Para-Military in CTS-204P

[FCM415]

... And I agree, loving the green and 204P combination.

Josh, you looking to get a second off of the 400? PM sent.

 

[Somi]

Carpenter uses the 2nd Generation Process.

Bohler uses the 3rd Generation Process.

It's true, but the processes aren't the same.
Carpenter use 2nd gen Micro-Melting (MM) process, Bohler use 3rd gen Powder-Metallurgy (PM) process. MM is slightly better, because the powder diameter and the carbides diameter are smaller.

Carpenter's 2nd generation MM process produces powder particles with 150µm diameter, which is smaller than Bohler-Uddeholms's 3rd Generation PM process, producing 250µm powder. Presumably, 150µm powder would have either smaller, or at least similar size carbides as Bohler-Uddeholm's PM powder i.e. 2-4µm or smaller size carbides.

source: http://zknives.com/knives/steels/steeltec.shtml

 

[bh49]

I really love this knife. The green G-10 is right up my alley

I always loved dark green. This was the primary reason why I bought Stag Arms Manix. I love my Lil T. I can only wish that Spyderco would use this color G10 more frequently and bring back the same finish like on Lil T.

 

[JNewell]

Test results from Jim Ankerson's massive thread:

What I have done is rank the steels in Categories based on edge retention cutting 5/8" manila rope. We are looking for big differences here, not ranking the steels in order such as 1,2,3,4,5. The categories or groups mean that one can expect those steels in that category to have close to the same performance as the other steels in the same category. The categories are ranked in order by edge retention, category 1 will have better performance than category 2 etc.

The Custom Phil Wilson knives in M390 (62) and ELMAX (62) are not added to the data, they wouldn't fit into any of the Categories due to the Optimal HT and cutting ability, the difference is off the scale percentage wise so it wasn't added.

The Testing Process is as follows:

Cutting 5/8" Manila rope on a Scale with wood to cut on. The scale was calibrated for the weight of the wood. Making 3 to 4 slicing cuts from back to tip using the least amount of down force needed to get the starting down force. Once that was established 20 cuts were made then down force was tested again and that continued until 20 LBS was reached.

All the knives started at 14 ~ 15 LBS of down force except for M390 because it cuts so aggressively.

Accuracy is to + or - 10 Cuts and + or - 1 LB of down force or 6%. This was verified doing a blind test of blades of unknown hardness until they were tested after. 2 blades of the same hardness and steel, sharpened the same and same model of knife.

RC hardness is + or - 1 RC on the steels that were tested as the standard of RC testing.

All edges were at 30 degrees inclusive and polished to 6000 grit on the Edge Pro, sharpness was tested by slicing TP clean.

The following data is the results that I got based on the above method, while not conclusive or the end all beat all data it is very accurate.

More steels will be added as they are tested.

Category 1

CPM-S90V (Military and Para 2) (60)
CTS-20CP (Para 2) (60)
M390 (Mule) (60.5)
CTS - 204P (Para 2)

 

[nccole]

I wouldn't be surprised at all if you could replicate the Southard and PM2 blade and edge geometry that the PM2 would outperform the Southard. At least I can hope that to justify the extra time waiting I just attribute the extra time all to refined heat treating! I do want more CTS-204P for sure.

 

[EZ Bake]

Test results from Jim Ankerson's massive thread:

Damn - so it does have better edge retention than the Blue Para (if I'm reading it correctly - is the Blue Para the M390 rated at 60rc in category 2?)...

Interesting, I would not have guessed that. That's why I'm glad we have folks who take the time to do stuff like that - thanks Ankerson!

 

[JNewell]

Damn - so it does have better edge retention than the Blue Para (if I'm reading it correctly - is the Blue Para the M390 rated at 60rc in category 2?)...

Interesting, I would not have guessed that. That's why I'm glad we have folks who take the time to do stuff like that - thanks Ankerson!

As I read the results, they are likely in the same category with no meaningful difference in performance. What you need to know is that the M390 in Cat2 is NOT a Spyderco knife. I asked, and Jim answered, that question somewhere in the 8 trillion posts in that thread.

 

[EZ Bake]

As I read the results, they are likely in the same category with no meaningful difference in performance. What you need to know is that the M390 in Cat2 is NOT a Spyderco knife. I asked, and Jim answered, that question somewhere in the 8 trillion posts in that thread.

That makes sense - and yeah, I avoid going any further in that thread than I have to - the OP is all I need

 

[JNewell]

Chicken. There's only 687 posts before your post. :biggrin:

That makes sense - and yeah, I avoid going any further in that thread than I have to - the OP is all I need