Your sharpening skills are incredible. I’ve seen plenty of your videos, but it still amazes me how sharp you can get pretty much any knife. That para3 is the best one I’ve seen so far. Thanks for another great video
Excellent Vid Michael! Love 204p! For a high carbide steel it is easy to get a vorpal edge. Really like the 3000/UF combo. Will have to get one of those. How about that Shawn guy!? He's a super good dude for sure!
I wanted that model so damn bad, but unfortunately, I was not able to get in on it..they went damn fast! I did thankfully, get a Para3 in the rex45 run though. I wanted that Rivers Edge one though, because it looks so great, and 204p is a great steel. Love the look of the green g10 against the bronzed hardware and blade. Throw a after market bronzed clip, and bamm you got one sweet looking knife!
Hey Michael, thanks for another great informative video. I like to watch your take on knife steels before I bite the bullet and make the purchase. I’m lucky enough to say I just picked up the REC PM2 in 204P. Ant wait to get it in my hand and pocket. I hope to one day be as good as you at sharpening!!! Any chance of a video with different steels and most appropriate wet stones, diamond plates, ceramics etc etc. I have a ZDP 189 endura that just doesn’t like diamond plates! Does that sound like something you’ve found? I have to use a wet stone to get an edge (obviously could just be my technique!). Thanks again!!! :)
Another solid video! I commented some months back on your pocket sharpeners video about Ken cutting Spyderco UF’s. Been wanting a new sharpener to throw in my work bag. I saw the CBN/Fine the factory is offering but this seems like a better fit. Feel like a shorter version will withstand being pocket carried since it has metal backing? Awesome gesture, Big Brown bear.
I use an old toothbrush to scrub off tape and cardboard guts myself. Hasn't failed me yet. I never liked the pocket clip orientation for the para 3 so I put off buying it forever. Since I picked up the jade m4 para 3 a month ago I have had a change of heart. I personally clip it to my front right belt loop and that does the trick for me. I understand why folks get the aftermarket clips cuz that's probably the only weakness on the para 3 platform IMO. Aside from having 20 sprint runs to cherry pick from of course. I definitely see more para 3s in my future but I will likely pass on this one. Awesome vid tho.
Very informative, as usual. I am curious about how do you sharpen the last bit of the blade. Do you square up to the ricasso, or do you leave the last 1/16 unsharpened. I assume you don't put in a notch. Thanks.
That's a really generous gift, Big Brown Bear. Cudos to you. Great video, Michael! Interesting as always. You are filling the void for me, that Cliff Stamp left on UA-cam. What's your opinion about PVD coatings in general? What would you compare it with? CRK moved from the trusted and loved (at least by me) KG Gun-Kote to PVD coatings in fde or dark grey about 1 1/2 years ago. They only use coatings in the Pacific and Green Beret fixed blades as far as I know, so I don't know if you made any experiences with the KG Gun-Kote: When new, it feels like a super fine and well used diamond stone; in use, it just smoothens out and hardly shows any signs of wear and stays on the knife pretty much forever. The thing with these blades is that the new, PVD-coated models come with serrations as an option, the old ones had them mandatory. That fact alone makes the "new" models interesting for me - at least the Pacific. The thing that would make or break it for me is the PVD coating. Do you think it would still hold up fine in a 6 1/2 inch blade partially used for chopping and splitting?
Mopar HEMI I don’t know how it would hold up in that use. I’ve seen ESEE’s coating break down, and that’s extremely tough. But I don’t think it would hurt to have the coating on there.
Thanks for the reply. I have experience with ESEE's powder coating through a few of mine (the black one seems to hold up better than the one with the sand coloration, for example), but having tested the KG Gun-Kote on my old CRK Pacific, I can say with confidence, that it isn't even worth the comparison. The price of CRK's blades puts them into competition with similar quality knives, that are made out of similar quality steels (arguably even better ones), which wear DLC coatings. I'd wish I knew how a PVD coating would stack up to DLC and KG.
Sean B I like all three for different times. In a Work setting, the Para 3 is what I prefer because it’s more acceptable to non-knife people, so the Para 3 ends up getting carried a lot. I’m not sure if I could choose between them.
That was an awesome gift, Shawn is a great guy. Have you used the Portland Knife House 1 micron diamond spray? That stuff is amazing in my opinion. Nice idea on the pocket stone, I might have to as Ken to make me something similar. How is the cutting speed and polish on the KS 3k diamond vs the DMT EEF?
