CTS-204P? How does it stack up?

A

A Little Spyder

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Jul 26, 2015
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I don't know much about the steel but some discussion around it has intrigued me. The majority of my knives have S30V and I wanted to know how it compares to the steel and how it differs.
 
204p is said to be equal to m390, but in at least one cutting test I've seen it did a little better than m390. Both of them are very good steels, theoretically a good step above S30V in terms of edgeholding. 204p and m390 are a step below S90V and S110V. From what I've read it should be possible for enthusiastic users to tell the difference between these and S30V, but it would be harder to tell the difference between 204p and S90V or S110V.
 
Hi op, I have tested the steel in rope cutting against the same knife in s30v. The differences are minimal and though 204p came out ahead it was difficult to tell the difference in edge retention even in controlled testing. I also find 204p is a bit more fussy about taking an extreme edge compared to s30v and is a bit more chip prone in light impact. In 204p's favor, it has shown itself to be more corrosion resistant and will hold a low grit toothy edge a bit longer than s30v. There are certain knives and chores where I would favor 204p (more for the difference in corrosion resistance than edge retention) but for a general edc, I would rather have s30v...even if they were the same price.
 
Surfingringo said:
Hi op, I have tested the steel in rope cutting against the same knife in s30v. The differences are minimal and though 204p came out ahead it was difficult to tell the difference in edge retention even in controlled testing. I also find 204p is a bit more fussy about taking an extreme edge compared to s30v and is a bit more chip prone in light impact. In 204p's favor, it has shown itself to be more corrosion resistant and will hold a low grit toothy edge a bit longer than s30v. There are certain knives and chores where I would favor 204p (more for the difference in corrosion resistance than edge retention) but for a general edc, I would rather have s30v...even if they were the same price.
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+1

I have exactly same experience with CTS-204P and M390 PM2. These 20Cr-4V steel hold an edge just a little better than S30V in light use, has significant better corrosion resistance but also noticeable more fragile.
 
My ZT0777 and ZT0620 (M390) have not required nearly the amount of sharpening that my Benchmade Kulgera has (S30V).
 
It seems like today's production knives are all about S30V. A good, general-purpose steel that does a good job.
CTS-204P is way up in the top rankings of blade-steels, and usually is found in folders that cost considerably more than S30V examples. I like S30V just fine, but consider it to be baseline quality although completely acceptable.
 
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