- Joined
- Jun 29, 1999
- Messages
- 9,806
After a month of use, I remain impressed by the 154cm steel in my BM Griptilian 551. I bought it in large part because, somewhat amazingly for a mildly addicted knife collector, I had no experience with 154CM. I also wanted to try the Griptilian for its ingenious construction and light weight. I have a couple of BMs with the superb Axis lock, a 710 and a Mini-Rukus, but theyre both a bit heavy for pocket carry.
154CM still carries a reputation as a premium steel, although lately it has been eclipsed by super steels such as S30V and S35Vn. I had a Buck/Strider 800 spear point in ATS-34, which is pretty much the same stuff as 154CM. After wearing out a few pockets, I gave it to my truck driving BIL to use to pry off lug nuts. The steel was OK, maybe a bit brittle as it would chip under hard use.
Joe Talmadges superb steel FAQ shows 154CM with 1.05% carbon, 13.5-14% chromium, 4% molybdenum, 0.4% vanadium, 0.4% tungsten, 0.3-0.8% silicon, and trace amounts (0.03 %) of phosphorous and silicon, probably not enough to mention. Curiously, other steel charts dont show any vanadium or tungsten content in 154CM. That may be because sometimes elements lower than 1% arent mentioned.
Molybdenum, tungsten and vanadium are carbide formers, in addition to other properties. Not being a metallurgist, I suspect that these three elements are what make this steel somewhat of a challenge to sharpen. Diamond hones work well, however. It seems harder than S30V and S35Vn and even VG-10, though this is a totally subjective impression. And in day-to-day use, for food prep, a bit of whittling, opening packaging, it seems to hold an edge just as well as those steels. Id be hard put to tell the difference. And thats just fine. Maybe Im becoming less of a steel snob (heck, I even like 420HC, the way Buck heat treats it), but I find this Grippy in my pocket more often than not.
154CM still carries a reputation as a premium steel, although lately it has been eclipsed by super steels such as S30V and S35Vn. I had a Buck/Strider 800 spear point in ATS-34, which is pretty much the same stuff as 154CM. After wearing out a few pockets, I gave it to my truck driving BIL to use to pry off lug nuts. The steel was OK, maybe a bit brittle as it would chip under hard use.
Joe Talmadges superb steel FAQ shows 154CM with 1.05% carbon, 13.5-14% chromium, 4% molybdenum, 0.4% vanadium, 0.4% tungsten, 0.3-0.8% silicon, and trace amounts (0.03 %) of phosphorous and silicon, probably not enough to mention. Curiously, other steel charts dont show any vanadium or tungsten content in 154CM. That may be because sometimes elements lower than 1% arent mentioned.
Molybdenum, tungsten and vanadium are carbide formers, in addition to other properties. Not being a metallurgist, I suspect that these three elements are what make this steel somewhat of a challenge to sharpen. Diamond hones work well, however. It seems harder than S30V and S35Vn and even VG-10, though this is a totally subjective impression. And in day-to-day use, for food prep, a bit of whittling, opening packaging, it seems to hold an edge just as well as those steels. Id be hard put to tell the difference. And thats just fine. Maybe Im becoming less of a steel snob (heck, I even like 420HC, the way Buck heat treats it), but I find this Grippy in my pocket more often than not.
