Thickness behind edge for cpm 20cv

coop7

coop7

Joined
Apr 9, 2012
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I found a piece of cpm-20cv that I had never used and decide I'm going to make a small fixed blade out of it. Does anyone here have experience with this steel? My main question was how thin I can go behind the edge before I start running into problems. Thanks
 
I know two people who use their knives pretty hard and they have had no issues at .020" thick at 18 dps. Not sure how far you can push it though. Depends on what you are doing...
 
Hey josh! I might send this one to you for grinding if your up to it, it's going to be a small skinner/caper. About a 2.5" blade.
 
What is gonna be your target hardness?
 
coop7 said:
Hey josh! I might send this one to you for grinding if your up to it, it's going to be a small skinner/caper. About a 2.5" blade.
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Any time man! But if it's YOUR knife you should give grinding a shot! 😊

What will be the hardest use it will likely see?
 
razor-edge-knives said:
Any time man! But if it's YOUR knife you should give grinding a shot! 😊

What will be the hardest use it will likely see?
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I would but my grinders broke and I'm saving up for a new one now. As for use probably EDC type duties and skinning.
 
Cool. Personally I would take it down to 10 thou at 15 dps (depending on the grind height and type, and stock thickness) and I would just monitor it. You can fine tune it as you go even more of you find you think you can push it further or if it's too weak. But I've found this geometry to be very stable for most steels generally speaking.
 
Why do I keep seeing this referred to as a CPM steel by different folks? I thought it was a Carpenter steel made for Latrobe and has nothing to do with Crucible? Am I missing something?
 
Niagra Specialty Metals shows CPM 20-CV in their price sheets. I'm not positive (the 2nd thing to go is the memory) but I seem to remember them telling me that CPM bought the 20-CV manufacturing rights.

Tim
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
Why do I keep seeing this referred to as a CPM steel by different folks? I thought it was a Carpenter steel made for Latrobe and has nothing to do with Crucible? Am I missing something?
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I was thinking the same thing. That's just what was written on it from whoever I bought it from 2 years ago. Forgot I even had it until about a week ago.
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As a very tough steel, I would take the edge to .010 at the max, then put on the desired edge angle. A small fixed blade will not have any impact issues, so thin is the way to go. Personally, I would take it to .005", and then sharpen. That would make a very sharp knife with high edge retention.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
As a very tough steel, I would take the edge to .010 at the max, then put on the desired edge angle. A small fixed blade will not have any impact issues, so thin is the way to go. Personally, I would take it to .005", and then sharpen. That would make a very sharp knife with high edge retention.
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Thanks Stacy, the stock I have is 1/8" but I've been thinking I should have it milled down to 3/32 to make a really thin slicer. Also thinking about trying a hidden tang design, I've only done full tang knives and a slipjoint in the past.
 
Alpha knife supply lists it as CPM 20CV on their site, however you are right the Latrobe data sheet just says Duratech 20CV
 
So Crucible is making it for Latrobe now instead of Carpenter?

I R confuse :confused:
 
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