I'm looking for knives manufactures in 3V or other super tough steels

T

tongpu

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Feb 27, 2011
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I know of Busse Group & have some SR-101 & I love it. It's tougher than I'll ever but would like to test more. I'll be getting a Busse in INFI to put it though the riggers of my life but would like to test other steel such as 3V, A2 and so-forth (Any personal info/experience on toughness on said or other steels would be greatly appreciated). Not a big fan of S30V but it may be that I just had a bad batch or maker.

Any suggestions on other steels and makers of the best of them would be great. Basically I'm looking for a the-shit-hit-the-fan-f*ck-it-I'm-taking-this-one.

Also, if anyone can tell me what steels have the best pry strength, wear resistance, chip/breakage resistance. & the best maximum length. Just to be clear (cause I'm miss understood a lot) great steels in each category, not an end all steel. Tough I do here INFI comes close.
I don't mind about corrosion resistance or tough to sharpen because I maintain & hone on a regular basis.

Thank you.
 
Since you mentioned Busse, I assume you're looking for fixed blades. If so, Bark River Knife & Tool makes quite a few knives in 3V and A2.

Not sure about pry strength, but as for chip/breakage resistance 3V is going to be tough to beat. For wear resistance, CPM-S110V and CPM-S90V are going to be near the top of the heap, although you'd probably have to go custom to get one in a fixed blade.

Jim Ankerson, a member here, does some good tests on edge-holding and ranks steels according to their performance in those tests. As he would be the first to tell you, his tests shouldn't be taken as the final word on the subject -- results will depend on many things, not least the type of material being cut -- but they do provide a good general guide to wear resistance. Here's the link to one of his "ranking" threads:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...based-on-Edge-Retention-cutting-5-8-quot-rope
 
Fehrman Knives make all their knives in 3V, S7 (SR77) from Scrapyard will probably be tougher than INFI or 3V, but you give up quite a bit of edge holding compared to 3V. 5160 Spring steel is another very tough steel, which you can find in ranger knives by ontario, most of those knives are also .25 thick as well. Here's a general guide from crucible steel, of course real performance will depend on blade geometry, heat treat, etc.
med_1264969733-Steel_chart_2_.jpg
 
All the above are excellent choices for chopping type blades except the high wear steels like S90V, and S110V. Great wear resistance, but not chopper steels.

Others to consider would be 1095, 1084, and 52100 with the right heat treat. They, like all steels have various strengths and weaknesses. For me, I like 3V, 5160, and 52100 for smaller knives that I want really, really sharp.

None of these are stainless BTW.
 
I've found Fehrman's 3V to be excellent. It is very close to INFI, albeit a slight bit less stain-resistant. I'd place 3v's stain resistance close to D2. It will get some surface rust if you completely neglect it... not an issue for me.

Here is a review I did a while back on the Fehrman Shadow Scout. http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...Fehrman-Shadow-Scout-CPM-3V?highlight=fehrman. Extremely tough for 3/16 stock. I beat the crap out of it and it still shaved. The only maintenence it requires is a bit of stropping to bring it back to a real hair-popper. Within that review is a link with another more comprehensive review of Fehrmans Last Chance in 1/4" 3V. I'm told that the heat-treat on 3V must be done exactly right to live up to it's potential. Fehrman does it right.

Hope this helps.
 
Bark River is starting to make many models in CPM 3V.









They are also starting to use more: CPM 154, CPM S35VN, and now CPM M4.



The new Bravo-3 looks to be a friggin' 3V short sword.




Big Mike
 
Koster knives does CPM 3V in a lot of style. They are represented here in hosted knifemakers forum.
 
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