Freakin love cpm-m4, 2 knives same steel 2 very different knives

[Allen R.]

I am loving cpm-m4, It isn't the rust monster I heard it was the point of this thread is I was going to discuss the 2 knives I have in this steel , both are purpose built knives but they are built for 2 different reasons.

1. Benchmade contego, love the knife it is an awesome cutter is cuts like crazy and benchmade bumped up the rc on their m4 so it's performance is pretty awesome, the contego is jimped like crazy though, and unless your wearing gloves the aggresive jimping and g-10 will bite your hands pretty good, I still love the knife and since i wear gloves at work the contego is an awesome work or duty knife, it has a glass breaker as well. Benchmade says they cerakote the blade which helps prevent corrision since cpm-m4 isn't stainless so +1 to benchmade for that, but I havent had any issues with rust on knife number 2 either.

Knife number 2. Spyderco gayle bradley, this is my second bradley , my first one I read how bad m4 will rust on you so i gave it a vinegar bath and i just hated the look so i bought a brand new one. this knife is pure work knife plain and simple thick liners , rock solid lockup and a very tough liner lock. This knife is just beautiful, when i purchased the knife i also bought some marine tuff cloth, and some flitz polish just in case, I wiped it with the tuff cloth and it is has been good to go. In my opinion the bradley is the best knife in spydercos lineup at the moment, at least the ones I've owned.

In conclusion if you need a duty knife , i would go for the benchmade contego, with it's reverse tanto 3.9 inch blade, and glass breaker along with the cerakote it would be ideal choice since you don't haft to be as careful since the blade is coated, but for a general edc /hard use knife i would go gayle bradley it looks classy , but with the steel and the liners it's a no nonsense work knife , I dunno really why i wrote this just wanted to compare 2 different knives , Oh yea and cpm- m4 is awesome, Also would like to add I put the bradley through here paces last night I cut up box after box after box and not a hot spot one , the ergos are awesome put you need to be carefeul the way the handle is shaped it puts your index finger close to the knifes edge and any slip of the finger would probably result in a nice cut and as sharp as that knife is probably a few stitches too.

 

[kreole]

How's the M4 on the Contego compare to the GB? I have two BMs in CPM-M4 listed at 62-64 (940 gold and GPK Griptilian), and both sharpen way easier than my GBs, which has been tested by members here right at 62.5 hrc each time, making me doubt BM is really up at 62+. The edges fold over on the BMs for me much easier than on the GB as well.

 

[gooeytek]

Also a big fan of CPM M-4, tried to get a full size Griptilian with a thumbhole in M-4 but was denied

 

[1SHOT1KILL]

The Contego is on my Christmas/short list. I keep hearing about how M4 is a rust whore as well and from what I can tell its a lot of conjecture or plain bs. I'm told by the tool at the knife store about how you can't acid/stonewash anything M4....yet I see a LOT of acid/stonewash M4 knives with NO complaints from their owners. I'd love to hear from owners about their personal experiences with M4...including anyone that owns a Hoback/M4. (maybe a War Horse...hint hint...)

 

[Allen R.]

to me the contego gets sharper faster than the gb, i don't let me knives get dull, but the contego is easier to get back to a hair whittling edge , I believe the rc hardness on both knives is supposed to be the same on paper, but i believe the bradley is holding it's edge better. I could be wrong but the the contego did come back to sharpness very fast but there could be a few other variables involved as to why the edge came back so quick ya know.

 

[Allen R.]

m4 is not a rust whore, like i said i gave my first bradley a vinegar bath one side of the knife is black the other side is just spotted black with a a lot of the knife left without any patina at all, and it has been used to cut up fruit and not wiped off basically i tested it just to see what would make it rust, and no rust has developed on the bare steel on my first bradley. That's why i bought another one, and i live in alabama it's crazy humid down here everything rusts, and like i said no rust on the first bradley.

 

[gooeytek]

... I keep hearing about how M4 is a rust whore as well and from what I can tell its a lot of conjecture or plain bs. I'm told by the tool at the knife store about how you can't acid/stonewash anything M4....yet I see a LOT of acid/stonewash M4 knives with NO complaints from their owners. I'd love to hear from owners about their personal experiences with M4...including anyone that owns a Hoback/M4. (maybe a War Horse...hint hint...)

I treated my Gayle Bradley and Air, along with a PPT in S30V in muriatic acid. The CPM-M4 blades were treated for 20-30 minutes, the S30V for about an hour and a half. The stainless surgical hemostat I used to take them out of the solution started to rust, but the blades...well, here they are. The stainless liners on the GB acquired just a slightly less etched effect than the CPM-M4 blade, just enough so they weren't as shiny as before. Agreed, conjecture and pure bs in regards to the the supposed high-maintenance nature of CPM-M4.

