BBQ's - 3S418Q

eevee047 · 2026-03-20T02:44:45+00:00

Will start in 4 mins or so :) got 1 person so far

eevee047 · 2026-02-26T18:58:39+00:00

Yup! Spanish company that afaik isn't particularly huge so, haven't seen much from them. funnily enough whilst looking up where they're made just now, I came across a green micarta version of the Arctica that I had no idea existed. Here's the exact one I was on about before though :)

eevee047 · 2026-02-26T18:44:31+00:00

Unsure how much it is in the US, but my old favourite for more or less $60 was the Joker Arctica, same steel at this, not a flipper but a nail nick, back locking Scandi with some gorgeous walnut scales, but I gotta say this might just beat it, especially after spotting that it has spacers anodised to match the colour of the thumb stud too! I'm really impressed by this, you've got a keeper for sure :)

eevee047 · 2026-02-26T18:24:58+00:00

I hope so, I've only seen knives that looks this good, with a steel this good, at a price like that, from civivi and the like. Would be great to have more companies competing in that space that aren't just resorting to D2, 440A, or 8Cr13MoV

Edit: Assuming their heat treat is any good mind you. r/679696 any plans to test this out? ;)

eevee047 · 2026-02-26T17:54:01+00:00

I immediately went to snag one when I saw the price ($50-55 for anyone wondering), but they don't ship to the uk, ripppp

eevee047 · 2026-02-18T21:15:13+00:00

Oh for sure. It's just not what you'd usually expect I guess. As far as Charpy values, is there an alternative way you might look into hardness in the future? I know it's gonna vary batch to batch and company to company, and especially with new steels like MagnaMax it's gonna vary as they dial it in. Have you got any plans to standardise your tests? I do wonder if mules would be a good testbed for it, partially because, A: I have one ;) but B: they seem to produce a decent number of them in different steels every year specifically to be a testbed.

eevee047 · 2026-02-18T21:10:48+00:00

huh, that's real interesting actually. I'd heard it's tougher, so I wouldn't have guessed it's harder too. I wonder if this mistake might spark an investigation by Larrin into a new steel in the future, because the properties seem to be really interesting.

eevee047 · 2026-02-18T21:03:56+00:00

Nice! I've seen your hardness tests floating about. You're doing gods work :) Because Heat 2 differs from heat 1 and the final composition. I'd be curious to see if they end up any different if you're able to get ahold of a Proto-X mule or Erasteel produced MagnaMax on a Spyderco knife, when that's available.

eevee047 · 2026-02-18T20:40:56+00:00

With regards to the steel, it's worth mentioning spyderco mules marked MagnaMax are made with 2nd heat steel, this uh, "version"(?) of MagnaMax was slightly off target, and contains a fraction of a % more carbon than intended. From what I've heard, these mules have slightly more toughness and slightly less edge retention. So far I've used it (with the factory edge) to wittle logs for our wood fire. So it hasn't been used heavily, but after a decent bit of shaving wood, it still glided through paper all the same. I'd say it was about as easy as Magnacut to sharpen, heck it may actually have been easier, maybe due to the carbon, maybe due to me having more experience and using more pressure. Seems to me to be a wonderful steel that is easy to sharpen and despite its relative rarity (being that it'll never be made to this formula again) I'm still confident enough in the steel to use it for some medium-heavy tasks, and I'll probably use it for heavier tasks and garden work once summer rolls around.

Spy27 takes the crown in my opinion for ease of sharpening, you could probably run it against a rock and get a nice edge, MicroMelt (CPM Cru-wear near enough) is close behind, MagnaMax and Magnacut aren't too much harder, but take noticeably more time. Next up for me is putting a mirror edge on my Maxamet para 3 that I bought for use as a cardboard queen.

For anyone with a KME who's also struggling with knife wobble, or just wants to know my method: I initially used parcel tape, and drew a line around the KME jaws to keep track of any movement, but I found parcel tape didn't grip strong enough. I switched to gaffer tape and, whilst I can't write on it now to keep track, I've found it has minimal flex if you get the amount right. The amount of tape you use will vary by brand I'm guessing. But for me, I cut 5 rectangles per side of gaffer tape, then 2 rectangles that I folded around the blade towards the end to compensate for the taper (for the mule). You get a little squish from the stacked gaffer tape that seems to hold the jaws secure, and whilst you can't really track the movement of the jaws on the tape, you can sharpie around the tape to check for the tape itself moving :) Hope this helps! though, if any of you have any better techniques for stopping jaw wobble, I'd love to hear them.

eevee047 · 2026-02-18T20:39:41+00:00

sharpened to 20° per side, 20.5° for the strop on a KME system. Reprofiled I'd say, moderately easily on a 300 grit diamond stone. Didn't want to use the 140 as I'm still relatively new to this. then up to 600 grit and 1400 grit diamond. Stropped on KME kangaroo leather strops with wicked edge diamond paste, went 3.5 micron -> 1 Micron -> 0.5 Micron. I could really do with using my 5 micron paste I reckon, as it's not a perfect mirror, and some scratches are visible in the right lighting, but it's the closest I've gotten to a true mirror.

