Cruwear ?

[gull wing]

Read good things about Cruwear, want your opinion about a few important things to me.
* sharpening ease
*gets extremely sharp
*can keep a lower edge angle
In short, I want a "forgiving" steel. I have a Native LW in Maxamet, great steel, very sharp, but would like a steel that is a bit easier to sharpen. Don't necessarily need an extremely long wearing edge.

[JonLeBlanc]

If I may, I can't speak with experience with Cruwear, but I've heard all the same things you have, and I'm inclined to think they're right! The tool steels/carbon steels in general have the properties you're looking for, especially ease of sharpening. In addition to Cruwear (which unfortunately doesn't see widespread use), you might check out steels like K390, M4, 52100, V-Toku2, 4V etc. Fun to sharpen, sharp like Cary Grant, and take low low angles! Please forgive my inability to speak on Cruwear itself, and have fun experimenting and trying new steels out.

[mb1]

Yep. You’d like it for all those attributes. Pretty good stain resistance too.

Hap40 and Rex45 are excellent on sharpening and the edges they take as well. Highly recommend any of these.

[dj moonbat]

Cru-Wear excels in those areas. It is less forgiving of being rode hard and put away wet. And its wear resistance is good, but not elite.

[Doeswhateveraspidercan]

It is a nice steel, one of those steels that makes you feel like it wants to be sharp, like it wants to cooperate. It is allot like M4 in its ability to take a very sharp edge and do so easily but keeps it's edge longer and is far more stain resistant than its numbers on paper would lead one to believe.

Based on your criteria you will be happy with Cruwear.

[TkoK83Spy]

It is a nice steel, one of those steels that makes you feel like it wants to be sharp, like it wants to cooperate. It is allot like M4 in its ability to take a very sharp edge and do so easily but keeps it's edge longer and is far more stain resistant than its numbers on paper would lead one to believe.

Based on your criteria you will be happy with Cruwear.

2nd all of this. Thought that M4 was my favorite non stainless...until Cruwear came along.

[Sharp Guy]

Yep. You’d like it for all those attributes. Pretty good stain resistance too.

Hap40 and Rex45 are excellent on sharpening and the edges they take as well. Highly recommend any of these.

Yep!

It is a nice steel, one of those steels that makes you feel like it wants to be sharp, like it wants to cooperate. It is allot like M4 in its ability to take a very sharp edge and do so easily but keeps it's edge longer and is far more stain resistant than its numbers on paper would lead one to believe.

Based on your criteria you will be happy with Cruwear.

I agree with most of this too except I don't find Cruwear to hold an edge any longer that M4. In fact, I had it the other way around. Regardless, I like them both

[JuPaul]

Read good things about Cruwear, want your opinion about a few important things to me.
* sharpening ease
*gets extremely sharp
*can keep a lower edge angle
In short, I want a "forgiving" steel. I have a Native LW in Maxamet, great steel, very sharp, but would like a steel that is a bit easier to sharpen. Don't necessarily need an extremely long wearing edge.

I don't think you're going to hear many negative things about cruwear here...many, many fans of it on this forum, including myself. The only negative (for some) is that it's not stainless, but it's still much more rust-resistant than many other common non-stainless steels like M4.

[jpm2]

I don't find Cruwear to hold an edge any longer that M4. In fact, I had it the other way around. Regardless, I like them both

Same here, all my m4 blades hold fine and coarse edges better than any cruwear/zwear I've used.

[A.S.O.K.A]

Cruwear is a very capable steel. Recently, did a cut test after sharpening my Delica in cruwear. It did a total of 270 cuts going through 336ft total of cardboard ( this is the amazon shipping box cardboard). In terms of corrosion resistance, it holds up better than the other tool steels ( even for the fact that it only holds just over 7% chromium). Only thing about the steel thats a bit of a bummer is getting your hands on a knife with this steel that has an acceptably thin bte.

[Doeswhateveraspidercan]

Cruwear is a very capable steel. Recently, did a cut test after sharpening my Delica in cruwear. It did a total of 270 cuts going through 336ft total of cardboard ( this is the amazon shipping box cardboard). In terms of corrosion resistance, it holds up better than the other tool steels ( even for the fact that it only holds just over 7% chromium). Only thing about the steel thats a bit of a bummer is getting your hands on a knife with this steel that has an acceptably thin bte.

Good point about behind the edge, the Delica is indeed a super slicer in Cruwear due to this. Would purchase a Endure in Cruwear without a doubt.

