Verde Ranch "Sith" CPM M4

Stuart Davenport Knives

Stuart Davenport Knives

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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Hello eveyone, this week I have another Verde Ranch Hunter up for grabs. Im calling this one the "Sith" hunter because of the black/red colors. One of my all time favorite tool steels, CPM M4, heat treated in shop with "cryo" quench and triple tempers for 64HRC. Blade has a full flat grind, and just like the last Verde Ranch Hunter, I have convexed the area right above the edge. It has quite the thin BTE geometry. The user will probably never need to thin the blade. The edge is a standard "V", but even with a low sharpening angle, it is a very small bevel. After grinding, I basically just sharpen at a VERY low angle, the spine just above the face of the stone, and then I go back to the grinder and blend that transition, so you end up with a "tear drop" shape from spine to edge. It cuts amazingly well, as you can imagine. All grinding is done under flood, and sharpening is by hand on stones. The blade also has a hand rubbed polish, which is quite the chore for 64HRC M4. The handle is black micarta with red liners. I used corby bolts (as well as epoxy) to secure the handle. You would have to grind down to the tang or drill the bolts out to get these scales to come off. Final sharpening was just a few light strokes on a 1200 grit Atoma diamond plate, and then stropped on leather with white compound. The edge is very very sharp, and very very aggressive. If you like PM steels at high hardness and THIN grinds, you have come to the right place! Thanks for looking!

OAL: 8 7/8"
Blade: 4 1/4"
Handle: 4 5/8"
Thickness: 0.120"
Steel: Crucible CPM M4 64HRC
Edge: 13.5°, 9 micron stropped
Price: SOLD (includes kydex sheath)

IMG_0025.jpeg IMG_0027.jpeg

Paypal preferred (samuraistuart@yahoo.com). Generally, the first person to send PP gets the knife. If you are interested, I recommend posting something like, "I'll take it! Funds sent." and sending payment immediately. No need to ask if it's still available. If there is ever a conflict, which hasn't happened yet, I will refund your PP immediately. I also take Venmo, DM me for the address, it's my wife's account and I forget the address. All knives come with free shiping in the USA and a lifetime unconditional warranty. I'll repair or replace, pretty much no matter what. Just understand that I like to use thin stock, thin grinds, and temper most steels for a slightly harder blade than you might be used to. I highly advise do not try to cut throught nails, bone, frozen food, or stab a car door, things like that. Just use it to cut stuff, like it was intended. If you have any questions, send me an email or DM me. Email is same as the PP address. Thanks for looking!
 
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Those of you looking at this sales thread, what handle material do you prefer? For me, G10, micarta, and stabilized wood are my go to materials. I prefer wood, then micarta, then g10. What woods do you prefer? What micarta do you prefer? What g10 do you prefer? I have to be honest, I find it odd that this knife is sitll for sale. Yes, it was just posted not but a few days ago. Personally, this knife, in M4 with black micarta is WAY WAY WAY more desirable to me than my last knife in 3V. I would always choose CPM M4 at 64HRC over 3V any day of the week. While almost as tough, it has a lot better wear resistance over 3V. A lot of hype and videos have been made concerning 3V, but M4 is just a better steel overall. Again, just about the same toughness as 3V, but with a lot better wear resistance.

Thank you to everyone that has commented! You are very appreciated!
 
Stuart Davenport Knives said:
Those of you looking at this sales thread, what handle material do you prefer? For me, G10, micarta, and stabilized wood are my go to materials. I prefer wood, then micarta, then g10. What woods do you prefer? What micarta do you prefer? What g10 do you prefer? I have to be honest, I find it odd that this knife is sitll for sale. Yes, it was just posted not but a few days ago. Personally, this knife, in M4 with black micarta is WAY WAY WAY more desirable to me than my last knife in 3V. I would always choose CPM M4 at 64HRC over 3V any day of the week. While almost as tough, it has a lot better wear resistance over 3V. A lot of hype and videos have been made concerning 3V, but M4 is just a better steel overall. Again, just about the same toughness as 3V, but with a lot better wear resistance.

