Honing CM154

A

Alberta Ed

Joined
Jun 29, 1999
Messages
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Noticed the other day that my Grippie 551 wouldn't slice an orange, and I hadn't even loaned it to my wife, the serial knife abuser. When I checked the edge closely I noticed that some idiot (moi) had created an edge so obtuse that it was nearly flat:o. So I dug out the DMT ultra-coarse Diafold (blue) and set to work. Over an hour later I had satisfactorily re-profiled the edge to a much narrower angle. Another 15 minutes on the red and green Diafold hones and it was back to hair-popping sharp. Dang, that CM154 is hard stuff... D2 is easier to sharpen.
 
ATS-34 is the same way. It took me FOREVER to sharpen my old sog mini x-ray vision. My BM 530 is CM154 and it came sharp but I wanted it sharper. Took a while as well.
 
i have a Wicked Edge that i use for the initial edge setting and polish. I've sharpened my CPM154 knives (2 of them) exactly once with it each, then i've never had to do anything but stropping on my 4 sided bat strop to return it to hair popping sharpness.

It takes VERY little to keep CPM154 shaving sharp. Less is more
 
My BassPro 110 in CPM154 seems easier to sharpen than my Grippie in CM154. Ditto S30V and S35Vn. The powdered metallurgy process is probably responsible for the difference.
 
I find 154CM really easy to work with, it's one of my favorite steels for sharpening experiments because I can make progress with it so quickly. Maybe you just had a massive amount of steel to remove to get to a reasonable angle!
 
I think Emerson still uses 154CM because of the ease of sharpening in the field. I think CPM154 is the same basic alloy, but a different process in manufacturing (using the powderizing process). But I suppose everything is in the heat treat as usual. 154CM is supposed to be very heat treat "unpicky" though.
 
freewheeling said:
I think Emerson still uses 154CM because of the ease of sharpening in the field. I think CPM154 is the same basic alloy, but a different process in manufacturing (using the powderizing process). But I suppose everything is in the heat treat as usual. 154CM is supposed to be very heat treat "unpicky" though.
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That's what I was trying to say, I guess it just wasn't clear... :foot:

Benchmade's 154CM is pretty good in my opinion and it takes a nice edge. One of my favourite BM"s is the 530; it is like a small lightweight scalpel... :D

IMAG0344_zpsc0599c32.jpg
 
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