Sharing my newest knife - Phil Wilson CPM S125V Bow River

[Ankerson]

Thought I would share my newest knife since some here have seen it 1st hand at BLADE. :)

Phil Wilson Custom Bow River in CPM S125V.

HRC Hardness 62.5
.006" behind the edge
.095" spine thickness with slight distal taper.
4.25" drop point.
Weight is 3.1 OUNCES

CPM S125V

Carbon - 3.30%
Chromium - 14.0%
Molybdenum - 2.50%
Vanadium - 12.0%

Not something I would recommend for production knives due to the extremely high wear resistance and other concerns in handing. I would stick with CPM S110V instead as it's in the same basic category in stainless or CPM 10V for non stainless.

The interesting thing was in my testing that CPM S125V made up the difference and did within 60 cuts of CPM 10V that was 2 points harder (64.5) and .002" thinner and thinner spine thickness. That was 2340 to 2400 cuts so I call that basically the same performance (A Tie), very interesting steel, much different than anything I tested before. I have no plans to do anymore testing with the knife as with the extreme level of performance this thing has it really doesn't have anything more to prove beyond what I already did with it.

I did test it for edge retention on 5/8" manila rope and it did 2,340 cuts until it reached 20 LBS, would still slice phone book paper after. I also checked it on wood and saw no chipping issues snapping it out sideways. I didn't notice any stability problems in testing and it was very aggressive with my 400 grit edge. Sharpening wasn't an issue with my 320 and 400 grit SIC stones.

It is a pure cutter though with the geometry.

[Johnnie1801]

Nice to see you back Jim and wow what a post :)

That's an awesome blade, simple design but very easy on the eye :p I hope Phil Wilson sends one of these to Sal :)

[Ankerson]

Nice to see you back Jim and wow what a post :)

That's an awesome blade, simple design but very easy on the eye :p I hope Phil Wilson sends one of these to Sal :)

Thanks. :)

I hope Sal gets one too, it's a nice clean design, but very optimized. :cool:

[SpyderNut]

.006 behind the edge. Sweet mercy! :eek: I'll bet she slices like a light saber! :D Nice knife, Jim. Would love to hear your thoughts/review after you get a chanc to use it.

[Ankerson]

.006 behind the edge. Sweet mercy! :eek: I'll bet she slices like a light saber! :D Nice knife, Jim. Would love to hear your thoughts/review after you get a chanc to use it.

Been using it some in the kitchen. :D

It just falls through whatever I cut with it. :cool:

Thinking about making a trip to Illinois for deer season this year to and take this one and my other Bow River in K294 and let my cousins have at it as they get like 25 to 30 deer every year between all of them etc.

[The Mastiff]

I'd think they would enjoy any of Phil's knives for preparing the deer. That is an extreme amount of work and having professional grade knives the way Phil does them helps a bunch.Don't let them get too far away from you or you might never see it again, cousins or not. :)

Joe

[SolidState]

jealousy besets me. Great knife and review!

[Ankerson]

I'd think they would enjoy any of Phil's knives for preparing the deer. That is an extreme amount of work and having professional grade knives the way Phil does them helps a bunch.Don't let them get too far away from you or you might never see it again, cousins or not. :)

Joe

I figured the cleaning table would be a good place for them if I go. :)

As you said never out of my sight. :D

[Skidoosh]

Is that bow drill divot in the handle?

[Ankerson]

Is that bow drill divot in the handle?

Sheath retention. :)

[tvenuto]

Doing all that cutting it certainly helps to have a knife that's as easy on the hands as it is on the eyes.

Does the tang completely stop where the green G10 insert is, or does it just thin down? Was that purely aesthetic or was it done for balance without the need for a tapered tang?

[Ankerson]

Doing all that cutting it certainly helps to have a knife that's as easy on the hands as it is on the eyes.

Does the tang completely stop where the green G10 insert is, or does it just thin down? Was that purely aesthetic or was it done for balance without the need for a tapered tang?

Yes, it's a half tang. :)

I believe it's balance, weight reduction and to save on material.

I put a lot of force on it while cutting, both during the rope cutting and the wood, much more than one would normally put on it in actual real use and did see any issues at all.

[tvenuto]

Oh don't get me wrong, I have no issue with partial or "rat tail" tangs when appropriate, and didn't suspect that it would cause any issues in a knife of this size and geometry. I was just curious as it's an uncommon feature, and I didn't think of material savings, which could be important with this steel.

[Ankerson]

jealousy besets me. Great knife and review!

Thanks. :)

Figured I would do an overview of it since CPM S125V is so rare and really thin knives in it are even more rare.

I did all I really wanted to do with it as far as real testing goes, I wanted to see how it compared to the CPM 10V Coyote Meadow that was 64.5 and even thinner than this knife is. I do believe that if I continued to cut all the way until dull or near dull S125V would have surpassed the 10V blade due to the higher Carbide content from the way it was going. But in my testing and stopping at 20 LBS they performed the same, within 60 cuts and that's nothing at that level.

The edge still had good bite almost until the end of the testing, that in itself was amazing to me and as I posted it would still slice phone book paper in the end. It's much different than anything I ever tested before, there is a large difference in S125V and S110V in the way the steels behave during cutting.

[Ankerson]

Oh don't get me wrong, I have no issue with partial or "rat tail" tangs when appropriate, and didn't suspect that it would cause any issues in a knife of this size and geometry. I was just curious as it's an uncommon feature, and I didn't think of material savings, which could be important with this steel.

All but 2 of mine are half tang. :)

[MacLaren]

Wow. Thats awesome.
But, Im thinking that 10V you have .004 behind the edge is just freakin incredible in itself!
Man......Jim, you got some wicked blades....

[Ankerson]

Wow. Thats awesome.
But, Im thinking that 10V you have .004 behind the edge is just freakin incredible in itself!
Man......Jim, you got some wicked blades....

That 10V knife at .004" wasn't mine, I had tested it, but I do have a K294 and other 10V Blades. :)

[MacLaren]

Wow. Thats awesome.
But, Im thinking that 10V you have .004 behind the edge is just freakin incredible in itself!
Man......Jim, you got some wicked blades....

That 10V knife at .004" wasn't mine, I had tested it, but I do have a K294 and other 10V Blades. :)

Cool. Very nice camera work btw.

[Ankerson]

Wow. Thats awesome.
But, Im thinking that 10V you have .004 behind the edge is just freakin incredible in itself!
Man......Jim, you got some wicked blades....

That 10V knife at .004" wasn't mine, I had tested it, but I do have a K294 and other 10V Blades. :)

Cool. Very nice camera work btw.

Thanks. :)

It's all the camera. :D

[MacLaren]

Wow. Thats awesome.
But, Im thinking that 10V you have .004 behind the edge is just freakin incredible in itself!
Man......Jim, you got some wicked blades....

That 10V knife at .004" wasn't mine, I had tested it, but I do have a K294 and other 10V Blades. :)

Cool. Very nice camera work btw.

Thanks. :)

It's all the camera. :D

My Canon is so old.....Im gonna see how well my new "Smart" phone camera works. Its an LG G4. Im likin it thus far...