Spyderco hardness testing, PM2, Para 3, Shaman and Mule Team. Cruwear, S45VN, K390 and Z Wear.

Spyderco hardness testing, PM2, Para 3, Mule Team and Shaman with a bonus Gerber S30V. These are all 5 test average hardness scores. Some you have already viewed a video of the edge retention testing and the others are coming.
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Edge retention testing data sheets
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
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As always I appreciate your time and thanks for watching.

[@rustycleaver8231]

I’m not surprised the S45VN was over 61. I have been using the heck out of my PM2 in S45 and it has been a champ. Over a month of use and only stropped it once.

[@matusknives]

Thanks for doing all the measurements and sharing the data. Just to add one more data point. I got a used k390 PM2 and it was hardness tested by its previous owner. I was told that the two values were 63.0 and 63.5.

[@Outpost_76]

Thank you, all the K390 PM2'S I've seen hardness tested have been between 63 and 64.5.

[@W5rr2nG]

Perfect man. Love the hard work you do for our community Gerald!

[@Outpost_76]

Thank you

[@glockgaston2922]

Good video G!! Thanks for all your testing and thanks for sharing brother!!👊

[@Outpost_76]

Thank you and you're welcome.

[@billoliver2251]

Awesome video and loads of great info Sir. Thank you very much. Keep em coming

[@Outpost_76]

Thank you and you're welcome.

[@joshuabriggs7114]

You're an invaluable resource G! Thank you for these data points :)

[@Outpost_76]

You're welcome

[@darrenkirk6576]

Another gr8 vid mate, well done.. the info you gather and share is invaluable. And its very interesting to see just how a good heat treat compares to a mediocre one. Not just in performance, but in sharpening, burr removal ect. As always mate, thankyou and look forward to seeing more of your work.🍻👍

[@Outpost_76]

Thank you,, I appreciate that. I'm going to talk about heat treats in particular in a video very soon.

[@benjaminkim7693]

Wow I want that zmax mule! Thanks for the content, was very qurious on the hrc for cruwear and k390 also s45 shockingly ran hard! Pretty cool

[@theknifeconnection9571]

I could of guessed harder. My s45 para 3. Is insane to me. I went outside and beat the crap out of it on all diff kinds of dry woods and live woods. Cut some Manila rope and some sisial rope or however it’s spelt. Then I even shaved some brass And cut some rubber. I couldn’t believe after all that plus some cardboard. That the edge didn’t seem to change one bit.

[@mikeziter501]

Pete from Cedric and Ada sent me. I am glad he did. You have an excited new sub :)

[@Outpost_76]

Thank you, I appreciate it.

[@Joshuamorris256]

I love the cruewear on my Adamas and mini Adamas. So a pm2 in cruewear is my next target.

[@fawazalazmi8313]

Nice video keep it up well done

[@Outpost_76]

Thank you

[@BrandonGavin_EDC]

Hope you are doing ok Outpost! I’d love to see some new videos soon. But first I hope your okay, been a long time.

[@allthingsknives]

Great video I’m gonna do a carry of the dlt, knife center and the new pm2 in Cruwear to compare the 3

[@Outpost_76]

You will see the difference

[@Joshuamorris256]

I love spydercos spy27! At first I thought it would be like s90v to sharpen. And thankfully it was not, it took a edge very well. I can tell it is really hard but way easier to sharpen than s90v.

[@chrisblair3081]

Love my cru-carta pm2!

[@paulootouro5348]

Really looking forward to your analysis of cru at different hardness. Good luck on the move, it’s always a bitch but exciting

[@Outpost_76]

Thank you, moving as far away as I am is a lot of work. It's so much easier to just move local.

[@nebulamask81]

They look so cute with dimples

[@bryancbailey]

I was really surprised when I took the Micarta scales off my z-wear shamans and put factory G10 scales on them… blade play disappeared and action improved.

[@Outpost_76]

The g10 will be machined much flatter than micarta and I've seen the same thing going from g19 to micarta and back to g10 on the same knife.

