how thin can I take Cpm154?

Matt Rochester

Matt Rochester

Joined
Nov 28, 2014
Messages
1,864
Im grinding some 5" chef's knives and was wondering how thin I could take the edge? I have one thats around .010" which is where I normally go. I am around .002-.003" on my current on. Do I need to knock it back? It is .070" at the spine and RC 61-62.
 
CPM 154 was a go to premium stainless steel for a number of custom kitchen knife makers like Joel at Cut Brooklyn before we "rediscovered" AEB-L a few years back. I do believe some rather knowledgeable guys on here have used it in that application. It is also supposed to be one of the tougher "normal" PM stainless varieties.
 
I have taken it to .010" and .015" on some of my personal survival/outdoors knives. I noticed damage at .005" while cutting wood and bone. At .010-.015" it had no problem with light batonning and heavy cutting. That was on CPM154 @ 58/59. On a chef knife, I would hesitate to take it much thinner than .005" unless the person really understands what's going on. That being said, I routinely take my 440C chefs @ 60 down to .005" with no problems, as long as a cutting board is used. I'm no expert, so take that for what you will.

Sam :thumbup:
 
I had one not too long ago that ended up at 0.000" near the tip by accident, I gave it a quick brush with some 600 so no one would cut themselves and sent it to Peters' as it was, just to see what would happen. It got the tiniest bit of bacon right at the edge, took it back about 1/8th and was fine. Moral of the story, you can get away with a lot if you're using Peters. That being said, for practical purposes I think 0.004 before sharpening is a good minimum.

EDIT- Saw you already listed a hardness, so clearly this is about performance not HT issues.
 
Last edited:
Matt R said:
Im grinding some 5" chef's knives and was wondering how thin I could take the edge? I have one thats around .010" which is where I normally go. I am around .002-.003" on my current on. Do I need to knock it back?
Click to expand...

If you're that thin right now, sharpen it up and use it in your kitchen, doing some of the roughest work you'd expect that blade to reasonably see. Maybe carve some wood, too. The very edge may ripple or get some minor damage, so just sharpen it again until you've removed any nicks. By nature, this method should give you the thinnest edge that's still strong enough. You can measure it when you're done if you're a numbers sort of guy. :)
 
"Moral of the story, you can get away with a lot if you're using Peters" Amen pwheeler! They (Peters') let me get by with A LOT. They do a good job for me. Cpm154 usually ends up around .010/.015
 
Just to clarify, I'm talking of the final edge thickness before sharpening. I have already heat treated and finished the knife, other than sharpening. I ended up knocking it back to around .007". Thanks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top