What is M390/20CV based off of?

MyLegsAreOk

MyLegsAreOk

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Aug 31, 2017
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I'm well aware s90v and s30v are basically "upgraded" variants of 440-grade steel. There's also the fact VG10 was based on V1 (I think that was the name). I don't know anything about what M390 was based on, but I'm curious as it's popular and what I believe to be the best knife-hobby-initiate alloy at the moment. Does anyone know what M390 is based on, or is it a brand-spanking new alloy?

I have a 20cv Yoji 2 in CF but It's too rare to use. I liked the cut test it gave and was able to sharpen it very easily. So I consider it a very good steel, but didn't take it to work like s110v which is a beast.
 
Bohler M390 and CPM 20CV are a great baseline steels in today's world of PM technology.... at least in the folding knife world where toughness and edge retention seem to be two hot selling points of today. Ease of sharpening is my last concern 🤷‍♂️
 
ShitsInaBush said:
Bohler M390 and CPM 20CV are a great baseline steels in today's world of PM technology.... at least in the folding knife world where toughness and edge retention seem to be two hot selling points of today. Ease of sharpening is my last concern 🤷‍♂️
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You know I've always heard hard to sharpen and easy to sharpen, but honestly all steels have sharpened relatively the same for me, outside of maxamet. I mean, is there a time difference? Sure, but it's the same method. Plus, after I have learned and practiced stropping I basically never sharpen unless something bad happened, or I was hard using the knife for a long time with no strop around.
 
You guys are doing a great job advertising the new book The Story of Knife Steel lately. As ferider mentioned, M390 was a modification of K190, itself a PM version of D7, which was D2 with 4% vanadium (and carbon to go with it). D2 and D7 are relatively high chromium tool steels, so if you add more chromium and/or reduce carbon you get a stainless steel. You can read more in the book, of course.
 
ferider said:
D3 -> D4 -> D7 -> k190 -> m390 (per Larrin)
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Hyper informative, thanks a million
Larrin said:
You guys are doing a great job advertising the new book The Story of Knife Steel lately. As ferider mentioned, M390 was a modification of K190, itself a PM version of D7, which was D2 with 4% vanadium (and carbon to go with it). D2 and D7 are relatively high chromium tool steels, so if you add more chromium and/or reduce carbon you get a stainless steel. You can read more in the book, of course.
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Send me your book
for free
 
HexY3co said:
Like every "super steel" it's based on mostly myth.
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Man, calling it "super steel" is just marketing. However, almost every newer alloy is based on a platform from older alloys. That goes for a lot of things we take for granted in liphe.
 
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Too rare to use? It's not King Tut's dagger.

I have several knives in M390/20cv/204p and every one of them the edge retention had been a little different. Cheburkov has been the best, the Bestech made A Purvis Progeny the worst. The Progeny's M390 I'd rate similar to CpM-154, I'm guessing it's run rather soft.

Spyderco's 204p has been pretty good, same with ZT 20cv.

I've had the same varied experience with S35VN.

That's the problem, it may say "m390" but is it "good" m390? Seems to me that some companies are offering steels they don't have the ability to heat treat optimally, so you are paying for what you think is a superior product when in fact it is not. Heat treatment is just so important.

However, every Spyderco I own has impressed me compared to the steel in some competitors, so if you are strictly looking at them, I think you are good to go.
 
If I remember correctly, it's origins were in the plastics industry. Also, I believe it's heat treatment is supposed to be done at a particularly high temperature; so if the manufacturer fails to do that the results can be less than ideal.
 
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