Situations where 20cv would be better?

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SBaker34

Joined
Jun 16, 2010
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Because I can't buy any knives at the moment I'm just thinking about when I can. 20cv is fantastic steel, but in a thicker fixed blade I'm honestly not sure besides skinning where you'd appreciate the increased edge retention and corrosion resistance. Thoughts?
 
Working (or playing) in a highly concentrated salty and humid area. Perhaps in a dock or bay area. Cutting large rope.

I've also noticed my 20cv didn't stain near as bad as say my 1095 when working with moderate "sappy" tree trimmings. As well as like me, I keep my necker II in my boot. I had a boot dagger at one time made of 1095, that I carried for about 6-8 months or so. By the end it was already pitting and no matter how often I cleaned and oiled it, the dagger always seemed to rust. My 20cv may get a slight stain from being in my boot but it almost always wipes off just by hand.

I would say the 20cv is easily maintained. Just as Guy states on his site a low maintenance steel with good edge holding.

My question is why would you not want it unless you didn't need the corrosion resistance over edge retention?
 
I assume you meant toughness since 20cv has better edge retention than 3v as well. Just not as tough. And I probably will order my next one in 20cv.. just trying to justify it [emoji14]

My sweat rusts s30v. Combined with occasional 100% humidity. But 3v seems pretty low maintance as well if wiped down. Gso 6 in 20cv? :D
 
Hell why not both. Use the heck out of both at the same time/same work choose then. Sell the other on the exchange and get another in your choice of steel. :) problem solved.
 
Texas_toothpick said:
Hell why not both. Use the heck out of both at the same time/same work choose then. Sell the other on the exchange and get another in your choice of steel. :) problem solved.
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College student :D although it does seem like the 3rd market price is higher than from guy
 
My thoughts are that 3V already has pretty good edge retention and I would see no real benefit of 20CV over 3V in that arena. 3V is also very stain resistant, as far as carbon steels go. 3V is also very tough, so for me 20CV doesnt win there either. 20CV would be most adventagious in wet environments or times when I was really going to neglect maintaining the surface of the blade as it is much more stain/corrosion resistant
 
Riz2530 said:
My thoughts are that 3V already has pretty good edge retention and I would see no real benefit of 20CV over 3V in that arena. 3V is also very stain resistant, as far as carbon steels go. 3V is also very tough, so for me 20CV doesnt win there either. 20CV would be most adventagious in wet environments or times when I was really going to neglect maintaining the surface of the blade as it is much more stain/corrosion resistant
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That was my thoughts. Although I wanted 20cv I really didn't actually need it, but I'll probably get it anyway
 
It takes a very fine edge and I have found that it is very easy to tough up, by hand with a spyderco medium grit ceramic stone
 
Clearly the 20 CV will be easier to maintain, however, I do not think the 3V is that difficult. Especially compared to O1 steel, which I have a lot of and use quite a bit. Given your student status, perhaps going with the lower maintenance steel would be the better option for the time being. Your time to play in the woods with knives is likely limited, so you probably don't want to spend the extra minutes with maintenance. I do not own any 20 CV, but I do have the GSO 4.1 in M390, which is very similar. I have to say that this knife is plenty tough for it's size. I can beat the snot out of it as much as I can beat a knife of this size with no problems at all. I doubt that you will get into anything that would be problematic for the larger models that this steel is offered in either.

If I could only own one, and I had midterms and finals to worry about, I would go with the 20 CV.
 
Any knife for me at this price point has to be low maintenance, easily touched up in the field and highly stain resistant, CPM-20CV was a must have.

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After watching some videos with the gso 4.1 I couldn't help myself, Wanted to see if it would let me raise my paypal credit limit anyway before I paid it off.. 4.1 in 20cv preordered.. Now to be a responsible human being and not buy anything for the next few months.
 
SBaker34 said:
After watching some videos with the gso 4.1 I couldn't help myself, Wanted to see if it would let me raise my paypal credit limit anyway before I paid it off.. 4.1 in 20cv preordered.. Now to be a responsible human being and not buy anything for the next few months.
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Sounds like you have your priorities in order :thumbup: :D
 
I wonder if we would ever see a survive axe? Strangely enough you almost NEVER see axes in super steels.
 
SBaker34 said:
I wonder if we would ever see a survive axe? Strangely enough you almost NEVER see axes in super steels.
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Axes are typically forged, and it is kind of defeating the purpose of a particle steel to heat it up and beat on it with a hammer. I think that you'd add defects to the billet and weaken the axe head and mess up the grain.
A machine shop could mill an axe head, and I suppose you could cut wedges off a block of any steel you cared to, but it sounds expensive.
Mora makes an axe out of stainless but it looks like a 3/8" piece of plate steel with a bevel on one end (sort of a scandi grind) with a plastic handle wrapped around the other.
A traditional axe has an eye for the handle, and so that adds to the machine time, so again it is completely possible but it would be expensive.
 
SBaker34 said:
I wonder if we would ever see a survive axe? Strangely enough you almost NEVER see axes in super steels.
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Axes would see a lot less benefit from super steel. Much less abrasive cutting, much more impact. S7 might be beneficial for an axe, I suppose.
 
I'll have to look through old threads, but I really thought Guy mentioned the idea of working on a hatchet design.

That is good information about the difference in methods between knife and ax making. Could a one piece hatchet be cut from a sheet of steel?
 
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