PM2 in 15V or Magnacut or Cruwear ?

[Bouddha77]

Hello all,

I love the PM2 despite its thin tip.
I am considering a new PM2.I would like to use a PM2 in the outdoor with relative peace of mind of not braking the tip.
I understand 15V is amazing (could still find one on secondary market) with very edge stability but was wondering if the Magnacut and Cruwear would not offer a much stronger tip?
Also reading Larkin charts, it seams the thougness of Magnacut is very close to the one of Cruwear at respective hardness Spyderco run then and thus, was wondering if I should simply not rule out Cruwear and choose Magnacut?

Looking forward to seeing your feedback.

Rgds

[WilliamMunny]

All three are great.

Outdoors getting wet a lot with little ability to clean go MagnaCut.

Looking to be tougher on the knife, baton, etc then CruWear.

Need edge retention with little ability to sharpen go 15v.

Tons of variables but all amazing steels that will work fine. You can even change edge geometry if you need more or less toughness. As long as you are not abusing and prying with the knife none of the steels should lead to a tip failure.

Maybe just get the handle you like best, a curcarta PM2 is a great looking knife, brown looks great or if you misplace your knife the. The black and yellow.

[Evil D]

Yes.



Just replace "or" with "and", and that's the correct answer.

If I could only buy one and it had to do everything for me, it would be MagnaCut because I don't completely disregard corrosion resistance. But all three of these steels increase my willingness to buy any model.

[spydergoat]

I would choose the Magnacut PM2 personally, the handle looks awesome and it's great steel with high corrosion resistance. Cruwear would be great too though. You will maybe have a little more maintenance to keep your cru wear from corrosion. If we're talking crucarta, do you like micarta handles, have you held one, does that provide enough traction for what you want to do with the knife. I guess it's very individual. I have never used a folder in the outdoors to the point where I'm worried about snapping the blade, and I love corrosion resistance and low maintenance for outdoors, so I've typically used LC200n or H2. As such again I would gravitate towards magnacut for a new knife if it's offered.

[Scandi Grind]

Looking to be tougher on the knife, baton, etc then CruWear.

Would you feel comfortable batoning a PM2, or is this more generally relating to the steel? I wouldn't be the one to know if it could be done, but thinking about batoning with a PM2 makes me anxious. I wouldn't have the stomach to try it.

[WilliamMunny]

Looking to be tougher on the knife, baton, etc then CruWear.

Would you feel comfortable batoning a PM2, or is this more generally relating to the steel? I wouldn't be the one to know if it could be done, but thinking about batoning with a PM2 makes me anxious. I wouldn't have the stomach to try it.

I have done it with my Endela K390… they were little 2” chunks of wood for my Mesa xl solo stove. Worked just fine, I guess mini batoning.

[Zipper]

Looking to be tougher on the knife, baton, etc then CruWear.

Would you feel comfortable batoning a PM2, or is this more generally relating to the steel? I wouldn't be the one to know if it could be done, but thinking about batoning with a PM2 makes me anxious. I wouldn't have the stomach to try it.

I have done it with my Endela K390… they were little 2” chunks of wood for my Mesa xl solo stove. Worked just fine, I guess mini batoning.
IMG_5935.jpeg

I think WilliamMunny might just be talking about the steel.
I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing it to a PM2. If I had to, I would make sure the knife blade wasn’t in the locked position. That would just increase the stress on the pivot. The nature of batoning means there is always a degree of lateral impact on the blade. Regardless of the damage (if any on soft straight grained wood, to likely on hard twisted wood) to the blade, the action/pivot is the weak point.
As an idiot a long time ago, I ruined a Buck back lock, batoning with the blade locked open.

[RazorSharp86]

Only thing that matters is what order you’re going to buy them, in.

All offer a unique feature, although the Cruwear mostly offers the Micarta handle, as an advantage.

15V is incredibly long lasting (in terms of edge retention), and an absolutely wonderful human being took part in making the Spyderco+15V thing happen (thanks again Shawn).

Magnacut is extremely balance and virtually rust proof. It is perhaps the perfect stainless steel, and was designed by (another) wonderful human in Larrin Thomas (thank you,’good sir!)