Yehoshua D. Stone I think Ken’s stone is more consistent. Not much polish off of diamond, but with the diamond, UF and 1 mic strop, 204p came up pretty polished.
Informative as usual. With all of Spyderco's sprint runs, its hard not to get in on the action. I've been looking into purchasing a mule team blade in CTS B70P. Do you have any experience with this steel? I'm attracted to it because I've never seen a production folder with this steel.
Hey mike question for ya........ I'm interested in getting the spyderco para 2 in 5200 steel will it pake a pitina like 1095....... I'm looking to pick it up but I want to force the patina on it thanks mike..........
Thanks for the video. I’m a lineman in Miami so my knife gets hard use I also sweat on it , get rained on and of coarse humidity . I also cut tie wraps with it and occasionally bang it against something else .As a matter of fact I just got a manix s110 and chipped the tip off on my very first try. So any how what do you think is the best combination of toughness, stainless and edge retention?
Michael Christy Well...let me know. I got one early from KP and was on reserved list from Rivers edge (which came in) Brian and his company are tiptop....so I ended up with NIB second I need to trade or sell at cost.
Michael Christy I can get hap 40 to whittle hair ( thanks to your videos) freehand. I’ve had at least 2 knives in 20 cv now. Neither of them sharpen as well as m390. It is more like s110 or something. It’s just a pain in the ass. I like my edges to be sticky. I can’t seem to ge5 20cv there
PowerMadHeadBanger I’ll give edge retention to 154cm, toughness to VG-10. Those two should be similar in corrosion resistance. But if you can, I’d get CPM-154.
Do you prefer S90v to 204p? Most people prefer 204p because it sharpens well and seems to hold a razor edge longer. But when you sharpen S90v keeps a razor edge best 🤣. I have finally found that if I back off the bevel and concentrate on my microbevel. S90v can get very sharp. This is after lots of practice. What do you feel holds a razor edge longer? Why do you think people think S90v doesn’t hold a razor edge and holds a working edge forever?
Matthew Forrest I think S90V holds an edge a little longer, but the two steels are very close. S90V is more difficult to sharpen. Most people can’t get S90V as sharp as they can get 204p. Because 204p gets a better starting point from most people, they think it stays sharp longer.
Michael Christy boom! You nailed it! It takes more progression through stones or strops to reach the same level sharpness compared to M390. People test sharpness on paper or with hair but it’s a poor way to measure. So since it was never as sharp as M390 they say it holds a good working edge but really if they refined the edge more it would hold a razor edge longer as well. This is actually a breakthrough dude! You should educate people about these super high vanadium steels. Most people prefer M390 only because they don’t know how to properly sharpen S90v or don’t have the right equipment to reach those high levels of sharpness.
Michael Christy yeah, guess I just got excited sorry. The information is there for sure. But most people won’t see it in use because they can Not sharpen S90v or don’t have the stuff to do it. Thank you sir. You have been very helpful to me. I can whittle hair freehand now just from watching this channel. It has taken years of frustration to get there 😂. It’s a big deal to me. I could sharpen but just couldn’t get to that crazy level I wanted. I’d send knives out and not like the results, or was expensive and then would not be able to maintain that level.
knife sold out in a matter of minutes ... Because of their inventory system, they sold more than they had, backed off the sale and did random limited time frames for purchases throughout Tuesday and Wednesday. I wasn't lucky enough to catch a time frame in order to purchase
I have the original version, I actually won it in a giveaway on youtube. I've just never used it much, because it immediately felt odd in my hand, in a way that no other knife has to date. I suppose, to be fair, I really should try to carry and use it for a week to see if my hands get used to it.
New Christy Video guys! Looks like we found a way to get more videos out of 'em, we just need to send him knives! 😂😂😂
Your sharpening skills are incredible. I’ve seen plenty of your videos, but it still amazes me how sharp you can get pretty much any knife. That para3 is the best one I’ve seen so far. Thanks for another great video
49Giants thank you. Glad you like the videos.
I love how "all business" your highly informative videos are. I appreciate you, Sir
Wilson Wieggel thank you.
One of my favorite channels. So much information. Michael is also an awesome guy to deal with personaly, he is also more patient then i could be lol.
I’ve learned a freaking ton from you Bro. Thanks for all the great videos. Please keep them coming.