I also have the Military, PM2, Para3 and Manix2 in Cruwear all of these are pretty great. Maybe I will measure them later? It seems the Cruwear Sprint runs are thinner behind the edge.

I no longer have these models in standard S30V maybe someone can do some measurements on the S30V versions and share their results.

[gull wing]

:) Thank you all.

[legOFwhat?]

PD#1 is basically the same as cruwear if you're interested in a fixed blade ( mule) and last I checked SFO still has some you just have to search on their site for PD#1, as it doesn't come up looking through the MT page.

[weeping minora]

I find CPM Cruwear very akin to the V-Toku2 claims as a "sharpeners steel". Gets stupid, sticky sharp very easily and will keep that stupid sharpness with a simple honing on a ceramic (~2000 grit) rod. In fact, I've only experienced HAP40 producing this feel of sharpness in my personal experiences, however Cruwear achieves such much quicker and with much less fuss. Absolutely no edge damage with accidental scuffs against steel/aluminum objects at low edge angles. While I find the corrosion resistance to be lesser than most claims, I agree with all other sentiments regarding the steel. Absolutely lives up to the hype if you don't mind routine maintenance like most of life's tools require.

[aaronkb]

I actually find it much more difficult than M4 when it comes to burr removal, but I might just need more time and experience with it.

[blendergasket]

I just whiddled my first hair. It was with my cruwear pm2. Cruwear gets ridiculously sharp without much difficulty. I love sharpening it.

[dj moonbat]

Yep. You’d like it for all those attributes. Pretty good stain resistance too.

Hap40 and Rex45 are excellent on sharpening and the edges they take as well. Highly recommend any of these.

Yep!

It is a nice steel, one of those steels that makes you feel like it wants to be sharp, like it wants to cooperate. It is allot like M4 in its ability to take a very sharp edge and do so easily but keeps it's edge longer and is far more stain resistant than its numbers on paper would lead one to believe.

Based on your criteria you will be happy with Cruwear.

I agree with most of this too except I don't find Cruwear to hold an edge any longer that M4. In fact, I had it the other way around. Regardless, I like them both

I don't think he meant that it's got better edge retention than M4. I think he meant that it's got better edge retention than one would think Cru-Wear had if just looking at the numbers. It's not all that high on carbides relative to some of the supersteels.

[dj moonbat]

It is a nice steel, one of those steels that makes you feel like it wants to be sharp, like it wants to cooperate. It is allot like M4 in its ability to take a very sharp edge and do so easily but keeps it's edge longer and is far more stain resistant than its numbers on paper would lead one to believe.

Based on your criteria you will be happy with Cruwear.

2nd all of this. Thought that M4 was my favorite non stainless...until Cruwear came along.

As far as Cru-Wear's characteristics, it's basically M4 Lite. More consumer friendly. Sharpens up faster, rusts less, and in return you give up the higher wear resistance. It took me a while to figure out what I really want in a steel, and these types are it.

[Doeswhateveraspidercan]

It is a nice steel, one of those steels that makes you feel like it wants to be sharp, like it wants to cooperate. It is allot like M4 in its ability to take a very sharp edge and do so easily but keeps it's edge longer and is far more stain resistant than its numbers on paper would lead one to believe.

Based on your criteria you will be happy with Cruwear.

2nd all of this. Thought that M4 was my favorite non stainless...until Cruwear came along.

As far as Cru-Wear's characteristics, it's basically M4 Lite. More consumer friendly. Sharpens up faster, rusts less, and in return you give up the higher wear resistance. It took me a while to figure out what I really want in a steel, and these types are it.

Not sure about the M4 Lite comment and lesser wear resistance but I agree it also took me a long time and lots of money spent on Spyderco knives to figure out what steels I like and these are my favorite types.

I did sell all my M4 knives as they were duplicates of models already owned like the military etc....

That is not to say I am against M4 at all though, in Fact have a Gayle Bradley 2 coming to me in the mail right now.

After reading your comments and others concerning M4 I will be certain to take them into account with the GB2 it is entirely possible I did not give this steel sufficient credit.

[dj moonbat]

The one trying thing about M4 is that it's got wear resistance sufficient to make burr formation take a while, AND toughness sufficient to make that burr a bit of a pain to remove. In fact, I think a lot of the time I "sharpened" my Air for the first couple years, I was actually just aligning the burr perfectly with the blade, rather than breaking it off.