Are all the types of steel Spyderco uses to make knives the same in various countries?

GatorFlash1

GatorFlash1

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Are the knife steels that Spyderco uses to make Spyderco knives overseas identical to those Spyderco knives made of the same steel used to make them in the U.S.? I'm just curious to know if for instance is CPM-M4 steel, etc., used to make knives in say Taiwan, Japan, etc. the same type of CPM-M4 steel used to make knives in the U.S. Does the same brand or type of steel vary between Spyderco, and other knife manufactures in different countries?


 
Spyderco is probably the only knife company I trust to label their steel honestly. If it is labelled "CPM M4", it is M4 tool steel made in the USA by Crucible, regardless of where the knife was made. The same with Carpenter steels, if it says "CTS-XHP" it is XHP steel made in the USA by Carpenter. They ship the steel to the factories in other countries, and make sure the heat treatments follow their protocols.

Sal has a long-standing relationship with many foundries, and is always working to establish more. Latrobe, Carpenter, Crucible, Hitachi, Bohler-Udenholm and Sandvik are just some of the foundries that have made steel for Spyderco. The only ones I'm not 100% certain on are the Chinese steels like 8Cr13MoV. While I'm certain the chemistry is the same, I don't know if it all comes from the same foundry.
 
yablanowitz said:
Spyderco is probably the only knife company I trust to label their steel honestly. If it is labelled "CPM M4", it is M4 tool steel made in the USA by Crucible, regardless of where the knife was made. The same with Carpenter steels, if it says "CTS-XHP" it is XHP steel made in the USA by Carpenter. They ship the steel to the factories in other countries, and make sure the heat treatments follow their protocols.
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Correct, that you can't have a Crucible steel made by Carpenter, and you can't have a Carpenter steel made by Bohler-Uddeholm. It would be like saying your truck has a Ford engine that was made by Chevrolet.

However, I question whether the steel manufacturer ensures that their product is heat treated in any particular manner. It would be like Betty Crocker sending an inspector to your home to make sure you bake their cookies at the correct temperature. An example is CPM-V15. Crucible introduced this steel decades ago. But it was Shawn Houston who worked out the heat treatment that led to Spyderco's usage of the steel. I could be mistaken here, so please correct me if I'm wrong.
 
I meant that Spyderco monitors the makers in other countries to ensure they are adhering to Spyderco's approved heat-treatment protocols for the steel being used. Especially when the steel is from a different country than the knife.
 
I've actually been fined by a Betty Crocker representative before because my oven wasn't properly calibrated and the extra 3 degrees of heat caused my cookies to be slightly overdone. I just paid the fine so I wouldn't have to go to court to pay for damages to their reputation.
 
Spyderco used to make the Mule series in the US. When their US production capacity was stretched they had to shift Mule production to Taichung. My understanding is that Spyderco shipped the raw material to Taichung for production.
 
Mostly true, although the ZDP-189 Mule was made in Japan, the country of origin for the steel, and the 9Cr18 Mule was made in China, also the country of origin for the steel.
 
They shipped the steel for the M4 Rock Lobster to Japan also. Prior to that any of the Japanese made BHQ jade G10 models came with a Japanese source steel.

I would have to suspect that either Spyderco has rock solid agreements with all of their factories to follow their heat treatment protocol for anything made outside of Golden.
 
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