 

[Misanthropia]

m4 is not a rust whore, like i said i gave my first bradley a vinegar bath one side of the knife is black the other side is just spotted black with a a lot of the knife left without any patina at all, and it has been used to cut up fruit and not wiped off basically i tested it just to see what would make it rust, and no rust has developed on the bare steel on my first bradley. That's why i bought another one, and i live in alabama it's crazy humid down here everything rusts, and like i said no rust on the first bradley.

I have a forced patina on my GB as well (a moment of misguided inspiration) and I really hate it, plus I swear I haven't been able to get it as sharp since I patina'd it. Perhaps I need to try something more aggressive than a Spyderco UF stone. But on the the parts that I didn't force the patina on, I have no rust other than a natural patina forming.

 

[NeverMore1701]

I'm still trying to figure out what people are talking about regarding the Contego being rough on the hands.

 

[Allen R.]

I have a forced patina on my GB as well (a moment of misguided inspiration) and I really hate it, plus I swear I haven't been able to get it as sharp since I patina'd it. Perhaps I need to try something more aggressive than a Spyderco UF stone. But on the the parts that I didn't force the patina on, I have no rust other than a natural patina forming.

me too since the patina i can't get the knife no where near as sharp as it was before, I tried diamonds, ceramics everything, I will never do it again my poor first one looks horrible I may go snap a quick pic for the thread. FYI the knife was factory edge sharp when i forced the patina on it and i thought a simple stroppin would take the patina off the blade and it did, but it did a number on the edge, no more patinas for me unless its natural, but that's why i bought the flitz and the tuff cloth with the knife to make sure it doesn't happen, but be careful with flitz i was gonna polish my new bradley up just for the bling factor and it took some of the spyderco bug logo off and the the texas logo off the arent black anymore kinda greyish white color.

 

[Misanthropia]

me too since the patina i can't ge the knife no where near as sharp as it was before, I tried diamonds, ceramics everything, I will never do it again my poor first one looks horrible I may go snap a quick pic for the thread.

I'll post one tomorrow too, my Gayle Bradley deserves a thread of its own for its hideous lemon patina. I honestly don't carry it as much as I used to because I feel so unsatisfied with its sharpness. I guess the acidity really destroys the edge more than it would appear to!

 

[Allen R.]

I'm still trying to figure out what people are talking about regarding the Contego being rough on the hands.

the jimping on my bare hands created a few hot spots after only a short period of cutting. I'm a steel worker for a living and i have pretty rough hands and it still was not pleasant to use for more than a few cuts.

 

[1SHOT1KILL]

to me the contego gets sharper faster than the gb, i don't let me knives get dull, but the contego is easier to get back to a hair whittling edge , I believe the rc hardness on both knives is supposed to be the same on paper, but i believe the bradley is holding it's edge better. I could be wrong but the the contego did come back to sharpness very fast but there could be a few other variables involved as to why the edge came back so quick ya know.

I would speculate that its the different heat treat methods. For some reason my Spydercos with the same steel as my Benchamades have a more keener edge, and stay that way longer. Just speculation, though. There may be other mitigating factors, and I'd love to hear them...

 

[Allen R.]

not the greatest pics in the greatest light but friends dont let friends force patinas lol i'll snap better pics in better light all i have is cell camera as you can see or try to see no rust just one ugly forced patina.

 

[gooeytek]

whoa, that was with vinegar? Did you thoroughly clean the blade? I used soap and water, then acetone, then denatured alcohol before doing the acid treatment. After the etch, I re-profiled it with my WE down to about 28 degrees inclusive. It's even scarier sharp than before.

here's a side-by-side shot with my other GB that hasn't been etched:

the stainless liners were done at the same time:

 

[Allen R.]

yea i cleaned the blade with alcohol before dumping it in the vinegar.

 

[1SHOT1KILL]

What do you think bead-blasting would do to it?

 

[SOLEIL]

I love my Contego but am not too thrilled with the coating. I made the mistake of punching holes through some steel paint can lids and it deeply scored the coating on the tip. It was purely my fault but I have done this with uncoated and DLC coated steels without any marks or scratches. The Contego is extremely smooth with a very strong lockup right out of the box. Very sharp also.

 

[Allen R.]

Im thinking of selling the ugly gayle bradley maybe put it in the exchange and someone who can take it apart and work on it can fix her up, that or maybe a trip to someone for a regrind to get all that crap off would be nice, either way, but I was gonna take it apart and take a sander to it and some of the screws have damage, I guess spyderco may use red loctite on one side of the knife and thats the side where my bits ate a little bit of the screws. The knife is basically junk now unless i could find new hardware and get it reground, or sell it off to someone wanting to try m4 because i bought the knife in the pic in feb, did the patina 2 weeks later and its never been carried since.

 

[Allen R.]

gooeytek, you should put an ad up in the services offered section this forum and offer your services to other members, for a price of course , I'm loving your etched bradley though.