CRKT M16 Mystery Steel... A little help?

[timberweasel]

Recently, the Columbia River Knife & Tool 'M16-01KZ' caught my eye and I picked one up. It's a nice compact design and was one of the more affordable offerings on the rack of a local shop; it would be a knife I could slip into my pocket to use and abuse without any guilt whatsoever.

Now, there are a million different models of the M16 floating around, many different material and quality grades, and I'm left wondering what I actually bought. According to the CRKT website write-up, the blade steel is AUS 4 but the specs listing has it down as 8Cr15MoV. Anyone out there know for sure?

Your input is appreciated!

 

[SuzukiGS750EZ]

I'm going with the AUS 4 steel. I believe my old CRKT M16-03 was AUS 8.

 

[knarfeng]

Why don't you contact CRK&T and ask? I have yet to contact any knife company with a question and not find help.

http://www.crkt.com/contact

Just click on this link to send an email to info@crkt.com or fill out the form below and you can be sure we will get back to you soon.

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You can also reach us at:
Columbia River Knife & Tool
18348 SW 126th Place
Tualatin, OR 97062 USA

Telephone: 503-685-5015
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Toll free: 1-800-891-3100

 

[T.O.M.]

It's 8Cr15MoV for the 10KZ version & the M16-01Z version.

What is the writeup you're talking about? The paragraph on the product page?

 

[frc505]

i have a M16-14D the steel i think is aus 8 hope that helps

frank

 

[knarfeng]

It's 8Cr15MoV for the 10KZ version & the M16-01Z version.

What is the writeup you're talking about? The paragraph on the product page?

http://www.crkt.com/cgi-bin/crkt.pl...br=81&prrfnbr=238&sesent=0,0&search_id=575452

There's a paragraph description and a table of data to the side of the page. The alloys don't match.
8Cr15MoV is similar in properties to AUS8 and has quite a bit better edge retention than AUS4.

i have a M16-14D the steel i think is aus 8 hope that helps

frank

I know that CRK&T has used different alloys on different versions of the M16.

 

[Gator97]

Why don't you contact CRK&T and ask? I have yet to contact any knife company with a question and not find help.

I have sent well over 100 emails to various knife manufacturers and steel makers total... While I was fishing for steel compositions, except very few people, as usual there is no answer, or something like "secret/proprietary" steel.
But why not, may be we'll get lucky

 

[Joshua J.]

I have sent well over 100 emails to various knife manufacturers and steel makers total... While I was fishing for steel compositions, except very few people, as usual there is no answer, or something like "secret/proprietary" steel.
But why not, may be we'll get lucky

It's weird that people are so unwilling to say what materials they use, it's like they think people will dismiss their product just because they don't use the right steel...
Which may occasionally be the case. However, not telling me what alloy it is automatically labels the knife as "junk". You tell me which sounds better.

 

[timberweasel]

The M16-01KZ seemed to be the cheapest way for me to check out the AutoLAWKS for myself and satisfy my curiosity. I don't really have a problem with AUS 4 for a light duty blade, but the value would certainly be a lot higher if it turns out CRKT used 8Cr15MoV instead for this particular model...

Thanks for the input, folks!

 

[Mattman888]

Check that box, if it says product of taiwan then it is AUS-4, if it says product of China then is 8CR15. I believe they switched production over to China.

 

[timberweasel]

Check that box, if it says product of taiwan then it is AUS-4, if it says product of China then is 8CR15. I believe they switched production over to China.

Never thought I'd be so glad to see "Made in China"... Thanks very much, fella! Cheers!