VG-10 blade. Not very good edge retention

[Mr. Whippy]

Today, I had a chance to get out in the garden to clean up the asparagus patch.  The only blade I had on me was a blade with VG-10 steel.  There wasn't a lot of cutting to do, but the old dried up asparagus stalks had to be cut.  After 45 minutes of work, I was done for the day.  When I was cleaning up, I found that the edge had a LOT of burrs to the edge. 

To me, there wasn't a lot of work being done, but yet the VG-10 blade needed serious touching up. It didn't take long to clean it up. 

Is this typical of VG-10 blades?   I woulda thought this super steel would have better edge retention. 

[jzmtl]

Depends, are you working in dirt? There are enough abrasives in dirt to damage any steel if you cut into it.

[David Bowen]

I hear lots of good things about VG-10, I would think that is why Spyderco loves the stuff. I agree with jzmtl, dirt is really abrasives and I have no doubts that it didn't help your blade.

[Smitty44]

If its anything like a new s30v blade I have,it chipped the first time out,but after a good resharpening,I've never had a problem with it,good luck I've always heard good reports on the VG-10.
 &

[Witmen]

I EDC a VG10 Fallkniven A1.  I like it a lot.  Not sure of anything else to add to that really. 

[Sean]

Some of my Spyderco's are VG-10 and I find it not too bad however yes I can
dull it out fairly fast.  The only other steels I have pretty much are 154cm and
S30V.  Both those better than the VG10.  I'm not an expert at anything to do
with steel and edge geometry but in real world use S30V is pretty much the
only steel I can take out, use, and come back and not have to touch up on
the Sharpmaker. 

[Mr. Whippy]

Last summer, I used my MAK-1 for gardening.  I mean digging out roots,  prying out rocks, planting, the whole shooting match and it only needed the rare touch up.  This was a far cry from that level of abuse.

[Gadget Guy]

Strange...    I've had very good luck with VG-10 and I actually look for it on my Spyderco knives. I find it easy to sharpen and it holds an edge failry well. I guess I just don't use my knives hard enough.   

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

My F1 one will do the same thing sadly, but then I chose it because i knew the steel would roll rather than chip, so I'd say your knife behaved normally

[Mr. Whippy]

My F1 one will do the same thing sadly, but then I chose it because i knew the steel would roll rather than chip, so I'd say your knife behaved normally

Yes.  That's an excellent description of what the blade does.  Roll.  [sarcasm] Like aluminum foil [/sarcasm] 

Not the most useful characteristic for a farm knife, I must say...

[Benner]

I love VG-10.  No problems here at all.

What knife was it?

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

I'm guessing it's his Captain

[Mr. Whippy]

I'm guessing it's his Captain

Aye!  'Tis the Captain, argh!

My other Spyderco is ATS-55 which holds an edge much better.  (But sadly is serrated...)

Yes, VG-10 is easy to sharpen, but geeze, I'm a little put off by having to sharpen it after every use...

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

I'm guessing it's his Captain

Aye!  'Tis the Captain, argh!

My other Spyderco is ATS-55 which holds an edge much better.  (But sadly is serrated...)

Yes, VG-10 is easy to sharpen, but geeze, I'm a little put off by having to sharpen it after every use...

I tend to regard VG10 as being an improvement on Sak steel (which I too have to sharpen everyday pretty much ) but nowhere near the performance level's of true 'Super Steel's'.

[Sean]

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.

[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