The History of 3V, Cru-Wear, and Z-Tuff Steel

[Larrin]

I wrote about how a steel patented in 1964 led to a whole host of steels including 3V, Cru-Wear, Z-Tuff, and many others. And the knifemakers that first used these steels in knives. Also the general properties of those steels like toughness, edge retention, and corrosion resistance. https://knifesteelnerds.com/2019/06/03/the-history-of-3v-cru-wear-and-z-tuff-steel/

 

[samuraistuart]

My Dad had one of those Gerber Knives in Vasco Wear. This was when I was a little kid, and both of us only knew about "carbon steel and stainless steel", not necessarily different alloys. Before I knew it was his favorite knife, I had already fell in love with it, because of the edge retention it had over what we were used to at the time.

 

[Wowbagger]

but Rita is made of stronger stuff. She says she doesn’t care what color the blade turns as long as it stays sharp!”

That-a-woman !
You go girl !
Obviously the brains of the outfit.

 

[Willie71]

My favorite article so far. I have been blown away by the performance of this group of steels. Learning the history was quite fun. Seeing the change in chromium vs. vanadium carbides when using PM technology has been enlightening.

 

[Larrin]

My favorite article so far.

Very kind, Warren. You keep saying that with every article.

 

[hugofeynman]

Can’t wait for a Ztuff, S7 and A8mod from AKS toughness comparison! NZ3 and Ultrafort should also be nice to compare with those three.

 

[Willie71]

Very kind, Warren. You keep saying that with every article.

Not every one, but the last few have just been better and better! You are also writing on my specific area of interest lately.

 

[Willie71]

Can’t wait for a Ztuff, S7 and A8mod from AKS toughness comparison! NZ3 and Ultrafort should also be nice to compare with those three.

I’ve heat treated four A8mod samples last week, and have four more to do tomorrow. I want to get the, in the mail by Friday.

 

[jdm61]

Well, publish the odd crappy article so that he can have a little rest.

Very kind, Warren. You keep saying that with every article.

 

[Larrin]

The next one will be annealing. No one likes annealing.

 

[rodriguez7]

This is my favorite class of steels also! I’m looking forward to reading this article! Thanks Larrin!

 

[Willie71]

The next one will be annealing. No one likes annealing.

Damn, I like annealing......

 

[Nathan the Machinist]

Great informative article Larrin

 

[nsm]

Nice job Larrin. Keep up the good work.

 

[BITEME]

I used to watch for the vascowear Gerber, up till about 2 years ago you could occasionally find them,haven't seen any since...I am crazy happy with some of the new steels out,(rex45,bd1n,bdz1,14c28n, m390,k390) now it's just about saving up for what you want

 

[Storm W]

Very cool article. I agree with Warren that the last 2 have been especially interesting.

A question that has bugging me is how does the carbon ratio work? For instance with M2 and M4 there is a lot of alloy and a similar mix. I'm assuming that the carbide difference is substantial between the 2. Or in the examples in this article if you add 1% more vanadium how much carbon needs to be added to use that extra vanadium?

 

[Willie71]

Very cool article. I agree with Warren that the last 2 have been especially interesting.

A question that has bugging me is how does the carbon ratio work? For instance with M2 and M4 there is a lot of alloy and a similar mix. I'm assuming that the carbide difference is substantial between the 2. Or in the examples in this article if you add 1% more vanadium how much carbon needs to be added to use that extra vanadium?

Additionally, when comparing cast to pm, can we predict with accuracy what carbides will form?

 

[Storm W]

Additionally, when comparing cast to pm, can we predict with accuracy what carbides will form?

That was super interesting about getting different carbide with 3V vs ingot. Is that something that would happen with other PM steels?

 

[Willie71]

That was super interesting about getting different carbide with 3V vs ingot. Is that something that would happen with other PM steels?

I’m curious. The temp at which carbides form, and the different temps which cast vs. Pm steels solidify probably generalize. M2/M4 probably have similar differences from cast cru-wear and cpm cru-wear.

 

[Storm W]

I’m curious. The temp at which carbides form, and the different temps which cast vs. Pm steels solidify probably generalize. M2/M4 probably have similar differences from cast cru-wear and cpm cru-wear.

I just used those because the alloy is similar but the carbon content is very different. If I understand it right the the alloys are by weight that carbon being much lighter than say tungsten smaller changes make a big difference. I assume that the alloys work differently when they aren't being turned into carbides.