All m390 steel the same?

Ron Sabbagh

Ron Sabbagh

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Seems like almost all production and custom makers are all in on m390. But are they all the same? Common sense would say that there has to be differences. I'm sure all Bohler m390 is the sake, but are all m390 steels from Bohler?

Is the m390 on a SPYDERCO the Dane as the m390 on a Shirogorov?
 
M390 is just the BU proprietary name for the steel. 20CV is Crucible's name. Any blade made from "m390" is from Bohler and should be the same.
 
As stated above, M390 is a proprietary product from Bohler. Other companies can make steel with the same formula (as Crucible does with 20CV, and Carpenter with 204P), but anyone else calling it M390 would be trademark infringement.

That being said, you'll still see big differences in performance based on geometry and heat treat. In particular, there were recent controversies about some companies (e.g., Lionsteel) not heat treating their M390 to get the most out of it.
 
There are always slight differences between batches but it's all M390 and any steel called "M390" comes from the same place and is the same. 20CV and 204p should also be considered the same. 3rd gen powder making finer carbides is debunked. Just marketing hype from Bohler Uddeholm


Ron Sabbagh said:
Seems like almost all production and custom makers are all in on m390. But are they all the same? Common sense would say that there has to be differences. I'm sure all Bohler m390 is the sake, but are all m390 steels from Bohler?

Is the m390 on a SPYDERCO the Dane as the m390 on a Shirogorov?
Click to expand...
 
Apart from HT and blade geometry, how the blade is ground may play an important role.

This is from Reate:

"Reate Knives Freeze Edging Skill

As the final blade process, edging has a great effect on the performance of a knife. After all, the edge is the main functional area when using a knife. Normally, edging is operated on a high-speed running grinding wheel or grinding belt, which produces a very high temperature. Without a cooling system, the temperature on the edge goes up instantly to hundreds of degrees centigrade. When it gets worse, it will burn and leave heat marks on the blade. Tempering, or even annealing, will happen in the area of the edge where the temperature increases instantly. It will harm the hardness and durability of the blade. That’s why some knives passing the hardness standard test still easily get worn during actual use.

Reate Knives is using the freeze edging technique. During grinding, the temperature on the edge is controlled to a certain degree level, which helps keep the hardness after the heat treating. Therefore, the sharpness and durability of the blade are assured. This helps the material reach the best possible level of performance."
 
This is the same with any blade ground post HT. Keep the blade cool by either a coolant system (aka chilled platen) or constant dips in water, not unique to any single knife maker or company.

edit - while that statement from Reate is not untrue, it does seem like more marketing hype "we grind it better therefore make a superior product than our competitors."
 
Since Bohler is the source for M390, it should all be the same when it's delivered to the knife maker. Once they start heat treating, you can have very different end results in terms of hardness and other traits, but it's all the same material. 20CV is an equivalent material from Crucible, but would be designated as such. The only time you'd have M390 that wasn't "the same" is if it's not actually M390 (e.g. Chinese knockoff knives labeling 8Cr13MoV as M390).
 
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