VG-10 blade. Not very good edge retention

[Mr. Whippy]

Soil is really bad for blades.  I took my Byrd Raven out in the yard one day and had to till up
a bit of soil.  After a dozen or so strokes into the dirt you could have used it as a training
knife.    I wouldn't have expected anything less of it though.

Cutting asparagus is not really "in the dirt".  In contrast, my MAK-1 was prying rocks out of the ground and digging up large rooted weeds.  I only had to touch up the MAK-1 edge once a month or so.

[thebullfrog]

I have a SOG Vulcan. I love the VG-10. I used to use it to cut cardboard with it for 8 hours a day. Of course I'd run into staples etc. all the time. Cut those plastic bands they use on pallets. Cut some telephone cord with it. Never had a single problem.

[jzmtl]

Soil is really bad for blades.  I took my Byrd Raven out in the yard one day and had to till up
a bit of soil.  After a dozen or so strokes into the dirt you could have used it as a training
knife.    I wouldn't have expected anything less of it though.

Cutting asparagus is not really "in the dirt".  In contrast, my MAK-1 was prying rocks out of the ground and digging up large rooted weeds.  I only had to touch up the MAK-1 edge once a month or so.

Try it again after sharpening see if it happens again.

[crls1]

Have you try to put a mirror finish in the edge? I'm sure that will improve edge retention a lot (I do that to all my VG-10 knives, and never had a problem).

Carlos

[David]

If your knife still has or close to the very steep thin factory edge I`m not surprised it rolled over. Dried, hard asparagus stalks isnt exactly light duty for that type of edge. When you put a good working edge on it you shouldnt have that problem.

[Mr. Whippy]

If your knife still has or close to the very steep thin factory edge I`m not surprised it rolled over. Dried, hard asparagus stalks isnt exactly light duty for that type of edge. When you put a good working edge on it you shouldnt have that problem.

Interesting point...

I've been only touching up the original factory edge using the Sharpmaker, but only with the fine ceramic stones, since that's all it seemed to need.

Maybe I'll get a bit more aggressive with the honing the edge a bit on the coarse stones and see if that changes things a bit.

Good info! 

[GraysonK]

Hey Mr. Whippy,
I don't know if this is normal or even correct, but when I had a VG-10 blade, it did that quite a bit when I first started using it but after 3 or 4 times sharpening it, it seemed to hold it's edge better.  maybe I got better at sharpening.  

[TangoDown]

Heat treat is very important. It needs a proper heat treat like any steel. If it is done right, VG-10 should not have edge retention issues. If it does dull fast, then many of the better steels will also.

My Spyderco Endura 4 had awesome edge retention. almost as good as my knives that had S30V. Much better than my Mini Grip in 154CM. Took almost as long as my S30V's to sharpen with my DMT Diamonds.

Want superior edge retention, go with ZDP-189.

[Mr. Whippy]

Update:

Taking David's advice, I've been using and resharpening my Spyderco Captain to a standard Sharpmaker angle.  Importantly, I can only use the corners on the main part of the blade, due to the curvature of the blade.

However, it appears to be holding a cutting edge much better since starting this practice.  I may have to recant my VG-10 lament. 

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Good to hear mate

[Splat]

Indeed, heat treating is practically more important than the steel being used. About dirt, I use my AUS8 blade digging thru dirt every now and then and it hold up pretty well. No major refinement needed. If I had my druthers..... all my steel would be D2.