[@theknifeconnection9571]

G19. Damn. Lemme get soma dat

[@sonofliberty78]

You could probably fix those issues with your micarta scales by sanding them a little, (on the insides, especially around the pivot area). I did that for my M4carta Shaman, and now my blade is perfectly centered, it has zero play, and the action is silky smooth.

[@totallyrandomstuffandrevie9609]

Say Gerald, I don't suppose you have any info on the hrc of a Bradford guardian 3.5 in cruwear do you ? I have one and suspect it may be run a little soft. At least that's how it felt during sharpening. Thanks for all your hard work and excellent vids. You do what us mortal knife needs cant.

[@Outpost_76]

I did see one tested and it was soft for Cruwear. I don't want to say an exact number but I believe it was between 59 and 60. Bradford steels are all run soft in every hardness test I've seen. That goes for M390, V4E and Cruwear. The N690 and D2 I have not seen a hardness test on yet.

[@ccoop2416]

Would like to see you test the new run of native 5's in rex45 from gpknives they are still in stock and for $126 it's cheaper than the s30v original version

[@fit4knives882]

Great video. Lots of useful info. I have some cheaper blades I would love to know the true hardness on. You never know with the cheaper stuff.

[@Outpost_76]

Once I get settled in Tennessee I'll gwt with you and test what you would like a hardness on. I'm curious to see how the hardness falls in with the testing and use you have done.

[@fit4knives882]

@@Outpost_76 That sounds great! Thank you very much.

[@Outpost_76]

@@fit4knives882 you're welcome

[@danachadwick4919]

@@Outpost_76 what part of TN?

[@Outpost_76]

@@danachadwick4919 west side between Memphis and Nashville.

[@garybrown7890]

Would be interesting to see the difference between coated DLT Cruwear PM2 run and the newer satin finished PM2. I wonder if the satin edition is also slightly harder. If you have the satin version I'd love to see that result. Thanks for putting this out there!

[@Outpost_76]

I'll put it in the next hardness video and they are different.

[@garybrown7890]

Awesome! Looking forward to it 👍

[@garybrown7890]

Hey! Any update on this? I read somewhere that the satin was run harder, but not sure if this is accurate or consistent accross the entire run (supposedly they made a lot of the satin version). Thanks!

[@chawenhalo0089]

Loving this CruCarta. Apart from an old Umnumzaan it's my first experience with an "exotic" steel. Looks like my old blue stone for fine sharpening Japanese kitchen knives isn't going to cut it😅. Any advice for stone material and grit level please?

[@Outpost_76]

I use diamond plates or Venev resin bonded diamond stones for just about everything. I have used Edge Pro stones as well and Spyderco sharp maker medium and fine stones will get it done.

[@chawenhalo0089]

@@Outpost_76 Thanks, si on those steels it's OK to jump from 800 grit on the sharpmaker (max I've on the upgrade kit) to stopping on leather? I'm used to natural stones 1000 - 3000 600 for redoing the edge on a chipped or completely blunt knife. I thought this a bit weird, I must be missing something 😔

[@briand563]

The skinny mod looks pretty good. I really wana get my hands on the new crucarta pm2. and a K390 pm2 also. but really want the crucarta lol they won't stay in stock damn it lol

[@Outpost_76]

Being regular production once the hype settles down it shoukd be easy to find.

[@briand563]

also i want a satin 10V pm2. After those 3 i will move on from the Pm2 and chase something else lol. Maybe more para 3s

[@briand563]

@@Outpost_76 That's what I'm hoping. might take awhile. ill get one eventually

[@steeltoez8345]

@@briand563 i got my crucarta pm2 from sooner state knives. Its still in stock from what i can tell.

[@briand563]

@@steeltoez8345 Hey man! Thanks for the heads up! I will check it out! 👍

[@Zaque-TV]

You should send that shaman in for them to fix

[@leotam3372]

I'm curious how Kizer has been doing with their new 4V and 10V offerings

[@Outpost_76]

That's a good question and I did test the 4V Sheepdog. I'll talk about it in another video. The 10V will be a little bit but I do have at least one coming to test the hardness.

