Powder Steel

T

TheNick

Joined
Apr 6, 2005
Messages
325
I am dying to try a Powder steel knife.

I placed an order for a Compact Raven from Bayleyknife thinking there wouldn't be much crazy people wanting something that expensive. Well I will have to wait between 60-95 Weeks before I can get it.

I can't wait that long to try a powder steel knife and would like to avoid bringing INFI on the trail. I know Fallkniven makes some 3G knives but after having my full cover sheath breaks after opening it twice on my F1 well I am rather unimpressed.

I tried to find some RWL knives around but didn't find any and I only found Fallkniven for the 3G steel. Of course I'd prefer RWL but still open to 3G steel.

I am willing to go production or custom as long as I get it before I leave for Yukon in May.

Only thing is the seller need to be able to ship in Canada.



P.S. I'm not buying a bayley because of Bear Grylls but because I like the knife and want to try the steel.
 
Hmmm I want something a little more fancy than that.

I have:
Fallkniven F1 (Lam VG-10)
Spyderco Moran FB01 (Upswept blade) (VG-10)
Scrap Yard SS4 INFI
a custom CKE in 440C

I have a lot of other knives including some S30V steel but I really want to try a higher end powder steel like 3G or RWL (preferably)

I have a bushmaster from Dan Koster in O-1 from the production run that will come my way sometime this year too. I will also get the Bushcraft when it becomes available.
 
I know you have not had the best of luck with your fallkniven sheath but they make fantastic knives, however, their sheaths are not so great. I would suggest getting one of those and getting a custom sheath for it.
 
CPM154 is equivalent to RWL-34.They are better than the equivalents 154CM and ATS-34. CPM154 is getting more and more common so you should find a good selection of knives.
 
I just found one of the 110 Fallkniven F1/3G test knives that were made. We'll see how this will perform. I still have some time to find the perfect knife.

I'll keep in mind for the CPM154 and try to find a nice bushcraft knife with this steel. (I'm trying the CPM-3V with the next bushcraft run from Dan Koster)
 
TheNick said:
I just found one of the 110 Fallkniven F1/3G test knives that were made. We'll see how this will perform. I still have some time to find the perfect knife.

I'll keep in mind for the CPM154 and try to find a nice bushcraft knife with this steel. (I'm trying the CPM-3V with the next bushcraft run from Dan Koster)
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Whats 3G, isnt it SG like the Shun kitchen knives?
 
Not sure what's about powder steel???

Many different powder steels around.
Anything CPM is powder steels. There are pretty common powder steels and very rare ones. Good ones and average ones.
 
Razorsharp244 said:
Whats 3G, isnt it SG like the Shun kitchen knives?
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3G is a laminated steel. It has SGPS as the edging steel, with VG2 as the external laminates.

As well as 3G, the same SGPS is also found as the edging steel on the U2 folder.

Hope this helps.


Kind regards
Mick
 
Nick,
Just curious about why you would rather avoid bringing INFI on the trail with you. Is it not good enough to take,or "too good" to take?
If I were going to the Yukon,I would have to KNOW what I was carrying would not let me down. That would go for each piece of gear I took. That would be a "zero surprises" time if ever I had one. Just my take on it.
A.
 
I have a Jim Stewart Custom in CPM S30V, I have been very impressed.

The new BRK&T Stainless Bravo-1 is CPM 154.




"If you're not living on the edge, …you're taking up too much space."

Big Mike
 
SouthernCross said:
3G is a laminated steel. It has SGPS as the edging steel, with VG2 as the external laminates.

As well as 3G, the same SGPS is also found as the edging steel on the U2 folder.

Hope this helps.


Kind regards
Mick
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So they are the same then. SG (SGPS) is the same. Super Gold (Powder Steel).

The Powder steels I know of in knife applications.
  • CPM S30/60/90/110V
  • CPM 154 and RWL 34 (they are similar in composition)
  • CPM M2/M4/D2
  • ZDP189
  • SG (SGPS, SG-2)
  • Elmax
 
Your choice criteria seems pretty weird.

