M-2 vs. 440-V

shootist16

shootist16

knife law moderator
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I have seen several threads comparing the AFCK to the Military. It is very hard to be objective about which is better because you have aesthetics and ergonomics thrown into the mix, both of which are very subjective topics. I believe a more objective topic would be directly comparing steels. Anyone care to comment about M-2 steel vs 440-V? Edge holding? Sharpenability? I assume that M-2 is alot tougher than 440-V but 440-V gets the nod for corrosion resistance.

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"Those who trade essential liberty for a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Benjamin Franklin
 
Between the two, M2 has a definite advantage as far as edge holding goes, and with some work I can get it as sharp as I like, and it cuts well even when slightly dulled. 440V can get wicked sharp without too much effort, but dulls quicker and chips much, much easier. Two totally different steels.

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James Segura
San Francisco, CA
 
In a folding knife i prefer stainless steel. For fixed blades i would go for tool/carbon steel. Its a personal preference thing. The steels M2 and 440V preform very differently, and in my opinion cant be compared. Ill say it again: Personal preference.
Andrew
 
What are the strengths and weaknesses of both and which would you prefer in a folder?

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"Those who trade essential liberty for a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Benjamin Franklin
 
A similar question was asked in the Spyderco forum recently. Sal said that in their tests 440V performed better than M2. And this is why they don't use M2. M2 is definetely tougher than 440V. But M2 is not stainless.
 
I think it's probably fair to say that a high carbon steel always outperforms a stainless steel in which some carbon has been replaced with chromium. I can't think of a single example of a stainless steel that outperforms a high carbon steel except, of course, in stain and rust resistance. I'm not sure some of the high tech steels like 440V should really be lumped in with stainless steel. I think it's probably somewhere in between and that's likely a good compromise for many people.

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Fred
Knife Outlet
http://www.knifeoutlet.com
 
Fred - Just for the record, do you know of a "high carbon" steel that has more carbon than CPM-440V? 440V has 25% more carbon than D2 and twice the carbon of M2. The CPM process prevents carbon migration which keeps the carbon homogenous.

sal
 
Sal I don't consider it a 'high carbon steel',14.5% V I think qualifies it as 'alloy, but if I remember correctly CPM-15V has a carbon content higher than 3.5%. It's certianly an alloy steel for special purposes, but it does have more carbon than 440V's 2.15%
Aaron

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amacks@nist.gov
Don't forget to pay your taxes...they eventually become my knives:)

 
shootist 16,
i do not have much experiance with M2 but i do have a military as my working knife,and i do work a lot with it cutting boxes.
it's working hard and never needed sharpening yet, i have worked with a lot of knives and steels[it's what i do for a living] and yet to find steel to out proform the cpm440v yet in edge holding and for the record it never chipped on me.i know M2 is great steel but i doubt the fact it will do better than 440v and 420v.
scorpio.
 
Originally posted by scorpio:
...M2 is great steel but i doubt the fact it will do better than 440v and 420v.
scorpio.
Click to expand...

I don't know about 420V, but I'll take M2 over 440V every time, fixed or folder, from now on. The M2 is head and shoulders above the 440V in edge holding when it comes to cardboard boxes, and I have used both extensively on the thin-walled playing card type cardboard and corrugated cardboard. I've got a Military and an M2 Nimravus Cub. OBTW, the NCub has been stripped completely bare of the BT coating, with sandpaper. Additionally, the profile of the blade has been changed for about 2/3 of its length. So far, no corrosion problems at all. The first few weeks, I was careful to keep olive oil on the blade, but I have since given up on that, just to see how it holds up. Don't get me wrong, the Military is a great knife, overall, and is my primary folding worker knife. But, while it's winter and I can carry the Cub discretely, the Cub is what I'll be using.

Cardboard recycling is about a once every 7 weeks thing for me, and I have used 440V, M2, and 1095 to cut up the boxes. So far. Expect to hear more from me in the future, after I get an A2 blade to try it with.
biggrin.gif


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"Absolute safety is for those who don't have the balls to live in the real world."
 
When I first got an M-2 AFCK, I took it, a 440V Military, and an ATS-34 AFCK and started whittling on stuff, making ten cuts with each in rotation, waiting for one of them to distinguish itself as a superior edge holder. Over a period of several days and hundreds of cuts on everything from cardboard to particle board, I could tell the difference between them. To me that means that unless you do a job with the knife that requires sharpening several times a day, you won't ever notice the difference in normal use. Sure, you could strap them to a machine that would seem to tell you the difference, but it would be like when your kid asks you what's more, a million-billion, or a thousand trillion.

 
Is it safe to say that they are about on par on duration. M-2 is tougher, but 440-V is more corrosion resistant. Are they both bears to resharpen?

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"Those who trade essential liberty for a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Benjamin Franklin
 
definition: High Carbon Tool Steel: a steel with more than 1% carbon content...period. almost every knife steel used today fits under that banner....understand??!!!!! there are very few that dont, and not one of them gets talked about any more becasue they have pretty much fallen by the roadside...

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http://www.mayoknives.com


 
Neither are bears for me to sharpen. I find both easier than, say BM's ATS-34, to sharpen.

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"Absolute safety is for those who don't have the balls to live in the real world."
 
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