Cruwear

H

Hesparus

Joined
Oct 31, 2004
Messages
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Can anyone tell me anything about cruwear? I can't find anything about its composition or characteristics on the internet (although I admit to not having looked all that hard). It costs the same as the steel I use right now (154cm) but I've heard that it's more high-tech.

- Chris
 
CruWear is Crucible's version of VascoWear. VascoWear is one of the toughest, most wear resistant NON STAINLESS tool steels out there. Makes a great blade, if you're willing to put up with the extra effort needed to make the blade. It is VERY wear resistant. You must do 90% of the work before heat treat, because you sure aren't going to be able to do much after. I don't care what type or brand of belts you use, heat treated CruWear or VascoWear is gonna glaze them over pretty quickly.
 
I don't typically use my belt grinder after I heat treat, I hand rub from that point. Do you think that will make it any easier? I don't know if the grit on my sand paper is any tougher than the aluminum oxide on my belts. How tough is it to grind before you heat treat it?
Also, cruwear has got 7.5% chromium. Will that provide any corrosion resistance at all?

- Chris
 
I made a couple blades out of it a number of years ago. If I remember correctly it ate up belts in its annealed state. The chrom content will help some. I guess 50% rust is better than 100%.
 
Yes. As long as you don't mind the extra work, and if you don't mind it not being stainless.
 
I think that CPM 3V would be an alternative you might look into. I believe it is both more wear resistant and tougher than Cruwear. This is just from Crucible's datasheets, I have not used it.
 
I've used Cruwear in the past. I liked it while I was making that sort of knife. While it holds an edge a long time, ease of sharpening isn't there.

DON'T get it hot while grinding it. It will work harden on you.

As mentioned, you must do 90% of the work prior to heat treat. It makes a good knife but so does ATS34, 440C, O1, CPM-3V, 5160, L6, 1084, etc. There is no holy grail to knife steel.

Craig
 
Craig, does it work harden or more likely you get secondary hardening from the W,Mo, and V in it . Sorry to be so technical early monday morning.
 
OK, Mete,
You got me, I was in a hurry getting ready for work. It is secondary hardening. Now, explain to these fine folks what that means. Just trying to keep it simple.

Craig
 
C L Wilkins said:
OK, Mete,
You got me, I was in a hurry getting ready for work. It is secondary hardening. Now, explain to these fine folks what that means. Just trying to keep it simple.

Craig
Click to expand...

It means if you get it too hot, you ain't gonna be able to drill holes or taper the tang easily.
 
Typically as we increase the tempering temperature the hardness drops.However there are steels that have a sudden increase in hardness as the tempering temperature reaches about 1000F. This is called secondary hardening and is caused by the formation of certain carbides of W,Mo and V.This is desired when we have tooling that gets hot in service , it won't soften at those temperatures .Steels like Cru-wear or S30V are examples and this is why S30v has two options for tempering ~400F and ~1000F. So Roger tempers S30V at 400F for normal use but if the knife is used with George's hot sauce 1000F would be more appropriate !!
 
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