Still need this steel in my pileup. I am surprised to see Ken doing this kind of work. The idea was great Chris! 3000 + UF ceramic: brilliant!
Mark Tudor thank you.
You have some excellent information in these videos. I really appreciate it. Thanks.
Mike Likes Knives thanks for watching.
Thanks for ur time. Keep up the awesome videos
awesome video as always. Almost wish this one came out before my m390 para3, beautiful blade.
That’s really nice! I like the color scheme. One of these days I’ll try out the p3.
Excellent Vid Michael! Love 204p! For a high carbide steel it is easy to get a vorpal edge. Really like the 3000/UF combo. Will have to get one of those.
How about that Shawn guy!? He's a super good dude for sure!
Joshua Briggs Shawn is good dude.
I saw you were carrying that knife a lot and I knew you were going to do a video about it!
Hi Dude yeah, this video was a must.
As always... great information in this video... great job man I dig it
J.R. Rodriguez thank you.
Love that color combo.
Looks like a winner. Really enjoy the content.
Bob Snyder thank you.
Would love to see comprehensive summary video on your th outs on all para 3 steels.
Gotta commend bear for gifting you the knife. Also gotta commend you on that idea for a pocket stone, very nifty.
acoupleofsharpthings thank you.
I wanted that model so damn bad, but unfortunately, I was not able to get in on it..they went damn fast! I did thankfully, get a Para3 in the rex45 run though. I wanted that Rivers Edge one though, because it looks so great, and 204p is a great steel. Love the look of the green g10 against the bronzed hardware and blade. Throw a after market bronzed clip, and bamm you got one sweet looking knife!
Hey Michael, thanks for another great informative video. I like to watch your take on knife steels before I bite the bullet and make the purchase. I’m lucky enough to say I just picked up the REC PM2 in 204P. Ant wait to get it in my hand and pocket. I hope to one day be as good as you at sharpening!!!
Any chance of a video with different steels and most appropriate wet stones, diamond plates, ceramics etc etc. I have a ZDP 189 endura that just doesn’t like diamond plates! Does that sound like something you’ve found? I have to use a wet stone to get an edge (obviously could just be my technique!).
Thanks again!!! :)
Another solid video! I commented some months back on your pocket sharpeners video about Ken cutting Spyderco UF’s. Been wanting a new sharpener to throw in my work bag. I saw the CBN/Fine the factory is offering but this seems like a better fit. Feel like a shorter version will withstand being pocket carried since it has metal backing? Awesome gesture, Big Brown bear.
Great video, thanks for all the information!
just whent threw a dozen vids and subscribed thanks for the education
Nice gift bear I have the same coating on my 450bm hunting rifle tuff stuff . Enjoy your knife mike .
little woody thanks. It is a nice coating.
I use an old toothbrush to scrub off tape and cardboard guts myself. Hasn't failed me yet. I never liked the pocket clip orientation for the para 3 so I put off buying it forever. Since I picked up the jade m4 para 3 a month ago I have had a change of heart. I personally clip it to my front right belt loop and that does the trick for me. I understand why folks get the aftermarket clips cuz that's probably the only weakness on the para 3 platform IMO. Aside from having 20 sprint runs to cherry pick from of course. I definitely see more para 3s in my future but I will likely pass on this one. Awesome vid tho.
BBB is a cool guy, I'm sub'd to him as well. I'd jump all over that thing if it was a PM2, love the color combo, and I love my M390 PM2.
Quinton D. They made a cts204p pm2 a while back, with a gorgeous color combo. Miss mine.
Great video!
Very informative, as usual. I am curious about how do you sharpen the last bit of the blade. Do you square up to the ricasso, or do you leave the last 1/16 unsharpened. I assume you don't put in a notch. Thanks.
peter no notch for me. It’s not hard to get it sharpened to the end.
Hey. Don’t know if you’ve tried goo-gone as a cleaner but I’ve used it for years. I highly recommend it. Great vid!
mklein5179 I’ve used Goo Gone before and it does work good.
Glad you liked the video.
Very nice as always!
That's a really generous gift, Big Brown Bear. Cudos to you.
Great video, Michael! Interesting as always. You are filling the void for me, that Cliff Stamp left on UA-cam.
What's your opinion about PVD coatings in general? What would you compare it with?
