Tougher then m4 better edge then s7?

T

Tin.Man

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Sep 5, 2010
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like the title says. Looking for something a little more high end then the a2 and o1 I'm used to.

I am thinking z-wear, pd1, or vanadis 4e problem is I can't find vanadis and pd1 thinnest I can find is .188(looking for .125 or .098)

Appreciate the help guys
 
Agreed and a2 is my go to. However I want to push the envelope a little and recently got to play with some cpm m4 and s7. If I could just make a baby from those I would be over the moon ha

Curious what heat treat your using for your a2 JT? If you don't mind me asking
 
I will have to fire up the oven and look at the program as I don't remember off the top of my head. I just did tests to see what temp the A2 liked in my oven then it gets an over night soak in liquid nitrogen. I find the Cryo really helps A2. Another thing I found is you need to get the blade from the plates to the cryo as quick as you can with in reasion. I'm not talking a hot blade into cryo but once room temp it goes in. There was some papers I saw that had some cool data to suport this. Thy said the longer the wait time from quench to cryo the more retained austenite there is. So I think of quenching and cryo as one operation and make it one smooth drop from temp to cryo with no stops in between.

I think if m4 and S7 had a baby it would be CPM3V.
 
For some reason I hate 3v. I've had 3 different knives in the stuff and granted it was a great steel but the only steel I've had to this day that didn't get surface corrosion it got pits. Black little pita that no matter how much I went back over it with trizact belts in 220 and 400 still had the little blackheads from hell.
 
When I cryo, the blades are still warm to the touch when they go in.

A2 definitely needs some playing with the HT formula to get it perfect, but you'll know it when you do. A Skinner of mine in A2 dressed 8 sheep and could still shave after, yet the same knife could be battoned through a regular red house brick (admittedly a LOT easier than it sounds) without the slightest chipping. Its very good stuff.

I haven't done much with it, but A11 is something I'd like to put some time into experimenting with eventually...
 
Tin.Man, it might be worth giving 3V another try. I had a few with the black pits you describe. It was not precision ground stock. Then I bought precision ground and it finished nicely on several pieces. Did you try the precision ground from Jantz?
 
Hmm.
I'm going to start sub-zero-ing my A2 (best I can get). I LOVE its performance already.
I've had pits in an A2 blade like you describe in 3V. It was a finished blade that got put away wet for awhile.
 
Even without cryo, A2 can be spectacular.
I've started doing it since, but the particular Skinner I mentioned was done without cryo.
Its a matter of if you want a really good knife, or a really, really good knife
 
CPM-4V. Its almost the same as V4E but is available in more sizes. Better edge holding than 3V but not quite as tough until you get into the HRC-62 range, then they're pretty close. Plenty of toughness for knives in the size range you're talking about. One of my favorite steels. You can get it at Niagara, Alpha, & probably a few others. I like to run it at about 62 for most applications. Here is a link to the spec. sheet.

http://www.crucible.com/PDFs//DataSheets2010/Data Sheet 4V.pdf
 
I agree. 4V is really great stuff @62HRC. You may want to give that a shot. Not quite as tough as 3V but pretty close.
If you are looking for thinner stock you could try Z-Wear. AKS has it in 0.116 and thinner. I tried it at 61-62HRC and was very impressed. Great edge holding and super tough at that hardness. Similar to 3V, but added tungsten. Not quite as tough but reasonably close. Still need to do more testing.
Good luck!!
 
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