cpm 3v

[leon.pugh]

I have completed 2 knives out of cpm 3v and I am very impressed with the qualitys of this steel. I am looking for experianced feed back about comparisons to 52100 and other high end carbon steels. I am in the design & planning stages of building a serious compitition cutting knife. From what I find on crucibles site this steel exceeds A2 by huge margin, I am thinking that this steel may be very hard to beat. Please give me your oppinions. Why is'nt used more?
Leon Pugh

 

[ralph.merlino]

I have a knifemaker friend who lives in Mississippi, he has been a knife maker for over thirty years. We were talking about steels the other day and he said that CPM3V is the best steel out their.

 

[Doug C]

leon.pugh,
I have a serious cutting comp blade,acquired Bailey Bradshaw's Competition Cutter earlier this year,it's CPM3V as well,I never used it as I think I'm going to keep it nice and stick a guard and different handle on it.
I do know Marshall Noble and Steven Roos used it at Bill Moran's School in AZ in preparation for their tests and confirmed it's a MEGA cutter.
Bailey said it's a cutting beast as well,the problem was how hard it was to forge,it barely moved under the press.
I think it would be a great steel to use,tough,isn't it one of the toughest?

Good luck on your project. :thumbup:

Doug

 

[Tom Krein]

CPM 3V IS a great steel!

I put it into service at RC-62 (smaller belt knives 3-5 inches) and it cuts and cuts and cuts! It is also pretty easy to sharpen at this hardness!!

Think of it like a supercharged A-2! I mean really SUPERCHARGED!! A-2 is a pretty good steel in its own right and CPM 3V is supperior in pretty much every way!!

Tom

 

[Keith Montgomery]

In my opinion, there is not a better all around steel. S-7 is tougher, and CPM-9V and CPM-10V will hold an edge better, but overall CPM-3V is as good as it gets.