Absolutely. I pretty much stick to three steels these days, O-1, CPM154CM, and 5160. The 5160 I use very rarely, but it does happen. I've tried a ton of different steels to see what performed the best and what was also the best to machine and maintain my pricing. The CPM154 is affordable enough that I don't have to add a crazy upcharge to use and it's performance is incredible. I don't have any of the problems with 154 that I had with other stainless steels. It's generally referred to as one of the "super steels", but it isn't hard to sharpen like some of the others, so maintaining the edge is easy. Some of the stainlesses take forever to sharpen due to the hardness of the steel and it makes them less useful in my opinion for regular use. I know that people will argue that those keep a sharp edge longer, but who cares if it takes you four times as long to sharpen it when it's time. Also, it doesn't seem to chip near as easily, which is a big deal with hard stainless steels. If you've ever had to sharpen a chip out, you know how awful it is and how much it can turn you off to super steels in general. To me, CPM154 is pretty much the O-1 of the stainless world. It gives you everything you want out of the stainless aspect, and none of the stuff you hate. As far as making knives out of it, it is more difficult to work with than the carbons, just from the time the grinds take with convexing and the heat treat having more steps, but compared to the others, it's easy peasy. It's actually way easier to use than some of the lesser expensive stainless like 440C. I love the stuff. I'll keep trying other stainless steels in case i find something better, but at least I know I have one surefire winner with the CPM154.
