M390 Bushcraft knife

[David.Car]

Hi All
Can M390 be used to make a bush craft knife as in a something similar to a spyderco bushcrafter with a scandi grind what would the pros and cons be, would it be better then something like o1 or a2 or even cpm3v? any advise would be great thank you.

 

[kickert]

M390 is going to be very difficult to field sharpen compare to other steels.

 

[madcap_magician]

LionSteel has a couple bushcrafters in M390, the M1 and M4. Not Scandi ground. Obviously compared to O1, A2, or 3V, the knife will be more corrosion resistant and depending on heat treat, likely have better edge retention. Obviously it will also be less tough than any of the carbon steels.

 

[Alberta Ed]

I have a Scandi grind 'bushcraft' knife in humble (but very tough) 1070 steel by Ivan Campos of Sao Paulo, Brazil that is the sharpest knife I own. I wouldn't obsess too much over the steel as long as it is tough and easily resharpened in the field.

 

[David.Car]

The reason i ask is because where i live we dont have steels like A2 or 3v ( South Africa ) we have steels in the range of O1, 52100, 5160, N690 and M390. The knives i have in 3v and A2 i bought online they are Bark river knives (great knives).
I would have liked to have a custom bushcraft knife made locally in a good steel with no rust issues ( i live on the coast )

 

[sodak]

Bradford knives would fill the bill for M390, and mine are quite easy to sharpen. The tips are slender, however, I might hesitate to use them roughly in the woods.

 

[lambertiana]

N690 would work well for a bushcraft knife. Not as good edge retention as M390, but easier to resharpen.

 

[DeadboxHero]

Hi All
Can M390 be used to make a bush craft knife as in a something similar to a spyderco bushcrafter with a scandi grind what would the pros and cons be, would it be better then something like o1 or a2 or even cpm3v? any advise would be great thank you.

Prone to microchipping at the edge with a scandi. The high volume of wear resistant carbides go to waste being used for cutting wood and are detrimental to stability.

4v and Cruwear make better use of carbides while still achieving high hardness and stability with relative tougheness.

M390 is not going to explode if you use it to cut wood and bushcraft just isn't the best tool for the job. It's like putting monster truck tires on a sports car for off road use.

Get a rally car.

 

[David.Car]

Thank you all for the advice, Deadboxhero 4v and cruwear damm i wish i lived in the US you gents are so lucky.

 

[Mo2]

Thank you all for the advice, Deadboxhero 4v and cruwear damm i wish i lived in the US you gents are so lucky.

I'm sure that you can import some bars of steel from America and as long as a maker gets a good heat treatment protocol, and the proper equipment, should be able to make a knife with them. Alot of the south African makers come to America to bring materials back for there knives. Usually stuff that's popular ie m390. Popularity kind of sucks when another steel is more idea for particular users with a use case.