The Mk1 comes from the factory with a 30 degree edge, and my spyderco sharpmaker has the ability to set the ange at 30 degrees. What about long term- a few years? Should I ever back bevel at 25 or 20 degrees to take off some steel? Spyderco instructions say I should back bevel a few times at 30 degrees and then sharpen at 40 degrees. They argue that 40 degrees is a more stable angle longterm.

Any thoughts on this? Should I shoot for 30 or 40 degree longterm?

BTW, I love this knife. the handle is easily gripped and feels good in my hand. The steel is amazing. I was cutting stuff up like crazy all Christmas and I just had to strop it on my pants and run it once or twice on my fine stones on the sharp maker to keep it hair shaving sharp. Cool Design. My only beef is that it is difficult to closed one-handed in a controlled manner.

You can keep the cutting edge at 30 degrees if you want and back bevel at 20-25 if you find that makes the sharpening easier. The narrow 30 degree angle sould cut nicely.

If you find that the edge is not as durable as you would like, just sharpen at 40 degrees on the sharpmaker. Either geometry should work well. 40 will be less work to maintain because the 30 degree back bevel is already well established.

I would keep the 30 degree edge as long as it seems to be working well for you. The S30V steel is very strong and should be able to hold up with a narrow 30 degree angle. And the narrow angle will cut more aggressively.

But really I doubt the difference would be that noticeable either way. The most important thing is whether or not the knife is sharp. That will determine how well it cuts far more than the exact angle.

As for closing the knife one-handed, I think the most controlled way to do it is to keep all your fingers on the handle and gently touch the spine of the blade (this is the dull side!) against your thigh after you release the lock. Then pivot the handle slowly down onto the blade. All the usual disclaimers apply about keeping your fingers, etc. out of the way of the closing blade whenever it is unlocked.

My mini-RSK came at 20 degrees (as my Lasky showed it), and the edge got a few chips in it when I was trimming my dog's frisbees with it. There may have been some embedded grit in that did the damage. I changed to 25 degrees and haven't had a problem with it since. My RSK1 came at 30 degrees, and I switched to 25 degrees without a problem. 40 degrees sounds way to blunt to me, but maybe spiderco measures it differently. That's more of an axe edge.

After a hundred or so openings & closings of my Mini-RSK to break in the bearings, I can close it one-handed by tilting it forward 30-degrees and opening the lock. Gravity drops the blade, and I release the lock just as the blade reaches bottom. The springy lock tucks the blade right in.

Works 9/10 times for me.