- Joined
- Jun 29, 1999
- Messages
- 10,136
I picked up a 110 in CPM 154 at Bass Pro this week. It was a display model, rather grubby from much handling, and apparently the only one in stock (no, the amiable clerk didnt know the difference between 420HC and CPM 154). I bought it because:
My birthdays coming up (62 in July).
Crucible has gone into Chapter 11 and this might be the last chance to get one in CPM 154 (feel free to use this excuse
).
I was curious about this steel.
It has reddish rosewood grips, very nice, albeit a bit plain. The brass frame has a few machine marks and some minor scuff marks on the bolster. No problem, this is not going to be a safe queen. The blade has a shiny grey coating, and bears Paul Bos' logo -- always nice to see. C.J. Buck mentioned what the coating was when I met him at the Bass Pro Shop opening north of Calgary a few weeks ago, titanium aluminum nitride, I think (I stand to be corrected). It is also tough as heck, according to another member of this forum who has one. Composition of CPM 154 according Alpha Knife Supplys excellent steel chart (http://www.alphaknifesupply.com/zdata-bladesteel.htm) is Carbon: 1.05%; Chromium: 14%; Manganese: 0.5%; Molybdenum: 4.0%; Vanadium: 0.4%. CPM154 is reportedly twice as tough as 154CM.
The blade and frame were sticky with some kind of blackish gunk, maybe preservative, and it was quite stiff, at least compared to my faithful 110 in 420HC, which flips open as easy as an old Zippo after several thousand openings. Some soap and water, a light application of BreakFree and a wipedown got rid of the gunk, and eased the action considerably.
The blade is a little wider than my old 110, which has been honed back a tad. It was sharp out of the box, but not scary sharp. I was surprised make that amazed at how fast the edge came up. Half a dozen strokes on the red DMT raised a nice even burr and a dozen on the ultra-fine resulted in a wicked edge. CPM 154 appears to be a very fine-grained steel. I can get to scary sharp (one grade below wicked) on D2, S30V and VG-10, but it seems to take forever to work the final burr off. This one is absolutely one of the sharpest blades I own, right up there with Ivan Campos chisel-grind American Standard tanto in D3, my Master Hunter in Carbon V, and my Marbles blades in 52100 maybe a step beyond those.
So far Ive played around with it, cut food, packaging, whittled some spruce kindling, cut down some nasty brittle old vines, and a couple of cardboard boxes, just to see how the edge holds up. No scratches on the finish, and the edge by this admittedly totally subjective test holds up as well as my Mini-Rukus in S30V. Im surprised we havent heard more about this steel.
:thumbup:
My birthdays coming up (62 in July).
Crucible has gone into Chapter 11 and this might be the last chance to get one in CPM 154 (feel free to use this excuse
). I was curious about this steel.
It has reddish rosewood grips, very nice, albeit a bit plain. The brass frame has a few machine marks and some minor scuff marks on the bolster. No problem, this is not going to be a safe queen. The blade has a shiny grey coating, and bears Paul Bos' logo -- always nice to see. C.J. Buck mentioned what the coating was when I met him at the Bass Pro Shop opening north of Calgary a few weeks ago, titanium aluminum nitride, I think (I stand to be corrected). It is also tough as heck, according to another member of this forum who has one. Composition of CPM 154 according Alpha Knife Supplys excellent steel chart (http://www.alphaknifesupply.com/zdata-bladesteel.htm) is Carbon: 1.05%; Chromium: 14%; Manganese: 0.5%; Molybdenum: 4.0%; Vanadium: 0.4%. CPM154 is reportedly twice as tough as 154CM.
The blade and frame were sticky with some kind of blackish gunk, maybe preservative, and it was quite stiff, at least compared to my faithful 110 in 420HC, which flips open as easy as an old Zippo after several thousand openings. Some soap and water, a light application of BreakFree and a wipedown got rid of the gunk, and eased the action considerably.
The blade is a little wider than my old 110, which has been honed back a tad. It was sharp out of the box, but not scary sharp. I was surprised make that amazed at how fast the edge came up. Half a dozen strokes on the red DMT raised a nice even burr and a dozen on the ultra-fine resulted in a wicked edge. CPM 154 appears to be a very fine-grained steel. I can get to scary sharp (one grade below wicked) on D2, S30V and VG-10, but it seems to take forever to work the final burr off. This one is absolutely one of the sharpest blades I own, right up there with Ivan Campos chisel-grind American Standard tanto in D3, my Master Hunter in Carbon V, and my Marbles blades in 52100 maybe a step beyond those.
So far Ive played around with it, cut food, packaging, whittled some spruce kindling, cut down some nasty brittle old vines, and a couple of cardboard boxes, just to see how the edge holds up. No scratches on the finish, and the edge by this admittedly totally subjective test holds up as well as my Mini-Rukus in S30V. Im surprised we havent heard more about this steel.
:thumbup:
