Wishing for more Stainless Civivis

Chronovore · May 11, 2020

Hi. I've been a big fan of Civivi. The Naja was my most frequently carried casual knife last year. I've enjoyed my Ebony Baklash. So far this year, I've had a Chronic in my pocket more than any other knife. I think it's safe to say that Civivi has become the gold standard for budget knives.

As we all know, the world of budget knives has been overrun by D2. Everyone from Bestech to Kubey to Artisan's recent budget line have been flooding the market with it. Whenever we see a new budget knife released, D2 has become a safe bet for the steel. While that's been a welcome departure from steels like 8Cr13Mov on the low end, not everybody loves it. For various reasons, some of us want more corrosion resistance. If for no other reason, some of us just have enough D2 now and are getting tired of it.

Civivi has proven that 9Cr18Mov can be a good EDC steel when done properly. There is still a lot of love for 14C28N. VG-10 continues to be a well-respected stainless steel. (I had wondered if the higher price on Civivi's initial VG-10 knives had been a barrier to sales. However, we've seen D2 Civivis at similar or higher prices now.) Kizer has been offering competitively priced knives in N690 and that's got my attention.

So I'm here to ask something that I've seen expressed elsewhere on Blade Forums and throughout the larger EDC community. Can we please get some more stainless options from Civivi?

WE Knife Media · May 19, 2020

Hi, Chronovore:

We would want to offer more options to our fans in both high carbon steel and stainless steel. In the 5 years (now the 6th) of WE Knife has been on the market, we are constantly collecting data to find the steel with the most effective combination of ease of use and ease of maintenance.

We will definitely keep our eyes open for more steel types that can be offered. Please do feel free to suggest any steel that you would like to see as well, and we'll put those in our potential option list as well.

Thank you.

Chronovore · May 19, 2020

Thanks for the reply. I've been happy with my Civivi knives in 9Cr18Mov. I'd like to see more budget models offered in 9Cr18Mov. I'd like to see new Civivi models offered in VG-10 or N690. I'd love to see stainless versions of existing D2 models like the Incite, Governor, or Elementum offered in VG-10 or N690.

nutsforknives · May 20, 2020

Man, I'd love it if Civivi sent some steel to knifesteelnerds.com to be tested. I wonder how it really stacks up against vg-10 or other mid-tier stainless steels. I have been skeptical and avoided it after having bad experiences with 8Cr13MoV but I keep seeing people saying its good. I am surprised that people like it more than D2, which I consider basically stainless. You have to really abuse D2 to get it to stain, most D2 knives won't even really take a patina.

Chronovore · May 21, 2020

nutsforknives said:
Man, I'd love it if Civivi sent some steel to knifesteelnerds.com to be tested. I wonder how it really stacks up against vg-10 or other mid-tier stainless steels. I have been skeptical and avoided it after having bad experiences with 8Cr13MoV but I keep seeing people saying its good. I am surprised that people like it more than D2, which I consider basically stainless. You have to really abuse D2 to get it to stain, most D2 knives won't even really take a patina.

A lot of people look down on 9Cr18Mov unfairly. I know because I used to be one of them. Some of it is the association with 8Cr13Mov or lesser steels like 5Cr15, 3Cr13, etc. Some of it is poor heat treatment in really cheap knives from Schrade, CRKT, etc. My experience with those had caused me to write off 9Cr18Mov for years. It wasn't until I got my first Civivi that I realized how good it could be.

Since then, I've had three knives in 9Cr18Mov from Civivi and one from Real Steel. It's become my most-carried EDC steel.

Edit: I had my first experiences with D2 rusting on me this past summer. After spending more time with this steel, performance really isn't better than a good 9Cr18Mov or 14C28N.

nutsforknives · May 21, 2020

WE Knife Media said:
Hi, Chronovore:

We would want to offer more options to our fans in both high carbon steel and stainless steel. In the 5 years (now the 6th) of WE Knife has been on the market, we are constantly collecting data to find the steel with the most effective combination of ease of use and ease of maintenance.

We will definitely keep our eyes open for more steel types that can be offered. Please do feel free to suggest any steel that you would like to see as well, and we'll put those in our potential option list as well.

Thank you.

I'd love to see CTS-BD1N, VG-10, 154CM, 14C28N. Basically I'd love to see some very good ingot steels in the Civivi knives and PM steels in We branded knives.

Chronovore · Dec 2, 2020

I just noticed new models coming out in 14C28N and N690. Thanks for listening, Civivi!

Is the 9Cr18Mov getting moved to your Sencut line? Some recent cut testing has shown your 9Cr18Mov to be a spectacular budget steel:

Monofletch · Dec 13, 2020

My brass Backlash is 154

Chronovore · Feb 24, 2021

I just got the email about your new models. It looks like the new button-lock Elementum will be 14C28N and the Brad Zinker Bo will be Nitro-V. Thanks again for listening to your customers! Like a lot of folks here on Blade Forums, I think 14C28N is one of the best budget steels for an EDC knife.

I haven't tried Nitro-V but this might be a good excuse. The Bo looks great. With your usual attention to blade geometry, that 0.09" stock should cut beautifully. Now I've got to decide. Do I go for the red or the blue accents on the carbon fiber? Will there be any other colors or scale materials available?

WE Knife Media · Feb 25, 2021

Chronovore said:
I just got the email about your new models. It looks like the new button-lock Elementum will be 14C28N and the Brad Zinker Bo will be Nitro-V. Thanks again for listening to your customers! Like a lot of folks here on Blade Forums, I think 14C28N is one of the best budget steels for an EDC knife.

I haven't tried Nitro-V but this might be a good excuse. The Bo looks great. With your usual attention to blade geometry, that 0.09" stock should cut beautifully. Now I've got to decide. Do I go for the red or the blue accents on the carbon fiber? Will there be any other colors or scale materials available?

Thanks for always support WE&CIVIVI Knife.We always pay attention to market information and will pass it to our deisgner and engineering team for design consideration.
Please kindly noted now we just have the carbon fiber red and carbon fiber blue at present,we will appreciated for any idea that you can share with us.

Chronovore · Feb 25, 2021

WE Knife Media said:
Thanks for always support WE&CIVIVI Knife.We always pay attention to market information and will pass it to our deisgner and engineering team for design consideration.
Please kindly noted now we just have the carbon fiber red and carbon fiber blue at present,we will appreciated for any idea that you can share with us.

I'll probably get the blue one for my wife. Blue is her favorite color.

Can a design like this be done with green accents? The gold or copper accents you did on the Incite were beautiful. No matter what, regular black carbon fibers are always good for the people who don't like color accents.

I'm also a big fan of Micarta. I think a lot of people here on Blade Forums are in love with Micarta. I actually just signed up for notification on the Olive Micarta Riffle. (It's currently out of stock at my favorite dealer.)

WE Knife Media · Feb 25, 2021

Chronovore said:
I'll probably get the blue one for my wife. Blue is her favorite color.

Can a design like this be done with green accents? The gold or copper accents you did on the Incite were beautiful. No matter what, regular black carbon fibers are always good for the people who don't like color accents.

I'm also a big fan of Micarta. I think a lot of people here on Blade Forums are in love with Micarta. I actually just signed up for notification on the Olive Micarta Riffle. (It's currently out of stock at my favorite dealer.)

Thanks for your sharing,we had pass your idea to our market team for further consideration in near future~
You're welcome to follow our INS for more updated news about the NEW BO~