CPM-10V??

jefroman

jefroman

Gold Member
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May 17, 2001
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Based on Spyderco's Steel Chart, this steel has 9.75 Vanadium, and 2.45 Carbon!:eek:

This sounds like one tough steel! It has the most carbon, and the most vanadium of any steel on the chart.
Does anyone have any experiance with this steel? If so, please share.

P.S. do you know of any knives with steel?

Thanks!

Jeff
 
I believe Cliff Stamp did a review of a 10V knife.
There are many qualities of a steel that aren't completely described by the composition charts abd if you read the review you'll see what I mean. You might also look at CPM 3V which might be better. It some repects 3V is at the top of the heap in performance, but it does not deal well with corrosion. I have a Lightfoot in 3V and I would prefer it to my smaller Busses [it's that good] except for the corrosion problem. But I don't know about 10V.
 
From what I've heard, 10V is pretty much the top dog as far as edge-holding on fibrous (and other) materials and pretty gentle use. It, I've heard, has little toughness and does rust quite easily. However, it sure can hold an edge as long as you use it gently.
 
I have just recieved a 10 inch (15inch overall) camping fixed blade custom in CPM 10V, my first impressions being that the weakness of this material is somewhat exagerated. I have done some chopping with little sign of any wear and certainly no damage as of yet. Then again this is a custom and was heat treated by Paul Bos...:)
 
Personally I really like 10V. It isn't easy to work with after heat treat, but it cuts like nothing else I've seen.

For small to medium blades up to 63 Rc this is one great steel. As far as corrosion, with the same care you would give a hand forged 52100 blade you should be just fine. The steel does not take lateral stress well. So if you want a real cutter of a knife and know how to use and care for a knife properly 10V may be for you.

BTW I have several on the bench not spoken for yet.:D
 
Wayne :

the weakness of this material is somewhat exagerated
Click to expand...

No one has ever said it was weak. With the high Carbon and alloy levels plus the fine grain structure inherent due to the CPM process, CPM-10V has the potential to be one of the strongest steels currently used for blades. Its main problem is a low impact toughness. However toughness is a step property in that as long as the user doesn't exceed the abilities of the steel, it will be fine, there is no gradual degredation like wear or corrosion. Relative to other steels, the impact toughness of CPM-10V is similar to D2 at 62 RC.

The other issue is with corrosion resistance. It will rust quite readily. Phil Wilson warned me about this as he had even see if just rust sitting is his shop. I have not done any soaks with it to see how it would react, because quite simply I would expect it to be functionally damage by any extended contact with a corrosive enviroment. But then the blade I have is very thin, and because of the distal taper a significant amount of the blade is 1/32" thick, so even a small amount of pitting would seriously weaken the blade. I did do some soaks on CPM-15V and I could literally see the rust form in minutes.

The ductility is also low, but that kind of goes with the impact toughness.

Doug's description mirrors my experience with CPM-10V pretty much exactly.

-Cliff
 
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