CruWear on PM2?

[NorWest_05]

Hello! my first time posting on this forum. has anyone had experience with CruWear on a PM2?

[Henry_P]

Hello and welcome. I have some PM2's but have not tried Cru-Wear yet. Perhaps you could be more specific on what information you are looking for like toughness, sharpening, etc. The good news is there is a production model PM2 Cru-Wear with micarta coming in the future.

[NorWest_05]

I am mainly looking at toughness/how chippy it is, and how much corrosion resistance it has. i have been trying to decide if i should go s30v or wait till CruWear comes out and spend the extra bucks. I plan on having this as my hard use work knife.

[NorWest_05]

I also forgot to ask if anyone knows when the new CruWear PM2 will be coming out?

[elena86]

I have a few PM2s and Para3s in CPM-CRU Wear. My fav all time steel. Almost perfect balance of properties: high toughness, very good edge retention, sharpens like a dream and even though is a tool steel it has decent corrosion resistence. I own 2 light grey G10 Para3s in Cruwear and they came screaming sharp and thinner behind the edge than most of my other Para3s.I also purchased 3 gray G10 PM2s but I sold one. I shall never depart those.It goes without saying that I will buy at least one Crucarta PM2.

[Cambertree]

Yes. What would you like to know about them?

[NorWest_05]

Yes. What would you like to know about them?

What I am trying to figure out is how corrosion resistant, how tough/how easily it will chip or break.

I am trying to decide if it'll be worth the extra price for CruWear or if Ill be better off just getting s30v. so Im trying to get as much info on the two as possible. So any info/experience you have to share about CruWear or even s30v, specifically on a PM2, that would be much appreciated :D

oh and Id like this knife to able to cope with some hard use, reasonable hard use. I don't like to abuse my tools.

Edit: I also would like to know if CruWear would make the tip less prone to breaking, because I have heard stories of the tip being easy to break in s30v. So if you've had experience with that id like to know.

[Cambertree]

Hi Norwest,

Sorry, your second post was waiting to be approved when I replied above.

Toughness is excellent, I’ve never experienced chipping and I run my knives with pretty thin, acute edges.

Until I got my Tasman Salt, I used to use my Cruwear Manix for chopping back blackberry vines from the forest walking paths around here with wrist flicks and never had any issues.

Sharpening response is excellent and much more pleasurable than S30V IMHO.

Corrosion resistance is decent for a tool steel, given some reasonable maintenance after use, although it’s not quite ‘stainless’. It seems to pit, rather than develop surface rust, if allowed to corrode. We’ve had a fairly brutal summer for knife corrosion in this part of SE Australia - lots of rain alternating with hot, humid days, and I see I have some pinhole specks on my Cruwear Manix. My Cruwear PM2 is unaffected, although I use it less, and I’ve taken the blade flats to a smoother finish. I should point out I’ve also been getting surface rust on S30V in these conditions.

It’s a good candidate for thin edge grinds. My PM2 could probably stand to be ground a bit thinner, the next time it goes to the stones.



I’ve had about a mm of tip break off on my S30V PM2 a couple of times, although I believe that knife had some outlier issues which probably don’t apply to the bulk of Spyderco’s S30V. That particular knife was largely ‘fixed’ by repeated resharpening, as detailed in the Community Sharpening Journal thread.

Cruwear should be more resistant to that, all other things being equal.

[Cambertree]

Double post, sorry.

[Matus]

Do we know when the Cruwear PM2 in micarta should be out? I am seriously thinking of getting one. It can be seen in some DE shops already, but cannot be ordered yet ....

[NorWest_05]

Do we know when the Cruwear PM2 in micarta should be out? I am seriously thinking of getting one. It can be seen in some DE shops already, but cannot be ordered yet ....

I have no idea but I really want to find out. I think you can pre order but i dont know when it will be shipped

[NorWest_05]

Hi Norwest,

Sorry, your second post was waiting to be approved when I replied above.

Toughness is excellent, I’ve never experienced chipping and I run my knives with pretty thin, acute edges.

Until I got my Tasman Salt, I used to use my Cruwear Manix for chopping back blackberry vines from the forest walking paths around here with wrist flicks and never had any issues.

Sharpening response is excellent and much more pleasurable than S30V IMHO.

Corrosion resistance is decent for a tool steel, given some reasonable maintenance after use, although it’s not quite ‘stainless’. It seems to pit, rather than develop surface rust, if allowed to corrode. We’ve had a fairly brutal summer for knife corrosion in this part of SE Australia - lots of rain alternating with hot, humid days, and I see I have some pinhole specks on my Cruwear Manix. My Cruwear PM2 is unaffected, although I use it less, and I’ve taken the blade flats to a smoother finish. I should point out I’ve also been getting surface rust on S30V in these conditions.

It’s a good candidate for thin edge grinds. My PM2 could probably stand to be ground a bit thinner, the next time it goes to the stones.



