Cpm1v vs z-tuff

[rodriguezryan14]

Hey guys, figured I’d get more responses in this section than the Makers section. I’m looking at possibly making a few runs of blades in one of these steels. But I can’t seem to get much feedback on 1v. I’ve used ztuff on plenty of blades with great results! But according to Niagara, 1v has a little better wear resistance and slightly less toughness than ztuff. These are more for a wilderness type hunting style blade! I’m kind of into bigger blades for big game hunting. A do it all knife. I’ve made plenty of different designs in 3v and A8 mod. I’m just looking to change up steels a little. Something different I guess! I like indestructible or close to. And something with decent wear resistance! Better than s7! Which 1v seems to fit. I know I can harden these up to 58-59 with cryo just fine. This is something that I’ll be working on in the new year. Not any time soon. Just doing the research and testing for now! Just looking for thoughts on this for now. Thanks!

 

[TC]

I’ve used ztuff on plenty of blades with great results!

Go with what you know.

 

[rodriguezryan14]

Go with what you know.

Availability is limited. That’s the problem

 

[rodriguezryan14]

Go with what you know.

I can get cd#1. Which is basically ztuff. The price is around the same as 1v. I may just buy some of both and do some extensive testing! The problem is it’ll cost around 800 dollars to do that. It’s not like buying a few bars from aps. I’d have to buy a chunk of both. 300 plus for each peace plus shipping! Not to cheap when you think about it! I have a tendency to over think. And I’m the kind that doesn’t like to use what everyone else uses!

 

[Crag the Brewer]

Outside of what you are asking....
and I'm not saying "No" to what you are suggesting, because I Like your train of thought, and share views, But....... what about 15n20?
Tough, good for cold weather, and Cheap. Or are you mostly just "chasing exotics"?

S Seedy Lot has experience with the steels you are questioning, I believe?

*his is Always a great source of info.

 

[TC]

I can get cd#1. Which is basically ztuff. The price is around the same as 1v. I may just buy some of both and do some extensive testing! The problem is it’ll cost around 800 dollars to do that. It’s not like buying a few bars from aps. I’d have to buy a chunk of both. 300 plus for each peace plus shipping! Not to cheap when you think about it! I have a tendency to over think. And I’m the kind that doesn’t like to use what everyone else uses!

Got it. I figured since you're talking about doing some runs to sell to customers it'd be better to use what you've had great results with before, instead of sailing into uncharted waters.

Best of luck making it work economically as well as technically!

 

[rodriguezryan14]

Outside of what you are asking....
and I'm not saying "No" to what you are suggesting, because I Like your train of thought, and share views, But....... what about 15n20?
Tough, good for cold weather, and Cheap. Or are you mostly just "chasing exotics"?

S Seedy Lot has experience with the steels you are questioning, I believe?

*his is Always a great source of info.

I do have plenty of 15n20 on hand. But the wear resistance is a lot lower than these two other steels! I like and use it! And the price is way better than air hardening steels! If I could find some bars of 1v, I’d like to do some testing. I have some s7, A8 mod and 3v that I will be doing head to head testing on. But if I could I’d like to get some 1v to try too! But it’s not easy to come by. I’ll be patterning some blades in the next week or two, heat treat them and start some testing. I may include 15n20 also. It’s a lot to figure out. I’ll start with rope cutting, basic cut tests, and full on destruction testing eventually! These blades will be .180 thick and smaller drop points. All ground to the same specs and heat treated to the same hardness. In a perfect scenario I’d like to include ztuff and 1v with them! I may do a high and low temper to test toughness In real world type scenarios! I’ll see what I can come up with. I’m basically trying to settle on a single steel I can use for most of my blades! But that’s definitely not easy. And I’m curious to see what 3v can handle with my low temper heat treat. I’ve never destroyed one! I have a few different aus temps im juggling between too! We know what Larrins tests have shown. But in my mind, real world and charpy tests are completely different! I’m on a Scott gossman type of testing here! I like what he does! I’m also curious if I can get A8 tougher than Larrins test! My mind has a tendency to jump around a lot! Lol. And I’m never happy with what I have. I’m always looking for better, tougher, better wear resistance etc!

 

[Crag the Brewer]

I do have plenty of 15n20 on hand. But the wear resistance is a lot lower than these two other steels! I like and use it! And the price is way better than air hardening steels! If I could find some bars of 1v, I’d like to do some testing. I have some s7, A8 mod and 3v that I will be doing head to head testing on. But if I could I’d like to get some 1v to try too! But it’s not easy to come by. I’ll be patterning some blades in the next week or two, heat treat them and start some testing. I may include 15n20 also. It’s a lot to figure out. I’ll start with rope cutting, basic cut tests, and full on destruction testing eventually! These blades will be .180 thick and smaller drop points. All ground to the same specs and heat treated to the same hardness. In a perfect scenario I’d like to include ztuff and 1v with them! I may do a high and low temper to test toughness In real world type scenarios! I’ll see what I can come up with. I’m basically trying to settle on a single steel I can use for most of my blades! But that’s definitely not easy. And I’m curious to see what 3v can handle with my low temper heat treat. I’ve never destroyed one! I have a few different aus temps im juggling between too! We know what Larrins tests have shown. But in my mind, real world and charpy tests are completely different! I’m on a Scott gossman type of testing here! I like what he does! I’m also curious if I can get A8 tougher than Larrins test! My mind has a tendency to jump around a lot! Lol. And I’m never happy with what I have. I’m always looking for better, tougher, better wear resistance etc!

