- Joined
- Mar 26, 2010
- Messages
- 1,736
I recently purchased a New Bark River Little Carver in CPM 3V. I had posted a thread a little while ago asking for information about this steel and due to the many positive responses I decided to try it out.
The Little carver for me is a very useful knife to test out a steel because being a fixed blade I can use it very hard, and in the sheath it's small enough to fit in my pocket. So I can use it allot more than my large INFI choppers.
I decided to test the Steel on a large pile of cardboard boxes. Before I started I made sure the edge was near perfect, absolutely smooth like glass when performing a fingernail test. And cleanly cut printer paper.
While cutting the boxes, I noticed towards the end of the boxes the edge slightly less sharp, but I think it could have cut up a whole lot more boxes, without significant loss of sharpness.
After I finished cutting I tested the edge on some paper, it was barely able to cut it. And running my nail on the edge it felt quite rough.
I then stropped the knife on Black and Green Compound for a short while and It returned very easily to it's former glory with no issues with chipping on the edge.
Conclusion
I know that this is not a very scientific test, but it's pretty revealing for me that this steel, especially on a convex edge platform is a superb combination. I have done similar tests with different steels, and this one is by far the winner. This may be due to the convexing of the blade, but after the amount of cardboard that I cut for there to be no chipping I am very Impressed.
In this order of edge retention a small sample of steels I have tested in a similar manner.
1) Bark River Little Carver in CPM 3v
2) Spyderco Para 2 S30v (This had some chipping that took a while to get out)
3) SOG Ageis (AUS), major chipping and dulled pretty easilly
4) Cold Steel Kudu, Krupps steel, went dull quickly, but was easy to sharpen
The Little carver for me is a very useful knife to test out a steel because being a fixed blade I can use it very hard, and in the sheath it's small enough to fit in my pocket. So I can use it allot more than my large INFI choppers.
I decided to test the Steel on a large pile of cardboard boxes. Before I started I made sure the edge was near perfect, absolutely smooth like glass when performing a fingernail test. And cleanly cut printer paper.
While cutting the boxes, I noticed towards the end of the boxes the edge slightly less sharp, but I think it could have cut up a whole lot more boxes, without significant loss of sharpness.
After I finished cutting I tested the edge on some paper, it was barely able to cut it. And running my nail on the edge it felt quite rough.
I then stropped the knife on Black and Green Compound for a short while and It returned very easily to it's former glory with no issues with chipping on the edge.
Conclusion
I know that this is not a very scientific test, but it's pretty revealing for me that this steel, especially on a convex edge platform is a superb combination. I have done similar tests with different steels, and this one is by far the winner. This may be due to the convexing of the blade, but after the amount of cardboard that I cut for there to be no chipping I am very Impressed.
In this order of edge retention a small sample of steels I have tested in a similar manner.
1) Bark River Little Carver in CPM 3v
2) Spyderco Para 2 S30v (This had some chipping that took a while to get out)
3) SOG Ageis (AUS), major chipping and dulled pretty easilly
4) Cold Steel Kudu, Krupps steel, went dull quickly, but was easy to sharpen
