IS Cold Steel's Carbon V brittle?

[theobetts]

I have a carbon v bush ranger that has lived outside and been beat on for 5 plus years. No issues apart from the very tip being broken off.

 

[mete]

Fanglekai is correct ! In both fatigue and impact angle and radius are critical . To someone new to Charpy Notched Impact tests the I've had to carefully explain angle notch is critical as is the finish of the notch. Polished surfaces without machining marks are necessary ! Please do it right as a broken knife doesn't make the customer happy !

 

[jdm61]

What I have learned is that in this day and age of unscratchable carbide file guides and ceramic belts is that if you need a sharp shoulder for your guard, you either don't harden that area or you "file" it using the aforementioned devices after hardening.

 

[Natlek]

Interested in what you think about my post about the Randall.

Crankshaft in engine of your car have many 90 degree angle and rarely they crack , thanks for the small radius in transition point .When inexperienced master machining crankshaft and hone that radius ............I have seen such cases many times

 

[T. Erdelyi]

Got one of Matt's Carbon blades and I've beat it through frozen cedar and it came through the other side fine, I also have a few large CS Twistmasters which I've beaten through 4"-5" standing timber with no ill effect, other than loosening the pivot pin in the frn handle.

I wonder how much of the examples posted are more operator error vs actual failure due to poor finish or machining?

 

[Charlie Mike]

I just ordered a Camillus OVB Fisk bowie... It's in Carbon V. It's gonna be carried and used.

 

[Tom271]

I have a carbon v bush ranger that has lived outside and been beat on for 5 plus years. No issues apart from the very tip being broken off.

It seems that most of the problems are with the recon scouts. It's hard to find any info on the less popular models like the bush ranger and the oda, which I'm thinking about buying

 

[Tom271]

I just ordered a Camillus OVB Fisk bowie... It's in Carbon V. It's gonna be carried and used.

Yeah I think carbon V is the shit, I Have a carbon V srk the I use to baton all the time. I always thought it was great steel. I was surprised when I ran across some post saying some of the CS carbon V blades were breaking in the same spot. Mainly just recon scouts, so I was wondering if it was a design flaw, issue with the steel, heat treatment or just an example of all knives will eventually break. I seen you post that knife on Instagram, it's a nice looking blade.

 

[DocT]

Carbon V was 50100B, and is good stuff. It was not the steel, but the radius that was the issue. Cold Steel's O-1 is close to it, but not the same. If you like 50100B (I do) you will like O-1, most likely.

 

[Charlie Mike]

I'm a fan of O1 even more when its part of a damascus... This one is O1/L6.

 

[T. Erdelyi]

I just ordered a Camillus OVB Fisk bowie... It's in Carbon V. It's gonna be carried and used.

If Matt uses it and it don't break, I'd consider that an endorsement. Matt's never been one to baby his knives, he realistically uses and tests his and other blades in the urban jungle where failure is a good parallel to failure in the wilderness.

I'm a big fan of 01 myself, it's a versatile steel whose properties are dependent on the HT recipe.

 

[DocJD]

Back in the early 80's IIRC , bought one each of everything Cold Steel Carbon V made in USA . Most got swiped . Still have the pictured Recon Tanto and a SRK because they were with me . Beat holy heck outa them both . Wore off some black coating . They are still well worth the thousands I'm asking !

 

[knarfeng]

Lynn Thompson invested a lot of time and effort into designing the heat treat for Carbon V, according to what I've read. My experience with this steel has made it one of my favorites -- a couple of Master Hunters, SRK and a pair of Twistmasters.

Nonsense. Lyn Thompson had nothing to do with developing the heat treat.

When Carbon V blades were produced by Camillus, Dan Maragni, the Camillus metallurgist, both modified the alloy from what had been originally used and and developed the heat treat.

 

[DocJD]

Nonsense. Lyn Thompson had nothing to do with developing the heat treat.

When Carbon V blades were produced by Camillus, Dan Maragni, the Camillus metallurgist, both modified the alloy from what had been originally used and and developed the heat treat.

I'm waiting to see it you get struck by lightning !

 

[tltt]

Here is a Randall 14 with the same 90* angle as the cold steel. These knives many consider to be some of the best. Could the few stories about the recon scouts breaking be lemons and in no relation to the angle?

To be fair to Randall, those blades are Randall - Solingen blades, from when Randall was seeking to speed up production during war time. The ones that are made in Florida do have Radiuses more often than not.

 

[G. Scott H.]

I did some more digging and found this thread: http://www.bladeforums.com/threads/coldsteel-srk-vs-sog-seal-pup-elite.705633/. A Carbon V SRK. You can see some radiusing at the transitions, but the tang fractured behind that area, so who knows what went wrong? Again, this is one of a very few instances I've seen of old Carbon V blades breaking, so I don't think it's an issue worth worrying too much over, but I thought it was worth including.

 

[Ebbtide]

I just ordered a Camillus OVB Fisk bowie... It's in Carbon V. It's gonna be carried and used.

You found one?! Good on ya!

It seems that most of the problems are with the recon scouts. It's hard to find any info on the less popular models like the bush ranger and the oda, which I'm thinking about buying

Recon ScoutS
Or just the infamous nutnfancy recon scout?

Steel isn't brittle.
Heat treat is the determiner.

 

[DocJD]

I have been looking into buying some old cold Cold Steel carbon V blades and since the prices on these are pretty high i am wondering if they are worth the price. I have heard some stories of these blades shearing at the hilt. I have also seen stories saying this is some of the best steel ever. Since these knives are pretty old i am sure time has revealed more data points. I am wondering how brittle this steel is?

P.S I own a carbon V SRk and beat the hell out of it with no problems. Also have a never used Peacekeeper one in carbon V. After reading some post on here i began to wonder how my peace keeper would hold up if i ever used it.

I wouldn't pay a "vintage collectable " premium for Carbon V for a user knife . I have cut down 5" hardwood trees with my O-1 Trailmaster and Gurkha Kukri with no problems whatever (to the knife, me was tired and sore) .The edges stayed sharp , no chipping or folding . I personally dislike the old black coating and prefer the bare O-1 with patina .

 

[DocJD]

You found one?! Good on ya!

Recon ScoutS
Or just the infamous nutnfancy recon scout?

Steel isn't brittle.
Heat treat is the determiner.

Exactly ! The tempering is key and Cold Steel's is normally good .

 

[Mecha]

90* inside corners are poor engineering !! Just asking for trouble. --But I've seen examples all my life ! My work in 'failure analysis ' as a metallurgist makes a job very easy when I see 90* ! Once I actually measured the radius , .004 " .That concentrated the stresses very fast - 100 hours on a truck water pump !

Damn right!