3V or 4V

C

cwdotson

Joined
Jun 8, 2006
Messages
451
Getting a 2 and 3/4 inch blade, 1/8" width, not sure on on grind yet (not a scandi) but something acute...only tissue slicing, occasional paper, rarely very fine wood carving (fuzzstick, for example). Corriosion not an issue. No batoning or pounding or abuse (unless life-or-death). Leaning towards 3V. Thoughts?
 
I'm not sure I even heard of a 3V blade under 3". 3V is known for excellent toughness, and better corrosion resistance than other carbon steels. If neither of those are a concern for you, I'd recommend 4V.

Personally I'd prefer 4V (or M4 or Vanadis 4E) in anything less than a chopper.
 
I’ve had both and is personally go with 3v. 4v would be better for a larger blade and tougher to get to hair popping sharpness then 3v.

In my experience it’s also less stain resistant. I had a small caper like knife with a thin 3” blade and it would have been great at the tasks you describe.
 
V infinity, +1.

There, with all the brilliant scathing humor out of the way, thanks to three answers. Anybody else have anything constructive, please feel free. I think I've made the cutesy "more V" comments moot.
 
For your described use I'd go 4V which is still over kill in the toughness category, 3V is even tougher at the sacrifice of less edge holding than 4V
 
19-3ben said:
No you haven't. There's always V infinity +2.
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I think that's Z-fiNit.

More seriously, for a knife like that I might look at something like K390 that would hold an edge for an incredibly long time. The advantage of 3V or 4V is excellent toughness (which it seems like you're not planning to test/take advantage of) while still offering very good edge retention. Given that, and that 4V should trade a bit of toughness for better edge retention, I would go with 4 V if you're married to one of the two.
 
cwdotson said:
Getting a 2 and 3/4 inch blade, 1/8" width, not sure on on grind yet (not a scandi) but something acute...only tissue slicing, occasional paper, rarely very fine wood carving (fuzzstick, for example). Corriosion not an issue. No batoning or pounding or abuse (unless life-or-death). Leaning towards 3V. Thoughts?
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Nathan Carothers (Carothers Performance Knives) did a batch of his 3" EDC blades in 4V as opposed to the huge runs which he also did in his tweaked and patented HT for 3V, known as Delta 3V or abbreviated to D3V. Nathan is both an expert and authority on this subject so you may be interested in reading the paragraphs written in blue in this link below:

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/friday-sale-3-edc-cpm-4v.1500316/

I am sorry as currently neither his D3V nor his 4V versions are available for sale or in production, but you can find the D3V from time to time here on the exchange and the 4V version, alas almost never! It's a great read for you though to make up your mind, although I believe that Nathan's heat treats are really cuts above the rest, but I am unabashedly biased :)
 
Insipid Moniker said:
I think that's Z-fiNit.

More seriously, for a knife like that I might look at something like K390 that would hold an edge for an incredibly long time. The advantage of 3V or 4V is excellent toughness (which it seems like you're not planning to test/take advantage of) while still offering very good edge retention. Given that, and that 4V should trade a bit of toughness for better edge retention, I would go with 4 V if you're married to one of the two.
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The maker offers these two for this blade. That's the choice.
 
Casinostocks said:
Nathan Carothers (Carothers Performance Knives) did a batch of his 3" EDC blades in 4V as opposed to the huge runs which he also did in his tweaked and patented HT for 3V, known as Delta 3V or abbreviated to D3V. Nathan is both an expert and authority on this subject so you may be interested in reading the paragraphs written in blue in this link below:

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/friday-sale-3-edc-cpm-4v.1500316/

I am sorry as currently neither his D3V nor his 4V versions are available for sale or in production, but you can find the D3V from time to time here on the exchange and the 4V version, alas almost never! It's a great read for you though to make up your mind, although I believe that Nathan's heat treats are really cuts above the rest, but I am unabashedly biased :)
Click to expand...

Thanks.
 
My V4E is an amazing steel and i'd go for it any time.
It's more wr than 3V but a bit less thougher.
Both are excellent.
 
4v is stronger ,can go thinner and harder, less rolling and blunting then 3v in the same application. If I wanted a sword or machete I'd go 3v. If I wanted a pry bar I'd save money and use Mild Steel :D
 
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