Your building a mini crooked river With a black blade. Which steel do you choose?

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pborst2023

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The different prices don’t matter much. It’s $30 or less. The use for the knife will be EDC with modest fieldwork. Your choice in steels are limited to S 90 V, 20 CV and M4. which would you choose and why?
 
M4 would probably be my pick. It's significantly tougher than S90V and 20CV. It's a great steel for a working knife. The only downside is it will rust, but you're opting for the cerakote anyway.

S90V will have the best wear resistance and it is a great steel. Just not the toughest, but equally tough as 20CV.

The Mini Crooked River has a fairly robust geometry, so those less tough steels would still be fine choices too. If you need stainless, or just want maximum edge retention, S90V would be my choice.

If rust is a real concern, then 20CV would be a good choice.
 
Thanks that makes a lot of sense. I regularly oil all of my non-stainless knives with KPL knife shield anyway.
 
20cv will give you an all around usable knife. I love m4 but I don’t find the rust possibilities are out weighed by its performance.
 
I don't have anything in particular against S90V, but don't have any experience with it being any better than the other two choices, either.

I have multiple knives in all three of those steels and definitely prefer either 20cv or M4 over the S90V; both the former sharpen way easier than the latter for sure and for whatever reason, S90V seems to lose its edge just sitting in my case. I fully concede it's probably just my imagination or something, or I'm taking too fine an edge on it, but I can put a hair-popping edge on it and then put it away and maybe a month later it won't (without using it). I probably need to adjust the grit I'm finishing with?

Either way, S90V definitely takes way more time for me to sharpen. Again, might just be me. M4 and 20CV, to me, are way easier to touch up with M4 probably being a bit easier than 20CV... BOTH seem to hold edge equally well and better than S90V. I have seen a speck of rust in the bevel once or twice, but comes right off (and I don't go out of my way to oil anything). Use it, pocket it, sharpen if needed and there they sit. Personally, I do not worry one bit about buying M4, in fact, it's one of my favorites. (I do not live in a humid climate.)

Bottom line, my opinion would be any of the three will work just fine and S90V is a great steel, but I would pick either of the other two first.
 
Thanks for your input. I built the custom. I looked at the trade-offs and took your input into account. I think everybody’s looking at stuff differently, but I wanted to go special on this so I went with the carbon fiber handle, and all black knife, except for the blue pivot collar. And I chose S90V for the blade steel

I live in Virginia, which is a humid climate. And even though the blade is coated, and I use KPL knife shield I’m still concerned about the corrosion risk where I live with M4. Toughness between the S 90 V and the 20 CV was the same. So the trade-off came down to use of sharpening versus edge retention I put more emphasis on the edge retention. So decided to go with the S 90 V. I’ll show a picture when the custom comes in. didn’t try to make it beautiful. Although it will be that to me. Tried to make it practical and tactical. Thanks for all your input. I hope this time finds you well Paul.
 
Nice color choices and materials. It should look great. And S90V is a good choice, too. I want to build a custom Crooked River myself someday.
 
20cv would be my choice. I have no experience with M4. I sweat too damn much in the summer so the likelihood of rust on M4 always kept me away. S90 I have no desire to own. Heard it's a beast to sharpen.
 
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I have a crooked river in m4 and I love it. It all depends on how you use your knife and what your circumstances are.

I strongly dislike s90v because of the way it sharpens and how comparatively easy it is to chip versus many other steels. I don't live anywhere that humidity is a concern, so the corrosion resistance isn't anything I need.

20cv is a good steel and I'd take it over s90v if I needed corrosion resistance and a good amount of wear resistance.

M4 beats out both for me because, in my experience, the fine edge is much more durable. As for edge retention/wear resistance, on paper 20cv beats M4. However, in real world use, I haven't noticed much of a difference between the two in that regard. The 20cv holds a working edge longer, but m4 holds a fine edge longer in my experience.
S90V will keep a working edge longer than either of the other steels, but the maintenance and brittle nature of the edge makes it something I'm not interested in.

M4 is my favorite of the 3 and it's very nice to sharpen.
 
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