Steel choice for a custom necker

J

JCK

Joined
Nov 7, 2009
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645
Hello everyone, I was after your advice on what you think would be the best steel choice for a custom necker knife I am getting made for me.

I plan for the knife to be 3" blade with a 4" handle and a 4 mm (0.16") thick blade, and I plan on getting it with a full convex grind.

I originally wanted to try CPM 3V steel, but what other steels do you think would be good, for a strong, stout little necker. I'm thinking that I'll stick with the CPM 3V, but other steel suggestions would be great.
 
What will you be using the knife for? (I assume you don't intend to pry with it but 4mm is pretty thick for a 3" blade so it may be something you're considering).
Do you need something that can be easily field sharpened?
How critical is corrosion resistance?
What hardness level do you want to achieve and who will be doing the heat treat? - I believe that 3V needs some special techniques to heat treat properly
 
If you can afford a custom in CPM 3V, I'd say go for it! In fact, why not get two and send me the spare!

Btw, which knife maker are you going through? In Oz?
 
CPM-M4
CPM-S90V
Elmax?
10v
52100 Rc 61-62

Does the maker only use select steels?
 
I probably should have put this in my OP, I've been in contact with Stewart Townsend, so I'd have to ask about who he uses to heat treat and if he can only use select steels.

Antionio - I intend to use it as a 'primary' knife, like what you see people use their izula for - when I'm in places where a small knife is more acceptable (not that this concerns me much) but more so when on day hikes or short trips, and all I want to carry is a small, but capable knife, and thats why I went with the 4mm thickness

Field sharpening - thats a good point, hadn't thought about that, however I did get a couple of field hones from KSF, heres a quick pic with a bravo necker for a size comparison.

58ifl.jpg


I think that if I am able to maintain it with a few sheets of various sandpaper grits and the little strop, I should be good to go.

About corrosion resistance, I'm pretty easy - The A2 steel on my bravo 1 has been quite good, no rust, a slight patina from use, and I only wipe it down with a tuff cloth every month or so if I remember to do so in the first place. But then thats the only carbon steel I have, so I'm not sure how it compares to other carbon steels.

Hardness level, I'm not too sure what would be the best hardness level for a small necker, that would get some hard use.

HOC - Hey mate, well I figure the BRKT Lil Canadian in CPM 3V has similar specs to what I want, and its about 187 AUD, and this is the cheapest model, with just g10 handles, but since this won't be made with handles (will put some on later) I figure that the cost shouldn't be too bad.

If I were to get 2 made, I'd probably have to sell one of my organs :D

And yeah, as you probably know, Stewart Townsend is an Aussie knife maker. There are some photos of his work on Laventrix.

knifeknut - Thanks for those other steel suggestions I'll definately do some research on those.
 
Well with the info you give I would axe half of the steels I have listed. Without diamonds most of those besides 52100 and elmax would be near impossible to field sharpen with sandpaper.

I don't know what this maker uses but I would bet to say it won't be a bunch of super alloys.

If it were me I'd go with 52100 with the above RC, it will keep up with or spank the snot out of even the best premium alloys.
 
Could I ask knifenut, what about the brkt Lil Canadian, thats in CPM3v I believe, how would owners of that knife sharpen it, would they use stones, even though its convex, or would sandpaper and mousepad take far, far too long (i'm talking about back at home sharpening)

But I will definately suggest the 52100 steel to my maker, and see what he can do.
 
Sure you can use sandpaper on it but how much time do you have? :)

From what I see it has slightly higher wear resistance than S30V and from experience I'll tell ya S30V is not fun to convex. I've also heard knifemaker Ban talk about how long it takes to polish 3v, and coming from him I take that as PITA.

I personally have yet to play with 3v, with its attributes I see it as a great steel for a big chopper though as its known to be extremely tough. Its a good steel I just think other steels may be a better choice for that blade type.
 
Thanks for explaining that knifenut, I guess thats why you see the 3V steel on the fehrman final judgement, as that has a 9.5" blade.

I suggested 52100 steel to ST, and I'll see what he can do.
 
save some dosh get a 3G WM1 :)

if i could afford a little custom like what you're planning, i'd probably go with CPM-S30V.
 
sambo. said:
save some dosh get a 3G WM1 :)

if i could afford a little custom like what you're planning, i'd probably go with CPM-S30V.
Click to expand...

I was thinking of getting a wm-1, but it was too much money, as I have just bought a bravo necker, and so far I'm really liking it.

I'd want to get a WM-1 3G blade blank, so I could put some orange g10 scales on it, but I don't think Fallkniven makes 3g blanks. Of course I could just get one rescaled - one day I'll own one, especially if the necker doesn't work out for me.

knifenut - with 3V steel, do you think having a DC4 stone would be enough for field maintenance and sharpening?

And as I want a convex grind, would that influence the steel choice? knifenut mentioned that one maker said it was a PITA to convex.

I also have one more question, in a small fixed blade, with the specs I have above, what is considered more important, toughness or wear resistance of the steel. My understanding is that greater wear resistance means better edge holding, and great toughness means better able to handle a greater range of forces.

And I probably shouldn't have used the term 'necker', I basically want a ferhman thru hiker with a different blade shape, no choil anda different handle profile, as this gave me some inspiration as to what I wanted.
 
JCK said:
I'd want to get a WM-1 3G blade blank, so I could put some orange g10 scales on it, but I don't think Fallkniven makes 3g blanks.
Click to expand...

you're not the only one who wants to get 3G blanks, unfortunatly, they don't get sold as blanks. iirc: one of the Japanese governments restrictions on some of their high-end steels is that only finished blades can be exported. i could be wrong.

i'm planning on re-handling both the WM1 and the S1 at some stage.
 
JCK said:
knifenut - with 3V steel, do you think having a DC4 stone would be enough for field maintenance and sharpening?
.
Click to expand...

yes it will.it is enough to maintan zdp if you don't let it get butter knife dull so 3v will certainly be ok.
 
Check out Murray Carter neck knives, forged japanese carbon steel laminated with stainless steel. Murray stopped using Zdp claiming it wasn't as good.
 
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