing refreshingly well. Have you tested any s35vn, or have any experience with any models/brands s35 that stands out as particularly excellent or horrible? Thanks brother, hella appreciation and respect
My TS224 is in 14C28N. There's been some Kizers I have that were available in S35VN, but I ended up getting them in differing steels (3V, 4V & 10V)
I have much more experience with S30V than S35VN, but I'm looking to change that. Just got ahold of an Artisan Cutlery Sirius in the stuff, and I have others I should get around to testing (Spyderco China, Case, Civivi, Boker +, and a couple Cold Steel that aren't practical for rope cutting). I've reprofiled them all to 15 degrees, and the Case and Boker + took much longer than the others to complete, which makes me think they're a higher HRC than the others. An indicator, but not proof that the edges will last longer.
@@JerryLoffelbein I got the Critical Mini in 3V, and have an XL Cormorant in 3V on the way. Alzo have the C01C in 4V, and the mini. I am planning to get one of those awesome DLCed 10V C01Cs while I can. I was lucky enough to acquire 2 PM2s, a Manix 2,, and Native 5 in DLCed 4V, because it was only months before I saw them selling for hundreds more than I'd paid. Would love to see an exclusive Sheepdog XL in 4V. Also have 3 Maxace Mammoths in V4E. Was a steel of obsession at the time. I just noticed the Resilience is up there in size with the P4/Military, and not a lockback, so very curious about that s35 performance. Would like to see a damned DLC/PVD option on one of the K390 family, I love that steel, but some corrosion protection would be nice, and sensible.
Maybe do gym class gauge rope cut testing with the Cold Steels!
Twosuns m390 and S90v is spotty some good, some ok and some bad. I have sharpened some Twosun m390 that is amazing and some that is bad.. my ts129 was terrible m390 lol sold it and ordered me one for aliexpress in 14c28n and it's lovely.
Absolutely! I've had some VERY disappointing M390 and S90V from TwoSun (mostly, but not exclusively, older models). In general, it's why I end up doing more cut tests from that company than others.
Great testing, really curious what the hrc on that 303 is. I actually returned my TS162 because of slightly sharp edges on the handle and the new bead blast they did. Seems like they're changing the finish on a lot of re-releases without updating the photos. Recently got the TS129 - m390 and its stonewashed instead of satin.
I'm guessing it's a little softer than a lot of other companies aim for. It's fairly easy to resharpen. I think that's the case as the edge eventually rolled too far, rather than chipped/flattened out, and a thin slightly-rolled edge can still slice paper more efficiently.
I know they changed the finish on newer TS380's from bead blast to satin. Wonder why they're changing up finishes so frequently right now.
@@JerryLoffelbein Maybe to make it so we collect all the different finishes. I mean this whole knife thing started with me loving my ganzo knife except for the pocket clip. So I looked for something to replace it, and here I am 4 months later with 30 more knives and two sharpening systems.
Are some of these on the factory edge and some not? Was the M4 spydie on its factory edge?
The Spidie in M4 was on it's factory edge (amazingly, it was set to 15 degrees from the factory, which is what I sharpened it to afterward).
The rest of them were reprofiled and sharpened before the test. In general, simple stainless (AUS-x, 440C, xCrxMoV) I'll profile to 20 degrees, higher end ingot steels (D2, 14C, Nitro-V, 154CM, etc) is sharpened to 17 degrees & almost all powder metallurgy I do at 15 degrees.
That's crazy high numbers on the Miguron Velona. Do you know what angle the edge was sharpened to on your cut test?
I know Outpost76 did not like his DC53 when he tested it out and it kept blunting on him.
I sharpened my own Velona to 19° perside on my wicked edge gen 3 and stropped it up nicely with 9 micron Gunny Juice then broke down about 8 very large Chewie delivery boxes into small 2" wide but 6" long strips and that had to have been a few hundred cuts and it was perfectly fine after
I'd sharpened it to 17 degrees on the Worksharp Precision Adjust (with lapping films up to 1 micron).
It's possible Outpost76 either got a bad sample, or I got an exceptional one. With their inconsistent swedge grinds on the Velona and Vaso, it wouldn't surprise me if their heat treat might have been a bit inconsistent as well.
You would laugh at the little civivi odium I got today . , I did . So small dude . I mean it’s tiny . I can spidey flick it but don’t get it , the riffle is so much better
alot of disinfo out there with ts m390...many are lying. Their HC is as good as it gets