[Deadboxhero]

The BBB CPM 15V is a sprint run so it won't always be available.

CPM 15V is a very difficult steel to manufacturer, so it may not always be available in the future.

Crucible Industries LLC went to great lengths to produce the steel, it puts a great amount of wear and tear on the ceramic refractory designed to hold the super heated liquid steel during melting. This is necessary to dissolve the vanadium carbides to the very fine sizes that we see in the finished product.

It's quite a marvel that's not often appreciated.


15V is basically the commercial limit for how much carbon and vandium they can get in a steel for production sizes batches.


The benefits of this to the end user combined with excellent heat treatment is a enjoyable, lasting cutting experience that also touches up at the edge nicely with proper abrasives and sharpening experience.


Sharpen when you want to, not because you have to.

[Bouddha77]

The BBB CPM 15V is a sprint run so it won't always be available.

CPM 15V is a very difficult steel to manufacturer, so it may not always be available in the future.

Crucible Industries LLC went to great lengths to produce the steel, it puts a great amount of wear and tear on the ceramic refractory designed to hold the super heated liquid steel during melting. This is necessary to dissolve the vanadium carbides to the very fine sizes that we see in the finished product.

It's quite a marvel that's not often appreciated.


15V is basically the commercial limit for how much carbon and vandium they can get in a steel for production sizes batches.


The benefits of this to the end user combined with excellent heat treatment is a enjoyable, lasting cutting experience that also touches up at the edge nicely with proper abrasives and sharpening experience.


Sharpen when you want to, not because you have to.

Thank you for your insightful message and for sharing the details. I have little doubt that 15V is an outstanding steel, which is why it made the list.

While I don’t intend to pry with the knife, I am somewhat concerned that it may be significantly more prone to chipping compared to CruWear or MagnaCut during use. In terms of toughness and chipping resistance, how would it compare to a steel like M390? I have found M390 to already be at the limit in some knives I have tested.

I appreciate your thoughts on this.

Best regards,

[Deadboxhero]

The BBB CPM 15V is a sprint run so it won't always be available.

CPM 15V is a very difficult steel to manufacturer, so it may not always be available in the future.

Crucible Industries LLC went to great lengths to produce the steel, it puts a great amount of wear and tear on the ceramic refractory designed to hold the super heated liquid steel during melting. This is necessary to dissolve the vanadium carbides to the very fine sizes that we see in the finished product.

It's quite a marvel that's not often appreciated.


15V is basically the commercial limit for how much carbon and vandium they can get in a steel for production sizes batches.


The benefits of this to the end user combined with excellent heat treatment is a enjoyable, lasting cutting experience that also touches up at the edge nicely with proper abrasives and sharpening experience.


Sharpen when you want to, not because you have to.

Thank you for your insightful message and for sharing the details. I have little doubt that 15V is an outstanding steel, which is why it made the list.

While I don’t intend to pry with the knife, I am somewhat concerned that it may be significantly more prone to chipping compared to CruWear or MagnaCut during use. In terms of toughness and chipping resistance, how would it compare to a steel like M390? I have found M390 to already be at the limit in some knives I have tested.

I appreciate your thoughts on this.

Best regards,

Yes, it should have similar toughness to M390 but at higher hardness.

Generally speaking this is the benefit of tool steels is that we sacrifice corrision resistance for more toughness, sharpenability and cutting edge retention but the heat treatment is helping also.

Remember, you can adjust the edge angle to suit your needs.

A thicker edge angle (+20° per side) is better suited for rougher work at a consequence to the cutting ability, slicing edge retention and vice versa so there is no one size fits all angle.

I've used mine at 13° per side, I also like 15° per side.

I have a good friend that is oblivious to what his edge makes contact with so whatever knife he gets regardless of the steel I sharpen for him at 22° per side until he can be more accountable for what his edge makes contact with.

It's been a couple years now and he has grown accustomed to high sharpness and has developed an appetite for wanting more edge retention and cutting ability so I'll have to drop the angle down the next time I sharpen for him to 18-20dps.

