Anyone else prefer 154cm to super steels

[Insipid Moniker]

154CM 440C VG10 1095 etc all good. I would think if some folks worked on their sharpening process they might find the not so super steels work just fine. The harder the steel the more time spent sharpening. Some of these current knives with the thick blades will never work as well as the thinner ones.l Just my 2 cents.

I don't find super steels take any more time for a basic sharpening. They're a pain to reprofile and I can't maintain their edge with an unloaded leather strop as easily, so I enjoy less-than-super steels in my day-to-day, but if you have the right abrasives basic sharpening doesn't take long.

 

[dalefuller]

I May sound like the minority on this but I prefer my 154cm mini grip to my s30v knives or other high end steels. I’m not the best at sharpening so I prefer the ease and softness of 154. Takes a nice edge and holds it for a decent amount of time. Also doesn’t seem to chip as easily

I don't necessarily prefer 154CM over every "super" steel, but I'm perfectly happy with it if it's well done. I like BM's 154CM, I like Protech's 154CM, I liked Syderco's 154CM on the original Manix 2 when they used it. I find it very easy to maintain, it has a good balance between toughness, corrosion resistance, and ease of maintenance, and it holds an edge in my uses reasonably well.

I also like M390 and Cru-Wear for the same reasons. They're more in the "super steel" category, but I appreciate their balance of characteristics as much as I do for 154CM.

 

[bludog2]

I May sound like the minority on this but I prefer my 154cm mini grip to my s30v knives or other high end steels. I’m not the best at sharpening so I prefer the ease and softness of 154. Takes a nice edge and holds it for a decent amount of time. Also doesn’t seem to chip as easily

I could have written the above. I too have a mini-Grip that is lights out for holding an edge and getting back up to "real sharp' very easily once it has seen a decent amount of use, and that includes zip-ties. I was impressed enough with it to purchase a couple of hunting/skinning knives in 154 CM this past year. One a thick, heavy bladed Spirit Hunter from TOPS that I really don't like at all, and the other a thinner, lighter custom from a respected knife maker on another forum, with a blade profile that is similar to the mini. It is also a very nice, well balanced, good edge holding, easily sharpened knife. Hmm, maybe the weight, profile, balance and "feel" are more important than the steel alone.

I'll have to ponder that.

 

[craytab]

No. I'd rather have d3v, m4, or an m390 variant in almost any case. That said, I have no problem with properly done 154cm. Benchmade has it down.

 

[Dallas T]

Pssst! You're not supposed to admit that, around here. Now go and needlessly cut up a bunch of cardboard as penance.

Bwaahaaa that’s funny!!
I’ve said in other threads, I don’t get the whole need for cutting cardboard thing, fold it up and throw it away, never seen anyone or the need for “processing” cardboard

 

[allenC]

It's a good steel for sure.
But I would rather have VG-10, S30V, ATS-55, or maybe even 440C!

 

[WillB]

I May sound like the minority on this but I prefer my 154cm mini grip to my s30v knives or other high end steels. I’m not the best at sharpening so I prefer the ease and softness of 154. Takes a nice edge and holds it for a decent amount of time. Also doesn’t seem to chip as easily

Was 154cm not considered a super steel at one time too?

 

[eugenechia1989]

I do. That said, I do like CTS-XHP a little bit more, but I don't think anyone considers CTS-XHP to be a "supersteel".

 

[James Y]

I don't mind 154CM at all, if it's done right. I prefer VG-10 to 154CM, though. I used to use a combo-edge Endura 3 to break down cardboard boxes all the time, and never had any problems with it.

For myself, I do prefer steels like 154CM, VG-10, LC200N, and also S35VN and even S30V over something like S110V. I have a couple knives in CTS-XHP, but haven't used them enough to make a judgment on them.

Bwaahaaa that’s funny!!
I’ve said in other threads, I don’t get the whole need for cutting cardboard thing, fold it up and throw it away, never seen anyone or the need for “processing” cardboard

If there is a lot of cardboard and/or the boxes are big, IMO it's better and easier to simply cut them down. Otherwise, they take up too much space in my recycling comtainer and leave no room for other stuff. Also, around here, I've seen collection trucks refuse to collect the cardboard if it's just folded and sticking up far enough out of recycling containers. I've seen a guy get out of his truck, pull a long, folded piece of cardboard out, and toss it on the ground, then use the truck to collect what's left in the bin. Though admittedly, nowadays I use a basic Stanley utility knife to break down boxes.