CRK moved from the trusted and loved (at least by me) KG Gun-Kote to PVD coatings in fde or dark grey about 1 1/2 years ago. They only use coatings in the Pacific and Green Beret fixed blades as far as I know, so I don't know if you made any experiences with the KG Gun-Kote: When new, it feels like a super fine and well used diamond stone; in use, it just smoothens out and hardly shows any signs of wear and stays on the knife pretty much forever.
The thing with these blades is that the new, PVD-coated models come with serrations as an option, the old ones had them mandatory. That fact alone makes the "new" models interesting for me - at least the Pacific.
The thing that would make or break it for me is the PVD coating. Do you think it would still hold up fine in a 6 1/2 inch blade partially used for chopping and splitting?
Mopar HEMI I don’t know how it would hold up in that use. I’ve seen ESEE’s coating break down, and that’s extremely tough. But I don’t think it would hurt to have the coating on there.
Thanks for the reply.
I have experience with ESEE's powder coating through a few of mine (the black one seems to hold up better than the one with the sand coloration, for example), but having tested the KG Gun-Kote on my old CRK Pacific, I can say with confidence, that it isn't even worth the comparison.
The price of CRK's blades puts them into competition with similar quality knives, that are made out of similar quality steels (arguably even better ones), which wear DLC coatings. I'd wish I knew how a PVD coating would stack up to DLC and KG.
Mopar HEMI Big Brown Bear has a pretty informative video on the coating.
Thank you very much! I'll check it out.
Which knife do you like better, the Military, Paramilitary 2 or Para 3? Thanks, your videos are awesome
Sean B I like all three for different times. In a Work setting, the Para 3 is what I prefer because it’s more acceptable to non-knife people, so the Para 3 ends up getting carried a lot. I’m not sure if I could choose between them.
Michael Christy but if you can have one knife between pm2 and para 3 what would you choose..
I love this color. I necessary a second sprint run 😭
That was an awesome gift, Shawn is a great guy. Have you used the Portland Knife House 1 micron diamond spray? That stuff is amazing in my opinion. Nice idea on the pocket stone, I might have to as Ken to make me something similar. How is the cutting speed and polish on the KS 3k diamond vs the DMT EEF?
Yehoshua D. Stone I think Ken’s stone is more consistent. Not much polish off of diamond, but with the diamond, UF and 1 mic strop, 204p came up pretty polished.
Informative as usual. With all of Spyderco's sprint runs, its hard not to get in on the action. I've been looking into purchasing a mule team blade in CTS B70P. Do you have any experience with this steel? I'm attracted to it because I've never seen a production folder with this steel.
Dominic Zelenak I haven’t used B70P, but at a glance, I would think it would have ok wear resistance and good corrosion resistance.
Hey mike question for ya........ I'm interested in getting the spyderco para 2 in 5200 steel will it pake a pitina like 1095....... I'm looking to pick it up but I want to force the patina on it thanks mike..........
Pg R it’ll take a great patina. I have a video on that.
Do u think Spyderco will try to work with REX 121.
alexander howa I doubt it. Hopefully they do. Time will tell.
Thanks for the video. I’m a lineman in Miami so my knife gets hard use I also sweat on it , get rained on and of coarse humidity . I also cut tie wraps with it and occasionally bang it against something else .As a matter of fact I just got a manix s110 and chipped the tip off on my very first try. So any how what do you think is the best combination of toughness, stainless and edge retention?
Dmontes if I was working anywhere near the water, I would go with serrated H1.
zippo lighter fluid is amazing for taking off tape from knife blades. does fine on dlc but i dont have any with PVD to try.
Tactical Center I usually use oil. Either honing oil or Froglube, but spit and my thumb seem to do very well on this coating.
@@michaelchristy4982 I'll try that out next time!
Tactical Center pretty sure DLC is a type of PVD coating so it should be fine on it
SuperSteel Steve I think that right.
Michael. ...do you plan on getting (or purchased already) the REX45 Para 3?
wrjames38 we’ll have to see.
Michael Christy
Well...let me know. I got one early from KP and was on reserved list from Rivers edge (which came in) Brian and his company are tiptop....so I ended up with NIB second I need to trade or sell at cost.
wrjames38 I’m covered my friend, but I appreciate the offer.
Michael Christy
Thanks for letting me know . Helping someone on SF who didn't get one. Looking forward to video on the knife .
One question, should I go for the para 3 in this set up or the s90v and carbon fiber?
PeterC585 choose the one you like the look of best.
PeterC585 they’re both perfect.
Michael Christy I like them both!
