Spyderco Forums

I think Obstinate, Pretty much covers it Sal. It is like 3 or 4 times the effort to grind out and finish a blade as say 10V. It holds an edge longer than anything else I have tried but has the lowest toughness of any knife steels I have worked with. Larrin's graphs show those two extremes. Corrosion...

We got a peak at the initial toughness and corrosion resistance of Larrin's invention ( I call it LT1). Those numbers look very, very good. The last piece, wear resistance I am sure will be good news as well. Thanks for your work Shawn, that all takes time and effort away from your own time at the g...

Thanks Musroom for the review on the exclusive. I would have to say it is a very practical knife that will see a lot of different applications out there. I got an early look at this exclusive and since I had a bit of inside heads up I was able to get a few of them for my own use. My impression is th...

Hi Pancake, the knife in the photo with the veggies is actually a South Fork. Hard to see it has a rounded butt and the angle makes the blade look longer than actual. The Coyote Meadow is a trailing point but with a stick tang stacked handle and machined brass finger guard. Phil

It took a while to get it and take a quick look but Larrin's book is now on the shelf right next to "Tool Steels" which was pretty much the reference most makers interested in heat treating their own blades. It is also now a text book for students and practicing metallurgists. Larrin's book is of co...

I guess it is time that I weigh in on the idea of a sprint run on the South Fork. Acording to Sal it was a very expensive knife to make. That is a big chunk of CPM S90v and that stuff back then at least was a bear to machine. It is still a lot of machining even with a different steel. CPM S90V is mo...

HI Cambertree, Your idea of using a heat gun ( much hotter than a hair dryer) will work. It is best to focus the heat on the area you want to change. Use a rectangle piece of masonite or like that and drill a half inch hole in it. Blow the hot air through the hole so that you are heating a small are...

Hi Larrin, et all Another reason CPM S60 sort of faded out was the introduction of CPM S90V which was touted as an upgrade to S60V. S90V had everything S60V did plus after some fine tuning had better heat treat response. Yes , more resistance to finish but also somewhat better edge holding as noted ...

Happy Birthday Larrin. Appreciate your work and also friendship over the years. I will put your new book next to "Tool Steels" on the shelf and that's all I need for reference. Tool Steels will gather dust. Phil

HI Larrin, do you ever sleep? Incredible body of work including getting a very complicated machine working and gather all the samples to test. You have a good partner with BBB. A few sort of surprises but in general they fall right where you would expect. CPM S30V and CPM S90V are right in there wit...

Thanks Larrin for the great article and history on CPM S30V. I am proud to be part of the history but it does date me somewhat. Looking back Crucible did take interest in their materials for knife blade use and both Ed Severson and Dick Barber were interested in knives. I think Ed still has a Chef I...

HI Baron, i share the love with S90V, CPM S90V to be more exact. It was an up grade to CPM S60V and turned out to be one of the best CPM's ever offered. It had some learning curve problems at first. The first sample I got I couldn't get the hardness over about 57 rc and turned out I wasn't alone. Th...

Here is an article I wrote some time ago and it does address some of Ju Paul topics above. We have many more blade materials now but the general concepts are here. Larrin has also written a lot more about all of this and his articles are more up to date. http://www.seamountknifeworks.com/js/web/view...

Thanks to Larrin for doing a lot of the ground work and characterizing this new grade. HIs article has an incredible amount of work in it. I was impressed with the photo micrographs showing a nice even distribution of carbides and a relatively fine grain structure. As far as I know no one has made a...

Hi Sal, a good question and was thinking the other day that with so many good steels available now if I had to pick only 3 to work with what would they be? For the long edge holding on hunting and utility I would go with one of the A11's and right now K390 since that is what I am set up for. CPM S90...

I kinda grew up with CPM S90V and if I was limited to one blade steel for the stainless application it would be 90V. CPM S110V is very close in all aspects but somewhat harder to work with. CPM S30V and ELMAX in that class would be a close second, Simple operations like drilling on CPM S110V require...

Yes, rounding off the back of the choil and the very first part of the edge was a detail that was on the prototype. I was happy to see the maker picked up on that. It was not done on the first sample we got back. Very easy to sharpen all the way if that is the preference. Thanks, Phil

Hi All, This one has been in the works for a long time and has been a lesson in perseverance. Eric hung in there and the end product is very nice. I got a sample about 2 weeks ago and I ordered some since I know they are going to go fast. Will be anxious to hear the feed back when they get out there...

HI Jim, nice clean design and shades of the classic Bowie. Good choice on the steel grade and a good balance between ductility and hardness and geometry for edge performance. It was worth waiting for. Congratulations Jim and Spyderco, Phil

Right now salmon are plentiful in the ocean of the north california coast. I just had some fresh last night and it is the best this time of the year when they are feeding on anchovies. The meat bright red/orange and the oil just runs out of them on the BBQ. Tomorrow I will cold smoke some and also m...