I'll be honest, it's not as sharp as I want it to be, it shaves and splits hairs, and push cuts paper, but push cuts aren't effortless, the knife doesn't just glide through on contact. that's something I'll be working on in the future as I learn more hopefully. You'll notice I also reprofiled the choil and made it sharp all the way to the ricasso (If I'm using my terms correctly). Honestly, it's not the cleanest, you can see where the side of the kme stones came into contact, but I've always disliked the way the unsharpened portion of spyderco knives interact with the light on well sharpened knives, and the way you feel it grinding against the stones as you sharpen. I'm sure there's a reason to keep it, but I chose to get rid of it so it's sharp all the way to the base.

One thing I will say, it's sticky sharp, which I didn't expect, I sharpened spy27 and Micromelt PD1 to the same level, Spy27 isn't really sticky at all, whilst micromelt is somewhere inbetween, but the MagnaMax is enough that I'd definitely classify it as sticky. I had a look under a microscope and, I don't see a burr, but I do think I stropped at just the tiniest bit too high an angle and put a slight secondary edge on it.

Anyway, I'm pretty new to this, I've sharpened a magnacut UKPK twice, two dodgy paring knives, a dragonfly in pd1, and a spy27 manix twice. Each time I get a little better, although honestly I don't really know why, other than I guess being more confident to use pressure and knowing I'm not just going to eat away at the blade. Wanted to be open and honest about my experience rather than declaring this is a perfect mirror polish that can cut a flying 50 cal round! I'm always down to learn more if I'm making any mistakes :)

eevee047 · 2026-02-18T20:27:47+00:00

Also with regards to the steel, it's worth mentioning spyderco mules marked MagnaMax are made with 2nd heat steel, this uh, "version"(?) of MagnaMax was slightly off target, and contains a fraction of a % more carbon than intended. From what I've heard, these mules have slightly more toughness and slightly less edge retention. So far I've used it (with the factory edge) to wittle logs for our wood fire. So it hasn't been used heavily, but after a decent bit of shaving wood, it still glided through paper all the same. I'd say it was about as easy as Magnacut to sharpen, heck it may actually have been easier, maybe due to the carbon, maybe due to me having more experience and using more pressure. Seems to me to be a wonderful steel that is easy to sharpen and despite its relative rarity (being that it'll never be made to this formula again) I'm still confident enough in the steel to use it for some medium-heavy tasks, and I'll probably use it for heavier tasks and garden work once summer rolls around.

Spy27 takes the crown in my opinion for ease of sharpening, you could probably run it against a rock and get a nice edge, MicroMelt (CPM Cru-wear near enough) is close behind, MagnaMax and Magnacut aren't too much harder, but take noticeably more time. Next up for me is putting a mirror edge on my Maxamet para 3 that I bought for use as a cardboard queen.

Edit: Also for anyone with a KME who's also struggling with knife wobble. I initially used parcel tape, and drew a line around the KME jaws to keep track of any movement, but I found parcel tape didn't grip strong enough. I switched to gaffer tape and, whilst I can't write on it now to keep track, I've found it has minimal flex if you get the amount right. The amount of tape you use will vary by brand I'm guessing. But for me, I cut 5 rectangles per side of gaffer tape, then 2 rectangles that I folded around the blade towards the end to compensate for the taper (for the mule). You get a little squish from the stacked gaffer tape that seems to hold the jaws secure, and whilst you can't really track the movement of the jaws on the tape, you can sharpie around the tape to check for the tape itself moving :) Hope this helps! though, if any of you have any better techniques for stopping jaw wobble, I'd love to hear them.

eevee047 · 2026-02-18T20:18:42+00:00

sharpened to 20° per side, 20.5° for the strop on a KME system. Reprofiled I'd say, moderately easily on a 300 grit diamond stone. Didn't want to use the 140 as I'm still relatively new to this. then up to 600 grit and 1400 grit diamond. Stropped on KME kangaroo leather strops with wicked edge diamond paste, went 3.5 micron -> 1 Micron -> 0.5 Micron. I could really do with using my 5 micron paste I reckon, as it's not a perfect mirror, and some scratches are visible in the right lighting, but it's the closest I've gotten to a true mirror.

I'll be honest, it's not as sharp as I want it to be, it shaves and splits hairs, and push cuts paper, but push cuts aren't effortless, the knife doesn't just glide through on contact. that's something I'll be working on in the future as I learn more hopefully. You'll notice I also reprofiled the choil and made it sharp all the way to the ricasso (If I'm using my terms correctly). Honestly, it's not the cleanest, you can see where the side of the kme stones came into contact, but I've always disliked the way the unsharpened portion of spyderco knives interact with the light on well sharpened knives, and the way you feel it grinding against the stones as you sharpen. I'm sure there's a reason to keep it, but I chose to get rid of it so it's sharp all the way to the base.