PeterC585 get them both. Get the River’s Edge first. It’ll go faster.
Are u getting either of the pm2,pm3,or military in REX45
alexander howa I’d like to got them all if I can. Available funds will be the deciding factor.
20cv I find hard to get a nice edge. Feels very different than m390. Your thoughts?
Matthew Forrest could be RC, but it also depends on what you mean by “nice” edge. Polished, heavy bite, sharp?...
Michael Christy yeah just initial sharpness. It is pretty frustrating to me
Michael Christy I can get hap 40 to whittle hair ( thanks to your videos) freehand. I’ve had at least 2 knives in 20 cv now. Neither of them sharpen as well as m390. It is more like s110 or something. It’s just a pain in the ass. I like my edges to be sticky. I can’t seem to ge5 20cv there
Matthew Forrest I’ve never actually used 20CV, so I can’t say from experience whether or not I’d run into it.
Have you tried 204p?
Michael Christy I have not tried 204p.
In your opinion what steel has the best balance between toughness, edge retention and rust resistance between d2, vg10 and 154cm?
PowerMadHeadBanger I’ll give edge retention to 154cm, toughness to VG-10. Those two should be similar in corrosion resistance.
But if you can, I’d get CPM-154.
Do you prefer S90v to 204p? Most people prefer 204p because it sharpens well and seems to hold a razor edge longer. But when you sharpen S90v keeps a razor edge best 🤣. I have finally found that if I back off the bevel and concentrate on my microbevel. S90v can get very sharp. This is after lots of practice. What do you feel holds a razor edge longer? Why do you think people think S90v doesn’t hold a razor edge and holds a working edge forever?
Matthew Forrest I think S90V holds an edge a little longer, but the two steels are very close. S90V is more difficult to sharpen. Most people can’t get S90V as sharp as they can get 204p. Because 204p gets a better starting point from most people, they think it stays sharp longer.
Michael Christy boom! You nailed it! It takes more progression through stones or strops to reach the same level sharpness compared to M390. People test sharpness on paper or with hair but it’s a poor way to measure. So since it was never as sharp as M390 they say it holds a good working edge but really if they refined the edge more it would hold a razor edge longer as well. This is actually a breakthrough dude! You should educate people about these super high vanadium steels. Most people prefer M390 only because they don’t know how to properly sharpen S90v or don’t have the right equipment to reach those high levels of sharpness.
Matthew Forrest well, M390 and S90V are pretty close, both in edge retention and toughness. If people want the information, it’s on the channel.
Michael Christy yeah, guess I just got excited sorry. The information is there for sure. But most people won’t see it in use because they can Not sharpen S90v or don’t have the stuff to do it. Thank you sir. You have been very helpful to me. I can whittle hair freehand now just from watching this channel. It has taken years of frustration to get there 😂. It’s a big deal to me. I could sharpen but just couldn’t get to that crazy level I wanted. I’d send knives out and not like the results, or was expensive and then would not be able to maintain that level.
Matthew Forrest glad it helped.
New sub! And I'm getting these materials..
yeeeaaahhhhhh!!!!!!
So jealous. Want that knife so bad
I want this god damn knife Michael lol....
Tim Risse has the second batch come out yet?
Michael Christy not yet. I'm still waiting... I check Instagram and river's edge every day. They said to keep an eye on their social media platforms.
knife sold out in a matter of minutes ... Because of their inventory system, they sold more than they had, backed off the sale and did random limited time frames for purchases throughout Tuesday and Wednesday. I wasn't lucky enough to catch a time frame in order to purchase
I am really lucky the Para3 is not my bag, because I would out something like $500 right now just in sprint runs if it was, LOL.
mak450 there is a lot going on with the knife. Maybe you should try one.
I have the original version, I actually won it in a giveaway on youtube. I've just never used it much, because it immediately felt odd in my hand, in a way that no other knife has to date.
I suppose, to be fair, I really should try to carry and use it for a week to see if my hands get used to it.
2:52 😂😂
I love this color combination. Please sell this knife to me?
Lytell Lytell Lol, I can’t. It was a gift. I’ll never sell it.
Hi from Ireland
davidpyper82 Hi to Ireland. Glad you’re watching.
This knife is $500 on eBay!!!
Cerakoted blades
Yawn
Oh my you gotta outline your content. I cant take the long pauses and mid sentence pauses. Great content tho. Wish I had the knife