Thank you to everyone that has commented! You are very appreciated!
Click to expand...

I would always choose M4 at 64HRC as well. Great steel, great use of it. I would buy this in a heartbeat but I simply don’t have the spare cash right now. I don’t think it’s you, if it helps. It’s hard to move things right now.
 
Stuart, I've been admiring your knives for some time, and the Verde Ranch "Sith" above is just stunning with its clean, simple, straightforward lines.

I'll also admit that your beautiful creations are generally out of my price range. Given that, and the fact that you were asking about scales, no problem if you don't care to answer a question about steel.

I bet I'm not alone in enjoying not only my knives themselves but also sharpening them. I don't use diamonds but rather set an edge with my WorkSharp Ken Onion (mini belt-sander), and touch up with ceramics and strops. There are likely plenty of guys here who use a diamond system and can handle the super steels you favor, but we're not all so equipped.

My question is, what are your thoughts on, sometimes at least, using softer, more easily sharpened steels? I've bought a number of knives here recently with AEB-L or NitroV, and am really enjoying them. They take a fine edge easily and retain it plenty long enough for my light duty uses. And they're a breeze to touch up.

Anyway, if you have the time or inclination, I'd appreciate your thoughts. And either way, keep making these beauties!

Thanks,

Andrew
 
Thank you ALL for your input!!! It means the world to me, in a way that maybe you don't realize. THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!

Let me explain a couple of things, if you will allow.

Diamonds are NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT needed to sharpen these "super steels" that have a lot of hard carbides (vanadium, niobium, etc) NO NO NO, You do NOT need diamonds to sharpen them. This is the reality of it all, if you want to take your edges on steels like M4, 10V, K390, etc, to max polish, you will need diamond to do it. But the thing is, these steels work perfectly fine at low micron edges. You do NOT need to take 10V, K390, etc to 1 or sub micron. And there are a lot of knife guys that will tell you just to sharpen your vanadium carbide knives on stones like 325 diamond plates. Maybe 600 DMT stones and call it good. And that is PERFECTLY OK!!!!! Trust me, a properly prepared apex on 220 or 325 grit diamond is perfectly adequate!!!!!!!

The last thing any knife maker or sharpener wants to do is to chase this sharpening demon! How fine can we get? If your knife is along the 1095, White steel sort of steel, then yes, use your Jap natural stones. But if the same steel has been hardened to 64HRC+, your Japanese water stones are going to struggle. You WILL NEED something harder, like man made ceramic stones. Not that you "need" them, it just will make your job a lot faster and easier.

But if we are talking about modern PM steels above 62HRC+, you're really going to want quality ceramic stones or diamond stones.

And that topic is WAAAAAYY too deep for a reply on a sales thread.

AFAustin, maybe this might be more up your alley. I am now currently working on one of my Verde Ranch Hunters in Wolfram Special. I am EXTREMELY EXCITED about offering this knife once it is done. It will have a steel of Wolfram Special (think of a much tougher version of Super Blue), and I am thinking about using stabilized quilted maple handle scales. The tungsten carbides in Wolfram Special will approach the hardness of vanadium carbides, but they seem to be a lot finer, and thus allow for a tougher steel, and easier sharpening.

Still, with all of this being discussed, the knife I have offered above is just simply amazing. Dialed in heat treatment, dialed in edge geometry. And the steel stands on its own. CPM M4 64 HRC.

I'm really tempted to just make this my own 2026 hunting knife.
 
Stuart, thanks for your kind and detailed reply.

I'll add another thing I admire about your knives is that they tend to have thin, and thin BTE, blades. Blade geometry is so key to cutting ability and yet so many knives are offered with thicker than necessary blades. For choppers and other heavy duty knives, I get it. But for sheer slicing ability, thinner is better!

Andrew
 
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