CPM 3V. Is it the perfect steel?

I have one knife in 3V. It's a proto by Reese Weiland. The HT is 63rc.

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Gator97 said:
CPM 3V can work in small knives just fine, at high hardness it's much better. Because it's so tough, at higher RC its toughness really helps with edge holding. Thin, hard edge doesn't suffer from micro fracturing.
I too thought of CPM 3V as mainly big knife steel, but at some point I discussed with Phil Wilson possibility of CPM 3V at max hardness, and he made experimental CPM 3V knife for me.
Can't say it's pretty, but I have myself to blame for the design ;) Anyway, as far as light/medium cutting goes it's a superb performer and I'd put it against D2, 154CM etc any time.
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What RC was that knife at?
 
It was and is 62HRC. By the way, mr. Hossom's knives, a lot of them are fine examples of CPM 3V used for light/medium cutting knives. Not necessarily .25" thick choppers.
 
Gator97 said:
IMHO, 58HRC for that knife of that size(3.5" lil' Canadian) is a lot of wasted edge holding potential. Obviously that knife is a light cutter, you won't be chopping or prying with it.
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jaymeister99 said:
I was wondering that too. Why make a 3.5" knife like that out of 3V?:confused:
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The Lil' Canadian was Bark River's first foray into using CPM 3V,

...as such, it was a test knife.





Edge retention, stability, and sharpenability (is that a word?) where evaluated by many testers.


Many more Bark River knives using this steel are now in the works. :thumbup:



When it comes to the hardness of small Bark River knives,

...the current trend is to push the Rc value from 58 up to 59-60,

...I think the CTS-XHP Woodland prototype is in the 60-61 range.



Balancing toughness and sharpenability with edge retention has always been paramount at BRK&T,

...the thinking is that a user should be able to sharpen as well as trust their knife,

...ultra-hard blades that are fragile and/or hard to sharpen may meet the needs of knife-nut like us,

...but might not be the best choice for "regular" knife users.





Big Mike
 
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i like it. edge is killer,, high temper so you can finish it out with little worry of it getting too hot, with blaze belts,, the only drawback is that i have to have it 10 bar vacuum treated, and i like doing as much in house as i can,, but in my experience it makes a great hard use steel,,, especially in my hollow chisel ground neckers,, it really shines when you get it that edge thin ..
 
I followed the Z-Wear link posted by HardHeart. Since the page didn't provide manufacturer info I called the company(simply tool steel). Sales rep told me it Z-Wear was made by Zapp Steel, AFAIK German steel company, has office in US as well. According to sales rep, the Z-Wear steel is offered as an improvement/replacement over Crucible CPM 3V. And based on the chart on the page posted by HardHeart, that seems to be the case, at higher hardness Z-Wear has better toughness and wear resistance, at least on the graph ;)
Here's Zapp's page on Z-Wear, and CPM 3V vs. Z-Wear steel composition comparison.

Hopefully someone will make a knife out of it.
 
Gator97 said:
I followed the Z-Wear link posted by HardHeart. Since the page didn't provide manufacturer info I called the company(simply tool steel). Sales rep told me it Z-Wear was made by Zapp Steel, AFAIK German steel company, has office in US as well. According to sales rep, the Z-Wear steel is offered as an improvement/replacement over Crucible CPM 3V. And based on the chart on the page posted by HardHeart, that seems to be the case, at higher hardness Z-Wear has better toughness and wear resistance, at least on the graph ;)
Here's Zapp's page on Z-Wear, and CPM 3V vs. Z-Wear steel composition comparison.

Hopefully someone will make a knife out of it.
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Sent an email. Will call on Monday. Hopefully they will supply a sample to compare with the Vanadis 4 Extra, 3V, and CPM M4 I'll have. Keep you informed.
 
jaymeister99 said:
I might say 3V is the best steel for a large blade or something you intend to beat the crap out of. Insane toughness, but the edge holding is relatively low. Thats not to say it can't hold an edge. It takes and holds a great edge, just not on par with some other expensive and difficult steels (think M4, 10V, S90V, 15V).
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Have you personally tested the edge retention of the steels you referenced?
 
3v and cpm154 are two of my favs and then if i the buyer wants a bit different i offer ether side of the cutting (razors are better with a more simple steel 1084 or 52100 are what i use now )
i am testing a folder in M4 right now (RC63)
and offer 10v or s30-s90/110 for really high ware options
since i have my own kiln and LN2 i can work up a HT to get the hardness requested (within reason )
 
Not to hijack the thread but butch where do you get the s110v? I have a small piece but can't find any more and sb won't fill small orders on it. Your m4 folder is freaking bad ass btw.
 
J. Rosa said:
Not to hijack the thread but butch where do you get the s110v? I have a small piece but can't find any more and sb won't fill small orders on it. Your m4 folder is freaking bad ass btw.
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Yeah, where are you getting S110V? I'd love to get my hands on some.
 
Gator97 said:
Thanks, that'd be really useful.
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Called and talked to someone who worked for crucible and knows scott and others. Should get a price quote coming in tomorrow. Real nice guy and very helpful. Chuck said he'd look into getting a sheet too. Fun times in knives this decade.
 
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