Initial Impressions-AR RPM9 Steel and Blades

[msass74]

Oh there jimpping needs help but overall impressed with there build and quality and love the jade g10

 

[msass74]

All my cjrb tiga is missing is jimpping and would love a thumb stud but it's a fantastic blade with D2 super smooth and no break in

 

[Chronovore]

My arroyo took a good week to break in , the steel is super easy to sharpen on a sharp maker and I strop green and white and I'm good to go

Over time, they seem to have improved their heat treatment. I haven't done much with it but I've heard good things, including from a friend who sharpens as their job. Reports indicate that it acts a lot like 9Cr18Mov but with improved toughness, responding nicely to stropping, etc..

 

[msass74]

That's good news for 35 bucks for sure

 

[msass74]

My knife range goes from 500.00 to 15.00 love them all sharping ,stropping and flipping is yoga for my soul

 

[msass74]

I'm gonna hit this with a brown rub and see what it does

 

[msass74]

But artisan version is thinner behind the edge while cjrb is same thickness as thee d2 on most of there blades not complaining

 

[msass74]

Pic

 

[msass74]

Arroyo and gobi

 

[Greggy]

Been awhile since last responding. I now own 4 knives in this steel. I have no complaints. I like it.

 

[SwissHeritageCo]

Over time, they seem to have improved their heat treatment. I haven't done much with it but I've heard good things, including from a friend who sharpens as their job. Reports indicate that it acts a lot like 9Cr18Mov but with improved toughness, responding nicely to stropping, etc..

This is my experience as well. I reground and fully reprofiled the edge on my Prado to a cheekless convex when I first received it a few months ago (removed lots of steel from the start).

It's one of my favorite budget knives and sees regular. Up until now I have only had to resharpen it once after reprofiling it and I'm really surprised how long I can keep it hair shaving with just a strop loaded with white gold compound.

Could be the new geometry doing the heavy lifting but I think CJRB's AR-RPM9 makes for a great all around edc steel. Maybe they had problems with the HT in the beginning but the one I have responds to stones and strops beautifully.

 

[SwissHeritageCo]

I sent some knives over to Outpost 76 when this steel debuted. He noticed some issues in sharpening. Given, these were "day 1" drops so maybe they didn't have the heat treatment dialed in yet. In testing a 1" section of blade at 15dps versus cardboard, performance wasn't much different from ordinary 9Cr18Mov. That was a little underwhelming given that this was PM steel based on 9Cr18Mov. What really sunk it for me was how much better the Civivi and Sencut knives did with a really good heat treatment on ordinary 9Cr18Mov.

I've seen three possible benefits discussed that don't come up here. First, AR-RPM9 may have improved toughness versus 9Cr18Mov due to the powdered metallurgy. I really haven't seen that explored. Second, I've heard anecdotal reports that AR-RPM9 strops up very nicely. Third, Michael Emler noted that AR-RPM9 had better than expected corrosion resistance. Now, 9Cr18Mov already has good corrosion resistance. So that could be a thing but I haven't seen anything further about it.

This is good info, thank you

Was blown away by those petrified fish results too.