[Rezimus]

The BBB CPM 15V is a sprint run so it won't always be available.

CPM 15V is a very difficult steel to manufacturer, so it may not always be available in the future.

Crucible Industries LLC went to great lengths to produce the steel, it puts a great amount of wear and tear on the ceramic refractory designed to hold the super heated liquid steel during melting. This is necessary to dissolve the vanadium carbides to the very fine sizes that we see in the finished product.

It's quite a marvel that's not often appreciated.


15V is basically the commercial limit for how much carbon and vandium they can get in a steel for production sizes batches.


The benefits of this to the end user combined with excellent heat treatment is a enjoyable, lasting cutting experience that also touches up at the edge nicely with proper abrasives and sharpening experience.


Sharpen when you want to, not because you have to.

Thank you for your insightful message and for sharing the details. I have little doubt that 15V is an outstanding steel, which is why it made the list.

While I don’t intend to pry with the knife, I am somewhat concerned that it may be significantly more prone to chipping compared to CruWear or MagnaCut during use. In terms of toughness and chipping resistance, how would it compare to a steel like M390? I have found M390 to already be at the limit in some knives I have tested.

I appreciate your thoughts on this.

Best regards,

Yes, it should have similar toughness to M390 but at higher hardness.

Generally speaking this is the benefit of tool steels is that we sacrifice corrision resistance for more toughness, sharpenability and cutting edge retention but the heat treatment is helping also.

Remember, you can adjust the edge angle to suit your needs.

A thicker edge angle (+20° per side) is better suited for rougher work at a consequence to the cutting ability, slicing edge retention and vice versa so there is no one size fits all angle.

I've used mine at 13° per side, I also like 15° per side.

I have a good friend that is oblivious to what his edge makes contact with so whatever knife he gets regardless of the steel I sharpen for him at 22° per side until he can be more accountable for what his edge makes contact with.

It's been a couple years now and he has grown accustomed to high sharpness and has developed an appetite for wanting more edge retention and cutting ability so I'll have to drop the angle down the next time I sharpen for him to 18-20dps.

A bit of a minor necro here but wanted to ask you about this response here. Are you generally using a guided angle sharpener like a worksharp/edgepro/kme to make sure you are getting EXACTLY the angle you mentioned above? OR are you simply using benchstones (I assume diamond if talking 15v) and using your experience/best estimate...

I am a big fan of convexed edges so mostly use a diamond stone to freehand sharpen which I have gotten pretty efficient at over the years...however I am estimating the edge angle to the best of my abilities which is obviously the bottleneck in this situation. Would you suggest moving back to a guided system to more scientifically and accurately get that DPS down as low as possible without incurring edge damage?

Example: My main concern is leaving performance on the table. Lets say I am estimating a 15 degree per side edge freehand and have zero edge deformation in my regular use...eyeballing it down to 13dps for instance seems nearly impossible considering the margin of error.

[S-3 ranch]

As a layman and advocate of buying limited time offers, 15V all day long, I have one 15v on order
And am anxious to get it, the other two will be around for a while

P.s
Buy a cheap fixed blade to baton and save your self some heartache

[Stirmos]

In case you’ve multiple knives, I’d take 15V (or REX76) over most other options. Holds an edge forever and with some knowledge and care, are the perfect tool.

MagnaCut is brilliant as a one and done knife, or an edc you don’t have to look after (except for sharpening). The Salt series are amazing for most purposes, not for edge retention though.

CruWear is great to put any edge on. Low angle polished edge that cuts like a laser, strops back perfectly, never chips, etc.
As an enthousiast, this is amazing edc steel.

[Boss Hogg]

Slightly off-topic, but Midway has the Military 2 in 15V for $193 (same as Knifecenter’s current sale price), but Midway offered me a 20% off code when I logged in…so I picked one up for $154 (plus tax) & free shipping.

If anyone is wanting one, this might be the best deal on this knife if you can use the promo code. I can’t see what the code is any more now that I’ve used it.

[hinkleychristopher07]

cruwear all day everyday over magnacut unless im jumping in the ocean then taking vanax