Z Wear, What’s the Deal With It?

[Foehammer]

I may be able to get my hands on a Shaman in z wear soon, but I don’t know a lot about the steel. Is it like CruWear basically? Will it patina? I know it’s tough and has good wear resistance, but that’s about it. Thanks in advance !

[JRinFL]

It is essentially the same as Cruwear. In fact, some say it is identical, but marketed under another name. Basically, anything you read about CPM-Cruwear applies to Z-wear.

[metaphoricalsimile]

It's just another brand name for CPM-cruwear (as opposed to traditional ingot cruwear), so it should behave exactly the same assuming the same heat treat.

[Foehammer]

Cool, thanks guys!

[WilliamMunny]

I may be able to get my hands on a Shaman in z wear soon, but I don’t know a lot about the steel. Is it like CruWear basically? Will it patina? I know it’s tough and has good wear resistance, but that’s about it. Thanks in advance !

I have a Mule in Z-Wear and so far love it. It is what I would consider semi-stainless. I store it in a leather sheath and there is no patina on it, while I had a Z-Max and it did patina. It can also get scary sharp. Its actually the sharpest steel i have seen. I have not done a ton of cutting with it but edge retention seems fine. Overall a great all around steel.

[Scandi Grind]

Z Wear is made by Zapp, which I thought I heard was a German company, but I'm not sure if that is true. Anyway, the only difference seems to be the maker, Crucible vs. Zapp.

[JRinFL]

Someone said Zapp buys their Cruwear steel from Crucible and rebrands it. I think that info was posted here or at BF.

[JRinFL]

I found that post:

Isn't this the steel that's fairly comparable to Cruwear and PD1?

Yes, it is allegedly sometimes even exactly the same steel, as Crucible apparently supplies CPM Cru-wear to Zapp USA who then sells it as Z-wear.

PD#1 is Carpenter’s version. Of the elements we talk about most, the data sheets say that PD#1 has marginally less C and V and marginally more Cr and W, but given the same heat treatment, they should be so close as to be indistinguishable from each other.

I am hoping that the z-wear is more corrosion resistant than the z-max.

It absolutely will be if the heat treat isn’t botched! I’ve cut citrus and other patina-inducing foodstuffs with my Cruwear Spydies and haven’t had even a hint of patina.

Don’t be fooled by the near-stainless qualities during use, though. If you leave it with corrosives on it, it will rust in time. I just found some rust speckles on my Manix that I neglected to clean after it’s last use a few weeks ago. It was minimal, but noteworthy.

Plus this: https://www.crucible.com/Products.aspx?c=28

[Woodpuppy]

I can get my zwear shaman to “freckle” if I do the lawn with it in my pocket. I’m in Florida… but a qtip and flitz takes care of it. I’ve been EDCing this knife since it dropped. I feel like my cruwear Millie keeps an edge longer than this shaman but Who can be sure of these things.

[Enactive]

I can get my zwear shaman to “freckle” if I do the lawn with it in my pocket. I’m in Florida… but a qtip and flitz takes care of it. I’ve been EDCing this knife since it dropped. I feel like my cruwear Millie keeps an edge longer than this shaman but Who can be sure of these things.

This wouldn't surprise me. My Crucarta Shaman seems softer than my Cruwear Native, Manix and PM2. Some HRC testing has documented this, though with small samples.

It may also be, at least partly, a result of the geometry differences. The Shaman is ground thicker than my other 3 Cruwear models.

[Woodpuppy]

The Shaman is thic, but I’m not so sure the Millie isn’t close to it. PM2 is thinner bte to be sure, but I haven’t carried the DLT Cruple version much. Maybe it’s time to give it some pocket time.