Whats the matter with my CPM154CM??

G

godogs57

Joined
Apr 16, 2004
Messages
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I quit working with ATS-34 because of the trash and impurities in the finished product. Went to 154CM and have not had a single problem now. Great stuff! Well, now that CPM154CM is out I have bought some up and tried it out as well, thinking I now have the ultimate stainless steel.To put it bluntly, I have been way way disappointed in it. I have finished a few blades in it, and every blade I have finished has had something I have never seen before: horizontal cracks (like pitting, just 1/8" to 1/4" long!) on each blade that is running in the same direction as the cutting edge. I looks for the world like 60-grit scratches that I didnt ever grind out, only horizontal not vertical. I don't really know if you could call it pits, per se, but it looks like cracks, but they don't go all the way through the blade, so I just call them elongated pits. I know I don't have my terminology correct, but one thing I do know: I don't get it with 154CM and it ain't supposed to be there. I ht the CPM the same way as 154CM.

What's going on? Any ideas? Most of the cracks/pitting are about 1/4" above the cutting edge and have not affected the overall performance of the blade, but I sure ain't selling 'em like that!

I appreciate your help. This has me confused.
 
Godogs, how long have you had the CPM? The reason I ask, Steve Johnson and I we're talkin a while back, and he said that the first batch from Crusible had problems, The second run was better. Crusible was telling him that the newer run was much better, but at the time he hadn't finished a blade with it. Maybe I will get a chance to talk to him in the next week or so. Mike Lovett http://www.lovettknives.com/
 
Yeah, the original prototype run had problems in some of the steel, the second run was improved to correct the problems.
 
This was the first batch my supplier got on hand back this spring. I finished up what 154CM I had and started in on the CPM154CM about two months ago. The "cracks" are hairline thin and if I see one at 60 grit, I grind it out...get down to 120 grit and I find two more that I grind out with the 120. Then I find another at 220 and so on.....

Most are about 1/4" long and seem to come up in bunches....two or three here, one or two there....never scattered about the blade, all bunched together.

Got a lot of time, and effort in them dern blades and this has me po'd. The finished product, while they wont be sold, do indeed cut like the dickens....otherwise very nice steel to work with!

Hank Hammond
 
Hank, depending on how much you have, why don't you give Crucible a call. Maby they would change it out for you. Mike
 
Yep, thats what I am gonna do. Gonna be a pain in the butt to ship back the bad stuff though. Will let you know what they say.

Thanks for your advice!
 
Thanks Hank, I would like to know. They will be at Spirit of Steel the end of the month. Mike
 
Talked with Crucible this morning and they told me that, in so many words, they would "make it good". They DID acknowledge that there were problems with their 1st run of CPM154CM. When asked what the specific problems were, he replied that their were inclusions in the steel that became apparent upon final polish. Bingo....

He did, however, say that them making good on the steel would involve me going through the supplier...Crucible would deal with me only through the supplier. Called the supplier today and they also said no problem. Supplier is concerned now that he has shipped a bunch of the stuff and is now waiting on a potential flood of calls from knifemakers....

Hope I am an isolated case.

Thanks for the suggestion of calling Crucible direct...nice folks!
 
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