insight and advice needed on 3v edge

TLR

TLR

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Oct 5, 1998
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Looking for some insight and advice on expectations and how to recondition the edge on a knife I made for a friend. This was one of the first five knives I've made. It was given to a friend who is an active hunter and I asked him to put it to the test and report back. Last week he told me that he'd worked on some deer and needed me to fix up the edge. He's been very happy with the performance of the knife and I'm pretty sure I should be as well once I got the story.

So far he's gutted and cleaned two does with it this fall. On the first one he cut through the breastbone with effort and said it continued to sail through the skin. On the second after making the initial cuts and once again cutting through the breastbone he decided to try to hammer it through the pelvis. Not exactly what I had in mind when I asked him to put it through it's paces but he certainly is putting it to the test. He said after he got about halfway through he pulled it out and noticed edge damage and so stopped trying to go through the pelvis but continued to use it to finish out the deer processing.

Upon receiving it tonight I noticed that there were no chips but the edge had rolled over slightly in a couple of places. It would readily catch my nail. Using the back of another knife as a steel I was able to push it back up into place but the edge upon inspection is still slightly wavy. The majority of the edge will still barely shave hair and if not for the rolling the edge would still be more then serviceable and I wouldn't really be looking at sharpening it other then a couple of passes on my strop.

I believe that this is a pretty good result to expect from this knife and steel. My question is what is the appropriate steps to take on the edge. Should I try stropping it to see if it will further align and sharpen out or should I use a high grit on the belt grinder at low speed to remove the weakened edge?

Specs are below. I'll try to get up some pics of the knife and edge tomorrow.

CPM 3v hardened by Peters to 61-62
final edge is at a 30 inclusive angle (15 per side)
 
Well, I never did believe in cutting through pelvis bones with a knife and always used an axe or a saw. The rolled edge tells me that the hardness of the blade is pretty low. Just pushing the edge back and resharpening isn't going to do much good . The blade needs to be rehardened. I understand Peters does great work but somehow this is a blade that isn't as hard as it should be. Frank
 
For the pelvis I use a folding saw or an old knife .The knife is used by putting the point where I want and hammering the heal. I've never damaged the tip .
It's really a tough steel .The first use was a red deer this fall. I wonder if you softened the edge by overheating during grinding ?? Did you make the stronger convex edge shape ?
My 3V hunting knife is a 4.1 " Survive-Knives " and I'm very happy with it .It's a rugged knife for sure !
 
TLR, your experience here matches mine. I've made quite a few blades out of 3V and have tested some far beyond what I would cover in my own warranty. What you're describing is exactly why I like 3V so much. Unless the rolling is much worse than you've described so far, I don't see a problem.

Frank Niro said:
The rolled edge tells me that the hardness of the blade is pretty low... The blade needs to be rehardened. I understand Peters does great work but somehow this is a blade that isn't as hard as it should be.
Click to expand...

I strongly disagree. 61-62 is plenty hard for CPM-3V, and Peters' does fantastic work... the odds are very, very low that they over-tempered it and the knife is much softer than they claimed. They Rc test every blade and I trust 'em when they say what hardness it is.

The guy pounded it through two breastbones and much of a pelvis for goodness sakes, and was still able to finish processing his deer. What more do you expect? Try that with O1 or CPM-154 (both excellent steels in their own right) at the same hardness and see what happens...

3V is tough stuff... it will roll rather than chip at high hardness... that's precisely why we use it. The performance the OP got (some slight rolling rather than chipping out or just wearing away) is exactly what I would want in that situation (if I didn't have a saw ;) )

I would sharpen the blade normally with a fine diamond stone and strop it. A fine belt at low speed will also work.
 
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friend jsut used one of my hunting neckers in 3v to do 2 deer and was happy but let me know it needed a touch up. blade is only 2.75 inch long so he got alot of cutting out of it. not sure how gentle he was with it but i told him to do anything he wanted and if he hurt it i woudl replace or repair
 
3V wear resistance is there from the carbides ,the hard ones . The matrix is relatively soft .If the soak time were too short the matrix would be softer than it should be and roll over could be there..But Peter's knows how to HT 3V ! My Survive-Knives blade is HT'd by Peter's.
I wonder what forces the owner put it to.
 
I have to say I'm surprised by some of the responses. He used another object to basically baton the knife through the pelvic bone which is what caused the damage. Based on my research, my understanding was 3v would tend to deform rather then chip out at the very edge.

Just to be clear the rolling occurred at the extreme edge and did not extend up the edge more then the thickness of my fingernail or so. Based on the fact that after two deer the rest of the edge is still almost shaving sharp I wonder how it could be to soft. Below are some pics. I don't have a good macro lens but you can tell the extent of the damage.

editted to add: this blade had clear marks showing it had been checked for hardness by Peter's

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Yep, 3V is a much different animal than what most of us think of when talking cutlery steel.

If we were talking about W2 or just about any of the other steels I forge, a slightly rolled edge would mean I probably screwed up somewhere... but it's a different game with 3V.

Personally, I would touch up the grind. And urge your friend to get a folding saw. ;) :)
 
3V ain't your grandpa's steel ;) :p

TLR said:
I have to say I'm surprised by some of the responses. He used another object to basically baton the knife through the pelvic bone which is what caused the damage. Based on my research, my understanding was 3v would tend to deform rather then chip out at the very edge.

Just to be clear the rolling occurred at the extreme edge and did not extend up the edge more then the thickness of my fingernail or so. Based on the fact that after two deer the rest of the edge is still almost shaving sharp I wonder how it could be to soft. Below are some pics. I don't have a good macro lens but you can tell the extent of the damage.

editted to add: this blade had clear marks showing it had been checked for hardness by Peter's
Click to expand...

Again, everything you said matches my experience with CPM-3V (and Peters', for that matter). I don't see a problem. Sharpen it up. You're good to go. :)
 
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That doesn't look too bad. I'd say sharpen it however you did the initial edge and send it back. I've had damage like that to H1 and whatever Gerber uses and only needed a 220/1000 stone to take it out and resharpen. Naturally I followed up with some finer grits, but the damage was gone. Yes, 3v is more wear resistant than either of those, but the metal to be removed is very little.
 
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