I'm going to throw a wrench in your works (Better, tougher, wear resistance) and it's COST.
1v and Ztuff cost alot, and give you little.....

It's going to be hard top 3V overall

low cost you got A8mod and (AEB-L, Nitro-V, 14C28N)

Very low cost you got 8670, 15n20, and 80crv2

Higher cost you got Cruwear, Magnacut, and (A11, K390, 4V) types


What area would 1v serve???

 

[rodriguezryan14]

I'm going to throw a wrench in your works (Better, tougher, wear resistance) and it's COST.
1v and Ztuff cost alot, and give you little.....

It's going to be hard top 3V overall

low cost you got A8mod and (AEB-L, Nitro-V, 14C28N)

Very low cost you got 8670, 15n20, and 80crv2

Higher cost you got Cruwear, Magnacut, and (A11, K390, 4V) types


What area would 1v serve???

That’s where testing comes into play. And the fact that I asked this question! I don’t really know because I’ve never used it! I’m really not sure ztuff can be topped as far as toughness, wear resistance, hardness balance!! 3v also. It’s a well balanced steel that’s easily available! 8670 and that class of steels is in another class as far as price and wear resistance! That’s chopper and indestructible type performance right there!! Not necessarily skinning an elk performance!! Aeb-l is really cool because of the price and toughness balance! But A8 mod beats it in terms of wear resistance and toughness. But not by much! It’s a matter of me using a steel that most don’t use I guess. Everyone is using cpm3v these days! Which isn’t a bad thing because of how good it actually is!
I’m really thinking it may be hard to beat A8 mod for its price point and all around performance! Ztuff may be a little tougher with the same wear resistance, 3v a little more wear resistant with slightly less toughness. I’m not sure where 1v sits yet! Still doing more research on it! That’s why I’d like a few pieces to play around with!! I used A8 mod on an elk a couple weeks ago, and I was definitely impressed. It held up chopping bone and skinning and quartering the entire thing. I had to stop and touch it up 2 times through the entire process! Which is pretty good performance honestly!! I also used it to chop and baton wood. Because we were packed in on horseback!!

 

[rodriguezryan14]

That’s where testing comes into play. And the fact that I asked this question! I don’t really know because I’ve never used it! I’m really not sure ztuff can be topped as far as toughness, wear resistance, hardness balance!! 3v also. It’s a well balanced steel that’s easily available! 8670 and that class of steels is in another class as far as price and wear resistance! That’s chopper and indestructible type performance right there!! Not necessarily skinning an elk performance!! Aeb-l is really cool because of the price and toughness balance! But A8 mod beats it in terms of wear resistance and toughness. But not by much! It’s a matter of me using a steel that most don’t use I guess. Everyone is using cpm3v these days! Which isn’t a bad thing because of how good it actually is!
I’m really thinking it may be hard to beat A8 mod for its price point and all around performance! Ztuff may be a little tougher with the same wear resistance, 3v a little more wear resistant with slightly less toughness. I’m not sure where 1v sits yet! Still doing more research on it! That’s why I’d like a few pieces to play around with!! I used A8 mod on an elk a couple weeks ago, and I was definitely impressed. It held up chopping bone and skinning and quartering the entire thing. I had to stop and touch it up 2 times through the entire process! Which is pretty good performance honestly!! I also used it to chop and baton wood. Because we were packed in on horseback!!

This is why I build the type of blades I do. I do a lot of pack in hunts! And I’m limited to what I can take with me. So it’s usually a multi task blade

 

[rodriguezryan14]

I'm going to throw a wrench in your works (Better, tougher, wear resistance) and it's COST.
1v and Ztuff cost alot, and give you little.....

It's going to be hard top 3V overall

low cost you got A8mod and (AEB-L, Nitro-V, 14C28N)

Very low cost you got 8670, 15n20, and 80crv2

Higher cost you got Cruwear, Magnacut, and (A11, K390, 4V) types


What area would 1v serve???

I also use zwear for smaller skinner and caper knives, my personal caper is a zwear blade at 61 rc full flat grind! I haven’t used it on an elk yet. I just finished it a week ago!

 

[rodriguezryan14]

Here’s the current design in cpm3v at 60 rc. I’m probably over thinking this as usual. And I’m sure this steel is good enough for anything I’d ever need! But you know how it goes!!!