Thoughts on PSF 27

gine

gine

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Sep 2, 2007
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Has anyone used PSF 27 the spray form version of D2. It's apparently twice as tough as cast/ingot D2. Would it compare to cpm D2?
 
I talked to a couple of guys at the Dallas show who said that it was once stuff. Like the OP said, it appears to have toughness approaching that of A2. The other advantage is that for now, is seems to be a bit cheaper per pound than its "true PM" competitors like CPM D2. Last time that i checked, Scott Devanna's branch office was selling the stuff for $16 and change per pound for 50-250 lb batches.
 
Disclaimer... I have never made a knife...

What I have found out so far.

PSF 27 is a D2 class steel. It's spray formed unlike particle metallurgy. Because of this, according to the manufacturer "The Spray Forming Process allows for rapid solidification resulting in materials with a very fine grain and homogeneous structure". It's this manufacturing practice that appears to offer it more toughness.

What the skeptics are saying... It has grinding/grindability issues. HOWEVER, this is a marginal knife making product as of this time. Not a lot of makers have used it so varying and established opinion is limited. Because of that, maybe it's time to start discussing it.
 
I was unaware of the grindability issues. I have used a fair amount of it and I think it performs very nicely. It takes and holds a very keen edge and all that I have used I have heat treated to 61 and had very good results finishing. I have actually been looking at trying to get some thin for more kitchen oriented projects.
I am not rough on knives, but I do grind edges pretty thin sometimes. In doing this I feel I can sometimes identify a chippy steel early on and I never had any chipping issues with PSF 27 at 61 Rc. It was also very efficient at meat and fibrous material cutting.
 
To clarify on grindability... What was pointed out; it was "hard on belts". That's the only elaboration I got. Personally, I think that statement is broad and unclear. For instance, if someone is used to using 1095 exclusively, I'm sure they will notice something is different than 1095. That's what I got out of that statement.
 
I understand what you mean. I am comparing with 3V, 4V, S90V, and 10V. 10V has grinding issues. I get about 5 seconds of cut from a 220 SiC belt. That same belt will last for about 10 O1 knives.
I guess my perspective is a little skewed from working with all the high Vanadium steel I normally use.
 
Courtesy bump... Spyderco is dropping a Mule in this steel and I was going to start a thread inquiring about it here. Let's build on this one instead if possible? Any more thoughts since?
 
I talked to Gayle Bradley at the Blade Show last year and he had a lot of good things to say about this steel. He was building several really nice fixed blades from it - and he was working with Spyderco on a potential collaboration based on his Packer model. Sal had a version of this in his prototype case at this year's Blade Show.

TedP
 
I literally just got a Spyderco Bradley Bowie in PSF27 steel. Showed up on the porch this morning. We'll see how it compares to my other classic D2 knives and others like the Bark River A2 fixed blades.
 
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