What I'm working on

[Crag the Brewer]

I can only work with a handful of steels. Aside from performance in a blade, I have to be able to get the sheets perfectly flat and use materials that dont warp once the blank is cut from the sheet. Alot of steels will bow as soon as the are cut on the waterjet and for CNC milling, we need ever blank perfectly flat. I also have to be able to get the sheets in the correct size and thickness. Most of the time I have to get it custom rolled.

PM steels are great because you can custom order them in the size you need and they come flat and stay flat. Downside is cost and having to surface grind off thick mill scale.

I like trying new materials, but I think I have a good and reliable lineup between Z tuff, Z wear and 3V. That covers most of the bases. For Stainless, Im going to add Magnacut and LC200N here at some point.

10V and S90V are also favorites of mine for ultra high wear knives.

For a base model steel, its always been 52100 though In looking at replacing it with Pop's ProCut as my budget steel.

Also looking at CPM 1V to see how it compares to Z Tuff.

Idk how Pops Pcut will be in a sheet, but the strips were less than ideal.
I bought 4 bars to try out and the thickest I bought was .197" ish..... It was darn near a pretzel.

Not sure if that was from the shear used to cut the width, because thinner gauges were straighter..... I was not happy. I still have to figure out how to smooth a few out?

 

[Huntsman Knife Co. LLC.]

Idk how Pops Pcut will be in a sheet, but the strips were less than ideal.
I bought 4 bars to try out and the thickest I bought was .197" ish..... It was darn near a pretzel.

Not sure if that was from the shear used to cut the width, because thinner gauges were straighter..... I was not happy. I still have to figure out how to smooth a few out?

Thanks for the feedback! I saw on their site that the pieces they were selling all looked bowed. I called and they confirmed that while the sheets are flat, once they bandsaw off a piece it will develop a bow.

I'm guessing this will happen regardless of the cut being made with a saw or a water jet. I will try Pro Cut at some point here but I need more feedback from other makers on maintaining flatness. I'm guessing the sheets might just need another anneal cycle/ have some residual stress in them from rolling.

 

[Crag the Brewer]

Thanks for the feedback! I saw on their site that the pieces they were selling all looked bowed. I called and they confirmed that while the sheets are flat, once they bandsaw off a piece it will develop a bow.

I'm guessing this will happen regardless of the cut being made with a saw or a water jet. I will try Pro Cut at some point here but I need more feedback from other makers on maintaining flatness. I'm guessing the sheets might just need another anneal cycle/ have some residual stress in them from rolling.

Scott L bought a fairly large piece.
If it's bad he'll let me know. So far I know he is Really happy with them once done....
After I get mine done, or if I hear anything I'll let you know ....still, I'm excited about it

 

[Private Klink]

It just proves that knife making is in your blood.

 

[Leviathan Arms]

Thanks for the feedback! I saw on their site that the pieces they were selling all looked bowed. I called and they confirmed that while the sheets are flat, once they bandsaw off a piece it will develop a bow.

I'm guessing this will happen regardless of the cut being made with a saw or a water jet. I will try Pro Cut at some point here but I need more feedback from other makers on maintaining flatness. I'm guessing the sheets might just need another anneal cycle/ have some residual stress in them from rolling.

I'm probably behind the curve but I've never even heard of Pops. What would you compare it to? And what would be the advantage of using it over 52100? Your older 52100 was pretty dialed in and I was very happy with its performance.

 

[M67]

Where’s the sign up list for $199 fell beasts in 52100?

 

[Huntsman Knife Co. LLC.]

Where’s the sign up list for $199 fell beasts in 52100?

2013

I'm probably behind the curve but I've never even heard of Pops. What would you compare it to? And what would be the advantage of using it over 52100? Your older 52100 was pretty dialed in and I was very happy with its performance.

Pop's Pro Cut is a new steel that was developed by Larrin Thomas to be a high performing entry level steel that's easy to grind and heat treat.

It basically 15N20 with Vanadium and Tungsten added for wear resistance. It appears to have excellent toughness, good hardenability, and good edge retention. The main advantage over 52100 is all the tungsten carbide. Should cut more aggressively and hold an edge longer, especially against abrasive media.

 

[Moorik]

2013


Pop's Pro Cut is a new steel that was developed by Larrin Thomas to be a high performing entry level steel that's easy to grind and heat treat.

It basically 15N20 with Vanadium and Tungsten added for wear resistance. It appears to have excellent toughness, good hardenability, and good edge retention. The main advantage over 52100 is all the tungsten carbide. Should cut more aggressively and hold an edge longer, especially against abrasive media.

Larrin Thomas should come up with something like CPM3ZtuffSUPER steel so that it is strong and can cut right through steel logs. Or even the matter of the universe

 

[kevo711]

I wanted to grab one but the year+ wait would have been too long. It looks like it will be a real monster if the weight and dimensions turn out as listed. Thats alot of knife in a 25 ounce package. Ill work with my CNC guy and see what the tooling for the Kukri will look like and what the timeline would be. I'd like to try to make some out of a budget steel like Pop's Pro Cut for a more affordable option but we might just have to stick with Z Tuff depending on supply, timing etc, tooling setups etc....



I've long wanted to try LC200N. Its actually a very expensive steel but from what I have seen its a great performer and is truly, 100% stainless. I'd be open do running some.

I'm staying away from AEBL for now. Its gotten more expensive with the Tariffs and its performance to cost ratio is not as good as it once was. Still an incredible material that I really like, but sadly, climbing in cost to the point that it might be better to use something else like LC200N and really get the benefit of a full stainless.

Hell yeah, let us know how it goes. I would like a Z Tuff version and a budget version with Pro Cut. If you end up using Pro Cut, are you going to have a Cerakoted option?