M390 rockwell hardness at 58rc?

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BrandonEDC

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Aug 12, 2014
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I am looking to have a custom bushcraft hunting knife made at 3.75" and m390 steel. Whatbis the benefits of the heat treat being 58rc. I now that the lower the tougher but lost edge retention. Would 58 be a good sweet spot for great strength and the great m390 edge retention or isnit to low? Again this knkfe will be alone woth nonother knife a lot of the time so will be used.
 
I'll start by stating that I don't know the intricacies of heat treating, or what benefits may be achieved by running M390 in that range...but what's the sense in using a steel like M390 and not heat treating it to maximize its benefits?
 
Check out the survive! 3.5 or 4.1. Each are about that length and available in 20v, which is the exact same blend as m390.
 
Its not that. The custom guy does his m390 to 58rc from my basic understanding 60 is preferred for edge retention or even 61 but below 60 gives you greater strength which is good but for how much edge retention loss i do not no? So this my reason for posting. Hoping someone can elaborate.
 
I understand that; and that, for some outdoorsy uses, it's a game of compromise to create a working blade...let me rephrase my earlier question:
Will M390 at 58 offer enough toughness, durability, and edge retention to choose it over other options? Was there a particular reason you chose that steel, or is that what the maker uses for that particular knife.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of m390 - just trying to learn.
 
BrandonEDC said:
I am looking to have a custom bushcraft hunting knife made at 3.75" and m390 steel. Whatbis the benefits of the heat treat being 58rc. I now that the lower the tougher but lost edge retention. Would 58 be a good sweet spot for great strength and the great m390 edge retention or isnit to low? Again this knkfe will be alone woth nonother knife a lot of the time so will be used.
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What is a custom bushcraft hunting knife? :confused:
 
I was wondering what he meant by "M390 rockwell hardness at 58 HRC?" The rockwell hardness of M390 at 58 HRC is 58 HRC. Would M390 at 58 HRC ever be M390 at 60 HRC?

But to be serious for a minute, if someone wants a tough steel, they should probably look at another steel instead of dropping the hardness below optimal for a steel not meant to be "tough." Why not go for S110V at 47 HRC?

OP, there's a reason a lot of bushcraft knives are made in easy to sharpen steels and there's a reason hunting knives are made of more wear resistant steels. Two different goals. Why not go for something like CPM154 at optimal hardness? Easy to sharpen with mediocre edge retention, better than poor toughness, and pretty corrosion resistant. Or AEBL that's tougher, easier to sharpen, and still quite corrosion resistant?

I want a jackhammer bit made out of Maxamet at 50 HRC. Doesn't make sense.
 
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hhmoore said:
I'll start by stating that I don't know the intricacies of heat treating, or what benefits may be achieved by running M390 in that range...but what's the sense in using a steel like M390 and not heat treating it to maximize its benefits?
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bodog said:
But to be serious for a minute, if someone wants a tough steel, they should probably look at another steel instead of dropping the hardness below optimal for a steel not meant to be "tough." Why not go for S110V at 47 HRC?
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These.

Changing the hardness makes a tremendous difference in edge retention, as you can see by looking at Jim Ankerson's edge retention thread in the Testing Forum. Going to a lower hardness does not make any sense to me.
 
If you want a tough knife for bushcrafting, select 3V as your steel. It is one of the best all around steels so far in my opinion, and a lot of people seem to like it once they really use it (not abuse or try to destroy it). Even a basic 1055, 1080 series, or 1095 such as Rowen produces (ESEE) might easily beat out M390 at 58Rc. That would be like putting flat tires on a 2016 Z06 Corvette.
 
Lol okay this was what i was asking (was m390 at 58 rc bad or good) i love 3v and will just stick with it. Thanks guys.
 
BrandonEDC said:
Lol okay this was what i was asking (was m390 at 58 rc bad or good) i love 3v and will just stick with it. Thanks guys.
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I don't know if that's the correct question. Maybe something more along the lines of "I want a bushcraft knife capable of maintaining a decent edge in case I need to skin something and I want it to be strong and tough enough to stab things and use kind of hard. Is M390 at 58 HRC the right choice?" I think most people would say no and offer probably 3V, 4V, or Cruwear/PD1 as viable choices. If you asked "I want this knife with some pretty good corrosion resistance" people would probable point to elmax or something similar. If you said you wanted it to be easy to sharpen, then you'd get a lot of other options. M390 at 58 HRC probably wouldn't fit into any of those categories.

M390 at 60+ HRC is more for the question "I want a stainless knife that holds an edge for a long time and can handle skinning game and needs to withstand small amounts of cutting against bone and sometimes popping joints while also needing to cut up all kinds of soft abrasive stuff around camp. Which steel would work best?"
 
A custom M390 blade at 58 HRC would probably be the answer to the question "I want a kind of faddish super steel with a great reputation but don't really need it to do what it's supposed to do and want it to act like different steels that are made to do what I want. Is there a steel that I can buy and play with a little bit and then toss in a drawer?" I can't see a custom M390 blade at 58 HRC being the answer to any other scenario. I agree with the others, its like putting low profile street racing tires on a jacked up Z71 Chevy truck or putting big, knobbly mud tires on a Porsche.
 
Hi there folks!
I'm about to get very beautiful custom made knife with M390 blade. My only concern is it has 62HRC and only 2.5 mm thick blade.
What do you guys think, will it be way too brittle or ok?
 
Skogsnatt said:
Hi there folks!
I'm about to get very beautiful custom made knife with M390 blade. My only concern is it has 62HRC and only 2.5 mm thick blade.
What do you guys think, will it be way too brittle or ok?
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It depends what you're using it for. As long as you're using it purely as a cutting tool, it should be fine. It might be a massive pain to sharpen, though.
 
Skogsnatt said:
Hi there folks!
I'm about to get very beautiful custom made knife with M390 blade. My only concern is it has 62HRC and only 2.5 mm thick blade.
What do you guys think, will it be way too brittle or ok?
Click to expand...

Old thread but to answer the new question, K kafolarbear is right that it depends on your purpose. In line with the previous discussion in this thread, M390 at 62HRC should take advantage of that steel's high wear resistance. In other words, you should get excellent edge retention.

Now, M390 isn't a very tough steel but it shouldn't be terribly brittle. In the context of a pure cutting tool, I wouldn't be worried about a 2.5mm blade either. I'm of the opinion that people over-emphasize blade thickness and thinner stock passes through material with less resistance. So especially with the right grind, you could have an awesome cutter here.

I suppose the main question is if you plan on batoning this knife through logs and such. If so, a thicker blade and tougher steel would be the way to go.
 
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