Why not certain steels?

Techtical

Techtical

Joined
Mar 28, 2010
Messages
87
Hello everyone, I was researching the crucible website datasheets recently and i was wondering why I dont see more knife makers using other steels that seem to me to be better than whats being used now. Crucible and other companies have steels that seem to completely trump the so called modern steels that we use now; cpm s30v, cpm 154cm, cpm 3v, cpm m4. Crucible's datasheets show steels like cpm 9v to have the wear resistance 3 times that of cpm s30v with a toughness close to cpm3v even at a hrc of 60. I know that it must be much more difficlut to grind than other steels due to all the vanadium in it but i think it would be worth the effort to try. Especially large manufacturers that possess the equipment to easily work with these steels. CPM 9v seems to be a potential superduper steel as well as other steels from many different companies but i have'nt seen anyone try and make knives with them. Whats up with that?

Thanks for your feedback. MC
 
Setting up to use a new alloy, learning its heat treat, grinding, and performance issues, is time and money consuming.
 
I'd like to see more Bohler steels used in production knives.
I really like the N690 which is comparable to VG10 with it's cobalt addition, and thier marine or ultra rust resistant N680 feels a lot more like steel then H1 does :)
 
Also wear resistance turns into PITA to sharpen, harden them over 60C and you would need nothing short of diamonds to sharpen it.

3X the wear resistance of S30V.... I wouldn't want to sharpen it....
 
The steels that fit the equation on cost to buy, easy of manufacture, and customer demand, are the steels that get used.

Some steels work better or worse when it comes to those parameters.

If your blade does not function well enough for your taste (edge retension or ability to sharpen) the odds are you will not buy/use more of those blades.


The best available blade steels do slowly rise in public attention, and knife makers respond to this demand.

The bottom line is even the best spec sheet does not always mean the best knife steel, the cost of heat treatment and ease of production are just as important when it comes to the final product.




Big Mike
 
my guess also along with other is marketing.. you would have to go on a full out marketing campaign to make the name very popular.. im guessing this is expensive and difficult to do
 
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