TheNick said:
I am dying to try a Powder steel knife.
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Well, I've used plenty, nothing to get that excited.

would like to avoid bringing INFI on the trail.
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Why???

I know Fallkniven makes some 3G knives but after having my full cover sheath breaks after opening it twice on my F1 well I am rather unimpressed.
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Plan to cut with your shealth ? Thought you were interested in steels.

Of course I'd prefer RWL but still open to 3G steel.
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Hard to understand that: RWL34 is "only" improved ATS34. Quite good but not much to brag of. 3G is "third generation" steel. Whatever that means it is much more recent steel that performs better in almost every aspects.
 
hehe I know I am weird but hey I'm a french Canadian after all :).

My girlfriend generally carry one of my Street Scraper 4 INFI so I like to try new stuff and don't really care if it breaks because I will have an INFI with me anyway. I will also have my Skinny ASH-1 attached to my backpack at all time, but I like to work with the 4 inches blades.

I have only 1 knife I think out of CPM and it's my spyderco para-military. I also have a Delica 4 in ZDP-189 that I love but the thing is I always like to try new steels.

You know the knife fever, you never have enough.

3G(SGPS) I had never tried so that is why I want to try.

I would carry a Busse meaner street if I could find one at a reasonable price.

Otherwise I will try to find CPM-S30V/CPM154 and CPM-S3V and see how they perform =)
 
Ravaillac said:
Hard to understand that: RWL34 is "only" improved ATS34. Quite good but not much to brag of. 3G is "third generation" steel. Whatever that means it is much more recent steel that performs better in almost every aspects.
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It is. The whole point with powder steels is making coarse carbides into fine carbides. Thats the only reason, period. Fine carbides have several advantages though. Sharpness and toughness without loosing wear resistance are the most obvious ones.

The "third generation" relates to the production technology and thus the size and dispersion of carbides in the steel. Powder steel makers rates themselves into these categories (generations) depending on which technology they use and what purity/microstructure they can achive. Uddeholm in Sweden is alone at generation 4. Hitachi (ZDP189) probably gen 3.
 
Razorsharp244 said:
Fine carbides have several advantages though. Sharpness and toughness without loosing wear resistance are the most obvious ones.
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Well put :thumbup:

After 4 years of using 3G steel, I haven't found it to be brittle, it holds an edge very well, and IMO isn't hard to sharpen. Its got good corrosion resistance too.

Everything I look for in a using knife :thumbup:

Kind regards
Mick
 
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It's not only the carbide size that powder steel can give you.Steels like ZDP189 have very high carbon content .It is possible only by making it by powder steel methods.
 
mete said:
It's not only the carbide size that powder steel can give you.Steels like ZDP189 have very high carbon content .It is possible only by making it by powder steel methods.
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You can melt ZDP189 conventionally. The primary carbides would make the material unusable though. So we are in fact making the same statement but coming from different perspectives.

Powder eliminates primary carbides (forms during casting) which practically allows more alloys (higher carbide density).
 
mete said:
It's not only the carbide size that powder steel can give you.Steels like ZDP189 have very high carbon content .It is possible only by making it by powder steel methods.
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Mete, how would you compare performance of these powdered steels to properly heat treated 01 tool steel?

Not that I'm going to stop using 01 either way. I'm just interested to know whether a lot of this is fad/hype, or if these steels are truly on another level.

This page from Kevin Cashen's website is why I ask.

http://www.cashenblades.com/Info/Steel selection/O1.html

As for edge holding, O1 might very well be near the top of the list when heat-treated properly.



For some time this steel fell out of favor in blade making. I think this can be attributed to two things. First, as I mentioned before, it does not like to be over heated so not just anybody with a fire and a bucket of oil can get the most out of it. The second factor is even less fair but probably has more to do with the ignoring of this wonderful steel more than any other- it is too common. That knifemaker “steel of the month club” always wants something exotic, impressive sounding or rare for their trendy new super steel. O1 has a short, to-the–point name, has been around for years and years and can be gotten anywhere, how boring! But there is a reason that it has been around for years and years and is almost anywhere you look, it works!
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