Would you rather have INFI or CPM M4 in a chopper?

T

termiteslayer

Joined
Dec 18, 2009
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I'm just curious what comes from people with a clue.
What would I choose?
Unsure... love both steels.
Could anyone here sway me one way or the other?
Rust potential aside, what would you choose? Why?
Can CPM M4 take sledgehammer punishments like INFI can?

me - fishing for a clue
 
I don't think anyone had pushed M4 to that level of punishment then posted it.

We know what INFI will do on the other hand.
 
M-4 in any form will be way more brittle than INFI.
You would be better off comparing INFI with a lower alloy carbon steel.

In which case the difference is mostly in the heat treat.
 
Ankerson said:
I don't think anyone had pushed M4 to that level of punishment then posted it.

We know what INFI will do on the other hand.
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What he said. Time and again we've seen INFI shrug off ridiculous levels of abuse and come back for more - that would be my choice (along with SR-101 or CPM-3V a la Fehrman).
 
I've got some INFI choppers, but that production version of Warren Osborne's CPM-M4 competition chopper looks quite promising.
 
M4 unless you literally mean "sledgehammer punishments."
 
They really are best for different things.

If I needed a survival knife -- INFI. If I wanted something to win a cutting competition -- M4.

CPM-M4 is extremely durable for a high speed steel -- and it is durable enough for cutting competitions -- but it isn't freakishly tough.

If Noss did a destruction test on a cpm-M4 chopper I'd expect that the knife would respond to sledgehammering better than a well known cpm-s30v survival blade, and in the league of A2.
 
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MY Gold Class Grip's M4 is not really all that impressive. I was really expecting something similar to S90V's edge retention, but it doesn't seem nearly as good. That Infi is getting more and more and more tempting... yesterday I was looking at any/every fixed blade under $500 that seemed to be reasonable for what it is. I did look at a bunch of smaller Busse's and a few SRKWs(SR101 + SRKW's HT may be the best steel I've ever owned)... all in all what matters to me is cutting performance... Batoning and such is useful and I do find myself using it at least a few times a year camping... but usually I have a small hatchet for these things. I ended up purchasing a CRK Nyala. Been eyeballing it for a WHILE now and everything looks in place for my uses. The ONLY thing is the handle... I don't like many (or any really) Micartas... and "canvas" micarta least of all. JMO (and apologies for being kinda off topic).
 
archieblue said:
MY Gold Class Grip's M4 is not really all that impressive. I was really expecting something similar to S90V's edge retention, but it doesn't seem nearly as good. That Infi is getting more and more and more tempting... yesterday I was looking at any/every fixed blade under $500 that seemed to be reasonable for what it is. I did look at a bunch of smaller Busse's and a few SRKWs(SR101 + SRKW's HT may be the best steel I've ever owned)... all in all what matters to me is cutting performance... Batoning and such is useful and I do find myself using it at least a few times a year camping... but usually I have a small hatchet for these things. I ended up purchasing a CRK Nyala. Been eyeballing it for a WHILE now and everything looks in place for my uses. The ONLY thing is the handle... I don't like many (or any really) Micartas... and "canvas" micarta least of all. JMO (and apologies for being kinda off topic).
Click to expand...

Try Spyderco's CPM M4. I like it much better than BM CPM M4 formula (heat treat... whatever). I'm not thrilled with BM's M4, either.
 
hardheart said:
except for all those bladesports choppers that keep winning. It's toughness is right there with A2 when both are at 60 Rc, and 3V when they're pushed above 62.
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:foot: That's what I get for not paying attention to competitions.
 
Infi, hands down

I have plenty of customs in many materials, many production blades in even more steels. And I love plenty different brands, but at the end of the day I grab an Infi blade because I KNOW it will not fail and has been proven time and time again.

There is no doubt that it will outperform AND be much more user friendly...as in should I damage the edge, it is just a roll and can easily be corrected with a little time on a stone. No worries of chips while striking rocks or other objects, no worries of total failures like the blade breaking in half like I saw another production knife did in cold weather. It can bend and warp and it springs true every time.

Is Infi the end all steels....no, I perfer it on choppers for the qualities it possesses and its ability to bounce back from ANY abuse I can AND do put it through. (obviously if I were dumb enough I "could" break it BY taking a sledge hammer to it). But in shorter blades (5" and below) there are better steels.

But for chopping....Infi, till something better comes out and has a better track record.
 
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