Choosing 80CrV2 vs. 52100 ?

Elijah Williams

Elijah Williams

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Mar 9, 2020
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I am curious about something specific concerning 80CrV2 vs. 52100:
For smiths or makers who have in the past used significant quantities of 52100, and have replaced it with 80CrV2, I'm curious as to the reason.
So, if that by any chance happens to be you I'd like to hear your experience on it, or even if that isn't specifically you.
Or, if you use both a lot, I'm curious about that too.
Thank you!
 
80CRV2 is a newer, hotter and has been marketing as a great "hard use" steel. No wonder why many people would prefer it over old steel like 52100. But if done right, 52100 will hold better edge. 80CRV2 will have slight edge at toughness tho.
 
In our toughness testing 80CrV2 was similar to 52100, and as previously mentioned 52100 has better edge holding. The only place I would see recommending 80CrV2 would be for heat treating with a forge, but I don’t recommend doing that anyway.
 
Larrin said:
In our toughness testing 80CrV2 was similar to 52100, and as previously mentioned 52100 has better edge holding. The only place I would see recommending 80CrV2 would be for heat treating with a forge, but I don’t recommend doing that anyway.
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I was going to say that I think 80CRV2 is just trending right now but I held back but now I’m comfortable saying it, haha. I went to using 52100 for the majority of my “belt” knives and I have tried 80CRV2 but after seeing the above mentioned testing I sided with science.
 
I used 80crv2 just for the simple fact that I heat treat in my forge for now. Looking at buying an oven so I can do it correctly. I’ve built a couple of skinning blades with it and they are awesome. I wanted the extra toughness to cut through joints when skinning deer and elk.
 
I think a number of smiths have used it on forged in fire, creating more interest in it (80crv2). I don’t use a lot of simple steels anymore. 8670 is tougher, as is 15n20, and 8670 is the most forgiving steel in heat treat in a forge I have tested. There is nothing wrong with 80crv2. I just prefer other steels that do certain things better. Given the choice, as a monosteel, I would use 80crv2 over 1080 or 1084, but there is nothing wrong with those steels either. I used a lot of 52100 before I switched to higher alloy steels.
 
I agree..I think the main thing is that it's "new". It is a good steel though. I have used it quite a bit. I delved briefly into 52100 several years ago after seeing it on paper; I got all excited. Subsequent attempts to heat treat it did not yield anywhere near the results it should have provided. I decided to stick with what I had been using (mainly 1095 and O1) at the time, and some time later tried 80CrV2. I did a bunch of heat treating testing on that, and have used it quite a bit, as I mentioned.
Now after taking another look at 52100, doing more research, and starting to work with it again, I'm hesitantly feeling the same excitement I did when I first looked into it. My goal has always been to find one or two really good alloys that I like, that have great potential, and stick with those.
At the end of the day, 80CrV2 is good, but is it the best I can learn to work with? It seems to be one of those steels to me that is sort of middle of the road on all points. It does well for a wide range of blades, but it's not as tough as 5160 or 8670, and it can't attain the abrasion resistance of 52100 or O1, that sort of thing.
Anyway, I'm just wondering if anyone (EDIT I mean, an experienced smith) has ever found 80CrV2 and felt like they hit the jackpot. I have a sneaking suspicion that hasn't happened much...
 
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I think application here matters in what differences are significant or maybe even noticeable. I make primarily bushcraft and hunting knifes. When both are used at appropriate hardnesses, I think the differences are slight for my purposes. A lot of bushcrafters love 80CrV2. It just happens to be well known and regarded in that community, I think primarily due to the Scandinavian knives at good price points that have excellent heat treat. That is also exactly why I chose 80CrV2 as my first steel. So with the geometry of most of what I make, the advantages of 52100 are less noticeable. Now, if I'm doing a thinner/slicier B&T or game knife, I do perceive better fine edge stability with 52100. But that's just my experience which is as dependent on how I grind it or how hard I run it as it is the steel. Academically, I know that 52100 should have better slicing edge retention, but generally when whittling knots or gutting animals, it is typically...abuse...that drives the need for sharpening, and not so much abrasive wear.

Another unquantifiable perception of mine is the consistency heat to heat of 80CrV2 vs 52100. I can't remember ever having an issue with 80CrV2 from different batches failing to achieve its max hardness at the same austenitizing temp with no extra processing from my chosen supplier. Mostly I've had to normalize and thermal cycle 52100 to achieve max hardness. Typically, I gain 1.5 to 2 points by doing the normalizing stuff. Larrin's recipe for DET annealing 52100 is excellent and always delivers max hardness. JMO. Hope that helps.
 
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