[@poorboysedcandflashlights5934]

Have you got any videos of actually testing the hrc? I’ve got a Kunwu Padre in Vanax I would like to get tested

[@Outpost_76]

I haven't done any videos using my hardness tester. I'm not sure how much interest there is for that.

[@poorboysedcandflashlights5934]

@@Outpost_76 I’d love to see it myself!! I’m all about retention!!

[@robertphillips3833]

Question. Do you use KME to sharpen? Or some other system ?

[@Outpost_76]

All my testing I use a KME to sharpen. My user stuff is mostly freehand.

[@Hvac.tools_]

where can i find the manufactured date on the blade?

[@Outpost_76]

Once you take the knife apart all Golden Spyderco have a date on the blade near the pivot hole. Newer Manix 2 they can be seen through the lock hole when opening.

[@vaugith1719]

Interesting to see spydercos range of heat treat, from their cruwear over time to the k390 seki vs golden. I'm going to have to sit down and cross reference videos and compare. I just got a MT35 in! Saw sal posted the target HRC on the forums... I won't spoil it for ya since you said you don't like to know before a test. The new Native salt is in MC too! Do you have any Spyderco MC lined up to test yet?

[@Outpost_76]

I did see that Larrins tested at 62.5. I'm not sure what the target was they went for. Roman is still testing but has said around 64.5 is a good place for Magnacut.

[@ryanh6378]

Did you get a MagnaCut Mule to do some testing on?

[@Outpost_76]

I didn't but I will have one coming to get a hardness on. I'll see if I can test it for wear resistance as well.

[@ryanh6378]

@Outpost 76 can't wait to see it! I was lucky enough to get 2 and was thinking of thinking of testing 1. If you need a loaner for testing let me know.

[@Outpost_76]

@@ryanh6378 thank you, I will be happy to test it in a few weeks when I'm moved to Tennessee.

[@monkpato]

Do you find the K390 rather easy to sharpen? Mine sharpens very easily which makes me doubt the HRC.

[@Outpost_76]

All the K390 I have is easy to sharpen and they vary from 64 to 66.5 hrc.

[@monkpato]

@@Outpost_76 good to know. I heard there were issues with the PM2 K390 but hopefully it's fine.

[@smithbilly1985]

My cruwear micarta pm2 says 9-21-C. I wonder what the C is for. All my others just have the date.

[@Outpost_76]

I don't recall what the C is for, I did know at one time. I've had many apart and some have a C and others don't. A couple of these I tested were that way too.

[@gustafari6241]

What is the optimal hardness for each steel?

[@Outpost_76]

Intended use will help determine where you would want the hardness but I'll use all folding knives as an example. K390 I'd like to see at 64 rc or higher. Cruwear at 63 to 64 rc, Z Wear is Cruwear so the same applies. Z Maxx 68 to 70. S45VN is too new and I'm not sure how much better it would be run even harder and last S30V at 61 rc or above. These are all Wear resistance driven numbers and in a folder that's a big part of what I'm looking for along with edge stability.

[@concealmenttraining9371]

Any blade play on the pm2's?

[@Outpost_76]

Some do and some don't, it's an Individual knife basis. I have one that. No matter how tight the pivot is it has play to 2 that are perfect examples with no play. Para 3 are the same way. Imay do a video about this since the satin purple g10 Cruwear has a blade issue I need to fix.

[@aah4764]

Who is this Cody you mention? Thanks.

[@Outpost_76]

Steel 2 Stone here on KZbin , that's Cody.

[@aah4764]

Thanks!

[@Outpost_76]

@@aah4764 you're welcome

[@nandayane]

I gave up on buying mules, They drop fast and sell out faster.

[@Outpost_76]

The check out process isn't user friendly either.

[@nandayane]

@@Outpost_76 honestly it feels like they should take pre-orders limit 1 per customer. I don’t have time to keep up with the hustle.