Would CPM9V make a good blade?

R

RWT

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Mar 15, 2011
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Cruising Crucibles sight and I see a CPM 9V and the toughness and wear resistance look very favorable. Does anyone have any experience or know how the steel would perform? I am looking for the "super steel" like everyone else for a general use hunting knife. I do want ease of sharpening and above average toughness. I know trades off's; however, the graphs I am seeing look to be a good compromise compared to some of the other steels. I really want a blade that I can sharpen once and have it clean 2 animals without having to touch up the edge.
Again, I know geometry probably has more to do with it and I am willing to pay a custom maker here for their experience in creating that geometry. However, I really only want to build 1 custom and have no issue paying for the best material to do it right. Please provided opinions.
 
the soft steel matrix with the high wear resistance may make it more difficult, as you could have tenacious burrs and need a lot of sharpening strokes to form the edge. But it may also be easy, I haven't had a knife in the steel. I don't think the edge would be too durable, but it may be an aggressive cutter like some of the cobalt alloys.
 
High vanadium alloys aren't easy to sharpen unless you have good stones such as silicon carbide or diamond.
The CPM "V" series steels range from "tough" to "high wearing" as you increase the vanadium content. They are not stainless but do not rust particularly easily.
CPM 9V is on the wear resistant end of the range, and thus is not as tough as CPM 3V.
CPM 9V would be appropriate for a knife used for slicing, but isn't well suited for one used for prying or chopping.
If you find a maker accustomed to the alloy you'll get assistance choosing how to design your knife, ie thickness, profile, hardness.
You will also find that a lot of people do not like high carbide alloys, but many others think that they are wonderful.
Do not let this confuse you. Disagreements and discussion are the bread and butter of these forums.
 
CPM 9V is actually fairly tough among the CPM grades. the issue would not be impact resistance, but strength at the lower attainable rockwell hardness.
 
im not sure about that steel, but a great steel is CTS BD1. You may want to give it a try if you havent already
 
Yep, it is only rated at 58 RC fully hard, so it can't get as hard as 3V or 10V. My mistake.
 
If your not too concerned with cost, check out Fredrik Haakonsen.. he uses a modified A8 steel (INFI is rumoured to be a MOD A8 btw) and his heath treat, ergos, and geometries are top notch.. plus he goes to great lengths to make sure the blade orientation runs parallel to the rolling direction... He has a PhD in metallurgy, is a career metallurgist, and a board member with the Norwegian knife association... he really knows his stuff... I would trust his steel over most anything to be frank..

For a more common steel, 3V is by far my favorite..

:thumbup:
 
The hi-alloy steels(vanadium) often excel at cutting things like rope,boxes ,etc..because of their resistance to abrasion,I'm not sure how that would translate to a game processing knife,other than being able to cut through the hide with ease

I think if you want a knife that can process a few deer without touchup ,you can accomplish this with a lot of different steels that have good heat treating,I would look at cpm154,It is an incredibly well balanced steel,between edge retention,moderately tough,good corr. resistance,and w/modern stones easy to touch-up there are even some production models that use the Bos heat treat that is second to none,all at very reasonable prices.
 
rwt said:
cruising crucibles sight and i see a cpm 9v and the toughness and wear resistance look very favorable. Does anyone have any experience or know how the steel would perform? I am looking for the "super steel" like everyone else for a general use hunting knife. I do want ease of sharpening and above average toughness. I know trades off's; however, the graphs i am seeing look to be a good compromise compared to some of the other steels. I really want a blade that i can sharpen once and have it clean 2 animals without having to touch up the edge.
Again, i know geometry probably has more to do with it and i am willing to pay a custom maker here for their experience in creating that geometry. However, i really only want to build 1 custom and have no issue paying for the best material to do it right. Please provided opinions.
Click to expand...

cpm s110v, cpm s90v, cpm 10v, k294, k390, m390, cpm 154, cpm m4.....

Read this article. :)

http://www.seamountknifeworks.com/articles/how_long_will_an_edge_last.pdf
 
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Thanks Ankerson, good article. Considering I am also cleaning hogs which IMO are a tougher hide than elk I should lower my expectations on how long an edge should last. I think if I go with any of the ones you listed to include M4 and ELMAX I would be good. Or maybe I could just man up and learn how to sharpen by hand easily :)
 
RWT said:
Thanks Ankerson, good article. Considering I am also cleaning hogs which IMO are a tougher hide than elk I should lower my expectations on how long an edge should last. I think if I go with any of the ones you listed to include M4 and ELMAX I would be good. Or maybe I could just man up and learn how to sharpen by hand easily :)
Click to expand...

No reason not to get that knife you want. :)

Just carry a small strop or ceramic rod with you, that's all you would need for fast touch ups.
 
ryanv403 said:
im not sure about that steel, but a great steel is CTS BD1. You may want to give it a try if you havent already
Click to expand...

The OP is asking about and talking about exotic steels. I'm sure he's aware of the more mundane steels but that's a good suggestion anyway. :)
 
I found someone that works in Elmax and I may give it a try if the price is right.
 
sharpness is lost one of three ways...
1) wearing down the edge
2) chipping the edge
3) bending denting or flattening the edge

1) is fixed ny choosing a high wear alloy with lots of carbides
2) is fixed by choosing a steel with high toughnes or by heat treating it to a lower hardness
3) isfixed by making the blade harder.

9V doesn't get very hard, and to keep its toghness means running it quite soft so it then loses its edge due to deformation... So it needs to be resharpened more. and often lots more to grind away the bent edges.

youd be farther ahead to pick a steel that is tough and hard and high wear so it won't need hsarpenign as much and can be kept sharp with touchups rather than major sharpening...

These days I'm liking M390 and S90V... but waiting on my first 3v blade which is supposed to betreated to Rc 61 or better. I think most makers fail to realize how tough it really is and run it softer than is necessary, and so will limit the edge retention.

Also I think that CPM M4 HCHS looks to have amazing balance of lots of carbides, high toughness at extreme hardness, and high hardenability... This probably why it gets the nod so often in Competiton choppers. Note that the HC version is almost twice as tough as standard M4.
 
Rapt_up said:
sharpness is lost one of three ways...
1) wearing down the edge
2) chipping the edge
3) bending denting or flattening the edge

1) is fixed ny choosing a high wear alloy with lots of carbides
2) is fixed by choosing a steel with high toughnes or by heat treating it to a lower hardness
3) isfixed by making the blade harder.

9V doesn't get very hard, and to keep its toghness means running it quite soft so it then loses its edge due to deformation... So it needs to be resharpened more. and often lots more to grind away the bent edges.

youd be farther ahead to pick a steel that is tough and hard and high wear so it won't need hsarpenign as much and can be kept sharp with touchups rather than major sharpening...

These days I'm liking M390 and S90V... but waiting on my first 3v blade which is supposed to betreated to Rc 61 or better. I think most makers fail to realize how tough it really is and run it softer than is necessary, and so will limit the edge retention.

Also I think that CPM M4 HCHS looks to have amazing balance of lots of carbides, high toughness at extreme hardness, and high hardenability... This probably why it gets the nod so often in Competiton choppers. Note that the HC version is almost twice as tough as standard M4.
Click to expand...




That's interesting. Can you please elaborate? And yeh, what's HC?
 
HC is high carbon, a little over 0.1% extra. There is also a high sulfur (HS) version for easy machining. 3V can be run harder, but toughness drops off considerably from the peak of ~85 ft lbs at 58. PM M4 is actually tougher once you get over 3V 61, and HC is also tougher if you get over 62, roughly. Comparing charpy is not exact, but what we have.
 
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