Jim

 

[cbrstar]

Was 154cm not considered a super steel at one time too?

I remember when it was considered the best.

 

[TheEdge01]

154cm is one of my favorites. It has all of the qualities I need in a blade steel, more than adequate edge retention, toughness, wear resistance, and corrosion resistance. Personally, I don’t see a need in paying more for super steels. For cardboard cutting tasks, a utility knife is usually close by. YMMV

 

[James Y]

Wait another 10 years, and many forum members will be calling S110V, CTS-XHP, M390 and other favorite super steels of today as so-so, or low-end steels. I remember when ATS-34 was considered a "super" steel. Going back further, so was 440C.

Jim

 

[Dr Rez]

I May sound like the minority on this but I prefer my 154cm mini grip to my s30v knives or other high end steels. I’m not the best at sharpening so I prefer the ease and softness of 154. Takes a nice edge and holds it for a decent amount of time. Also doesn’t seem to chip as easily

What is the point of this thread? You say you are not able to sharpen well so you like an easier to sharpen steel....so learn to sharpen better.

 

[jstn]

I'd love to see CPM-154 used more.

 

[Insipid Moniker]

What is the point of this thread? You say you are not able to sharpen well so you like an easier to sharpen steel....so learn to sharpen better.

Who pissed in your Cheerios? The point of the thread is to discuss the relative merits of older, ingot steels in an enthusiast bracket that's often dominated by PM steels, as far as I see it.

 

[FullMetalJackass]

***** I have no problem with properly done 154cm. Benchmade has it down.

Can't think of a better answer!

 

[Dallas T]

I’ve never used cpm 154 but would like to. How much difference is it to 154cm?

 

[Comeuppance]

Blade steel is a legitimately important consideration for fixed blades - there are certain things one might do with a fixed blade (chopping, etc) where factors like impact resistance make a significant difference. One could make a solid argument for needing a 4V chopper over 1095.

For folders, though, I find pretty much anything other than mystery stainless / 440A or the lesser alphabet soup steels (4cr, 3cr, 7cr, etc. 8cr and 9cr are alright) to be pretty much fine for any of my cutting needs. As long as it fits the price range, I'm cool with anything from 440C to Maxamet. They all have their properties that make them a little better-suited to this or that, and it's far more useful and important to just become good at maintaining an edge.

There are some distinct advantages to the particle metallurgy steels, but I feel like most of those advantages are largely lost on us since I would wager about 75% of what you do in a day with a knife could be accomplished with a key (or your bare hands. I don't use knife to break down cardboard - just tear along the creases, or fold larger sheets to make your own creases), and the rest probably with a moderately sharp SAK blade. I will almost certainly never use my Manix 4V in a manner that allows me to appreciate its toughness, but I want it and I like that it's made of such a ridiculous steel.

TL,DR: It's all fine. There's nothing wrong with liking super steels, but there's also nothing wrong with liking "lesser" steels. They all still get ground into blades that cut things, and it's down to your own preferences regarding sharpening and relative desire to feel slightly more pride of ownership because it has some exotic specialty alloy for a blade.

 

[Lapedog]

I May sound like the minority on this but I prefer my 154cm mini grip to my s30v knives or other high end steels. I’m not the best at sharpening so I prefer the ease and softness of 154. Takes a nice edge and holds it for a decent amount of time. Also doesn’t seem to chip as easily

I love 154cm and it has long been one of my favourite steels. I love it greatly more than s30v and the sXXv family of steels. I like s35vn because it performs somewhere between 154cm and s30v imho.

I feel like 154cm was an ideally balanced steel which had all the great characteristics of a steel in balance without maxing out one characteristic to the loss of others. Seems like you can’t have high abrasion resistance, toughness, and corrosion resistance all at the same time. You can have high 2 of them but not all 3. 154cm was like a perfect middle ground in my eyes.

If companies had never switched to s30v I would have been happy. S35vn which is abit more 154cm-y luckily has supplanted most companies using s30v. I would be thrilled to see more cpm154 being used by knife companies. (Seems popular with custom makers but not production companies)

Also I will say that learning how to use diamond stones made s30v alot more pleasant to use.

M390 is also a great steel that touches up wuite easily.

 

[Quiet]

I have quite a few Emersons, so obviously I have no issues with 154CM whatsoever. It gets scary sharp very easily, and holds an edge for what I need it for. I also love super steels because I'm able to enjoy multiple things at one time, however, to answer the OP's question specifically, I am good with it.