I’ve had about a mm of tip break off on my S30V PM2 a couple of times, although I believe that knife had some outlier issues which probably don’t apply to the bulk of Spyderco’s S30V. That particular knife was largely ‘fixed’ by repeated resharpening, as detailed in the Community Sharpening Journal thread.

Cruwear should be more resistant to that, all other things being equal.

Thank you for the info. I like the sound of CruWear being tougher on the tip! Although I once heard someone saying that he/she rolled the tip on a CruWear PM2 piercing the tape on an Amazon box. have you found that CruWear is prone to rolling/bending?

[VooDooChild]

Thank you for the info. I like the sound of CruWear being tougher on the tip! Although I once heard someone saying that he/she rolled the tip on a CruWear PM2 piercing the tape on an Amazon box. have you found that CruWear is prone to rolling/bending?

Im finding it pretty hard to believe that any steel would roll from piercing tape or cardboard. Maybe they stabbed what was in the box. The very fine needle tip is always going to round off through use, its unavoidable. Thats not a steel issue though, thats just abrasion. (Thats not the same as snapping the tip btw.)

Cruwear is a very tough steel. If you are somehow breaking it or completely ruining the edge in a short time frame, then I dont know what youre doing but you probably shouldnt be using a knife.

[Cambertree]

Thank you for the info. I like the sound of CruWear being tougher on the tip! Although I once heard someone saying that he/she rolled the tip on a CruWear PM2 piercing the tape on an Amazon box. have you found that CruWear is prone to rolling/bending?

No worries. :)

I don’t know the details of that scenario, but I will say that people are sometimes quick to attribute a problem to the knife, when it’s more likely their usage that’s at fault.

Given the way that Amazon tape up their boxes, it’s possible that they might have hit a staple or something.

Sometimes you see people complaining about very poor edge retention on some steels, when this is more likely to be from something like a residual folded over burr.

Or another example is someone who posted a pic of a ZDP189 Endura which had snapped in half in an odd place some way in front of the Spydie hole. The implication was that ZDP189 is unacceptably brittle. When people asked what they had been doing with the knife when it snapped, they never replied, which suggests to me that they were probably levering or putting heavy prying force on it.

All steels will yield at some point, but to answer your question, no I have not had any problems or concerns about Cruwear while doing normal knife tasks with it.

And as mentioned, I run my edges a fair bit thinner and more acute than the factory grinds.

[Matus]

Just a side note - a tough steel (like Cruwear) would be expected to roll when pushed pasts its limits, rather than chip. Where that limit is, is a different question :)

[bleasure]

So what's the forum's over/under on the crucarta PM2 eventually getting a black blade version? It just struck me as a future possibility today, and now I'm fretting over whether I should hold out, since that brown micarta/black blade combo would be my first chioce over the satin. Does anyone have experience waiting for similar things? Like would it be foolish to wait, i.e. I'd be waiting for years for a non-guaranteed knife run and should just be happy with my current predorder, or is it not totally pie in the sky?

[Cambertree]

So what's the forum's over/under on the crucarta PM2 eventually getting a black blade version? It just struck me as a future possibility today, and now I'm fretting over whether I should hold out, since that brown micarta/black blade combo would be my first chioce over the satin. Does anyone have experience waiting for similar things? Like would it be foolish to wait, i.e. I'd be waiting for years for a non-guaranteed knife run and should just be happy with my current predorder, or is it not totally pie in the sky?

If you really want that combo, you could probably order some custom brown micarta scales, and get a satin Cruwear blade DLC coated within a couple of months maybe?

[Woodpuppy]

So what's the forum's over/under on the crucarta PM2 eventually getting a black blade version? It just struck me as a future possibility today, and now I'm fretting over whether I should hold out, since that brown micarta/black blade combo would be my first chioce over the satin. Does anyone have experience waiting for similar things? Like would it be foolish to wait, i.e. I'd be waiting for years for a non-guaranteed knife run and should just be happy with my current predorder, or is it not totally pie in the sky?

If you really want that combo, you could probably order some custom brown micarta scales, and get a satin Cruwear blade DLC coated within a couple of months maybe?

Or locate a DLT exclusive and buy brown micarta scales for it.

[Sharp Guy]

....Although I once heard someone saying that he/she rolled the tip on a CruWear PM2 piercing the tape on an Amazon box

Somebody said that a couple weeks ago in a thread over on Blade Forums. I almost spit my coffee out when I read that. Much of that thread is filled with the same garbage you read in some of the Facebook groups :rolleyes: I don't know what some of these people actually use their knives for but I'm glad I don't have a fraction of the problems they claim to have.

[Woodpuppy]

....Although I once heard someone saying that he/she rolled the tip on a CruWear PM2 piercing the tape on an Amazon box

Somebody said that a couple weeks ago in a thread over on Blade Forums. I almost spit my coffee out when I read that. Much of that thread is filled with the same garbage you read in some of the Facebook groups :rolleyes: I don't know what some of these people actually use their knives for but I'm glad I don't have a fraction of the problems they claim to have.

Some people aren’t happy unless their problems are worsen’ er’body else’s. Who cuts Amazon tape? Just punch it.