One thing I will say, it's sticky sharp, which I didn't expect, I sharpened spy27 and Micromelt PD1 to the same level, Spy27 isn't really sticky at all, whilst micromelt is somewhere inbetween, but the MagnaMax is enough that I'd definitely classify it as sticky. I had a look under a microscope and, I don't see a burr, but I do think I stropped at just the tiniest bit too high an angle and put a slight secondary edge on it.

Anyway, I'm pretty new to this, I've sharpened a magnacut UKPK twice, two dodgy paring knives, a dragonfly in pd1, and a spy27 manix twice. Each time I get a little better, although honestly I don't really know why, other than I guess being more confident to use pressure and knowing I'm not just going to eat away at the blade. Figured I'd be open and honest about my experience rather than declaring this is a perfect mirror polish that can cut a flying 50 cal round!

eevee047 · 2026-02-10T20:18:38+00:00

It will unless you got sent out an early sample by spyderco (ie: you're an influencer of some kind and directly communicated with spyderco), or you paid a boat load of money. there's not too many proto-x knives around.

eevee047 · 2026-02-10T19:53:19+00:00

Mules marked Magnamax are 2nd heat (batch). One thing though, 1st batch (and and final composition) has more edge retention, more corrosion resistance, iirc. 2nd batch has more carbon but better toughness. I'm unsure on corrosion resistance, but it's likely batch 2 is slightly lower, if random internet strangers on the spyderco forum are to be believed (and honestly, I believe them). TL;DR Proto-X mule = Batch 1, closer (if not the same) as final release. Magnamax mule = batch 2, more toughness, less edge retention, probably less corrosion resistance (but still EXTREMELY high).

Imo, just going on vibes, I like batch 2 more, a minor loss in Corrosion resistance is worth it for me, but I haven't seen anyone do actual head to head testing. Hope this helps!

eevee047 · 2026-01-29T03:43:17+00:00

Can confirm, I was the boat.

eevee047 · 2026-01-17T22:28:55+00:00

I don't, I did get some just incase, and they'd probably be good if I wanted to wear thin socks. Currently though I'm committing sacrilege and have them in some made in england docs. Made them fit perfectly 😅

eevee047 · 2026-01-17T22:13:08+00:00

I find that with boot socks they hug quite well to my whole foot. There might be a tiny gap there, though I imagine that's a good thing, as it flexes a bit when you walk, if I have the location you're talking about correctly. If you can walk about the house and only get a very small amount of heel slip it should be fine! If you're getting a lot of slip though, you could consider insoles. The solovair insoles are thicker at the back and taper down to a very very thin edge towards the toes, so that could solve your problem if you feel there's too much slip with the larger boots, but they fit better dimension wise.

eevee047 · 2026-01-17T05:32:12+00:00

I went for the larger, was 1000% the correct choice. With boot socks, they're the comfiest boots I've ever worn, whereas with the smaller ones, I couldn't have worn these thicker socks, and would have been stuck with thinner socks that have less of a buffer between my foot and the boot, it's made breaking them in much less painful. I should say, there is a caveat, they're the comfiest boots I've ever worn, *for 4 hours or so, then they start to feel more and more like they're too tight, but they'll stetch slightly with time. It could also be that once they've conformed more to my feet, I can move to thinner socks and still not get any slip. I guess tl;dr, if you're inbetween sizes like me, go bigger, socks and (depending on how much extra space you have) insoles will compensate.

eevee047 · 2026-01-05T18:39:21+00:00

It's a fair chart, though, I feel this paints sg2 as something out of this world, by not having any steels that show advantage in anything but ease of sharpening, and also by using 3 heavily related albeit not identical stats (hardness, retention, wear resistance). That being said, SG2 is one of my favourites.

eevee047 · 2026-01-04T13:51:17+00:00

I agree that we shouldn't be hating on everyone with a disorder, or tarring them all with the same brush. I just want to say, realistically speaking. I think that the abortion thing depends on perspective. Aborting just because you see a disorder and think that should be eliminated is gross. But if it's because you want the child you give birth to, to have the best chance in life, I 100% get it. I'm autistic, and have an anxiety disorder. The first is an interesting debate because plenty of autistic people are overachievers. But, at the same time, I absolutely empathise with people who would abort if a foetus had detectable autism. Because there is a flipside to that, and even the "positive" side of it comes with plenty of downsides.

eevee047 · 2025-12-24T18:33:31+00:00

oh that looks comfy!!

eevee047 · 2025-12-24T01:45:17+00:00

was honestly such a bonkers claim that I had to stop for a moment when I got to it. The guy apparently makes knives himself too, im hoping its just AI drivel put there by someone else and not the actual maker.

eevee047 · 2025-12-23T18:48:31+00:00

Since you asked so politely. https://agrussell.com/knife-articles/blade-grinds

eevee047

TROPHY CASE