3v vs 4v?

[LazyOutdoorsman]

I've been seeing a few mentions of 3v in a Spyderco knife. I asked and got a reply saying that 4v is better for hardenability, but 3v is better for rough use.

You know what would be cool? A 3V Hossom Forester sprint.

thank you. I'll keep an eye out.

FYI, the sale goes fast and it's first come, first serve. You should be in the For Sale subforum before 3pm, click on the thread as soon as it's posted, and quickly post one letter, then edit the post once it exists. Otherwise you may be too late.

heard.

they still sell the EDC Model? Looks like it isn't in current production but I like the looks of it.

He has sold a number of different iterations of the EDC recently, so he may not have more for a while. They are not hard to find on the secondary market (Carothers Knives for Sale subforum).

i've never used 3v or 4v before, but i've heard that 4v is better because the higher attainable hardness means more resistance to plastic deformation.
Impact toughness is a bit different, defined as "the toughness or impact strength is the amount of energy that a material is able to absorb before rupturing." (https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/en ... -toughness)

Also, Mr. Houston stated "4v has plenty of edge toughness, it will be less prone to rolling at the edge with actual cutting compared to 3V which is tougher but will blunt faster and need more frequent sharpening if you are a good knife user. "

It depends what you mean by better. For a cutting competition, 4V is better due to higher hardenability. For rough daily use where you may hit something harder than wood by accident, 3V is better.

What is your experience with any of these steels and does one generally do better in rough/stupid use?

[vivi]

that's easy! 4 V's VS 3 V's

in all seriousness, from what I gather 3V is better for rough use fixed blades and 4V makes more sense for folders.

[Red Leader]

3V is objectively the better steel.

It has 87% of the edge retention of 4V, while being nearly 2.5X tougher than 4V. 460ish CATRA vs 530, and 42ft lbs vs 17ft lbs (on Charpy?).



This is the chart with the old 3V test on it. New one shows about 42 for 3V, and a chart specific to edge retention shows 463mm of cardstock cut.


This is why I keep harping about 3V on this forum! People are passing it by when they really shouldn’t.

It is about as ‘stainless a tool steel’ as you can find.

For edge retention, it beats out LC200, Niolox, 14C28N, BD1N, AEB-L, Nitro-V and others, while being far tougher. It is a super steel in a way that makes it harder for ‘edge retention’ peeps to appreciate.

[LazyOutdoorsman]

Thank you for the responses

The only reason I'm still held up on 4v is because Mr. Houston has these videos of 4v doing some crazy things:


he says that 4v's hardness lets it resist deformation (plastic and fracture)

Then he has this knife at a crazy thin 0.001" bte:

[Evil D]

I really like my 4V Chief and Military, I really don't have any complaints.

If y'all keep bringing up 3V we're going to have to collectively peer pressure Spyderco into making something. I'd give it a shot in a Military 2 or Bodacious for sure.

[Synov]

I've been seeing a few mentions of 3v in a Spyderco knife. I asked and got a reply saying that 4v is better for hardenability, but 3v is better for rough use.

You know what would be cool? A 3V Hossom Forester sprint.

FYI, the sale goes fast and it's first come, first serve. You should be in the For Sale subforum before 3pm, click on the thread as soon as it's posted, and quickly post one letter, then edit the post once it exists. Otherwise you may be too late.

heard.

they still sell the EDC Model? Looks like it isn't in current production but I like the looks of it.

He has sold a number of different iterations of the EDC recently, so he may not have more for a while. They are not hard to find on the secondary market (Carothers Knives for Sale subforum).

i've never used 3v or 4v before, but i've heard that 4v is better because the higher attainable hardness means more resistance to plastic deformation.
Impact toughness is a bit different, defined as "the toughness or impact strength is the amount of energy that a material is able to absorb before rupturing." (https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/en ... -toughness)

Also, Mr. Houston stated "4v has plenty of edge toughness, it will be less prone to rolling at the edge with actual cutting compared to 3V which is tougher but will blunt faster and need more frequent sharpening if you are a good knife user. "

It depends what you mean by better. For a cutting competition, 4V is better due to higher hardenability. For rough daily use where you may hit something harder than wood by accident, 3V is better.

What is your experience with any of these steels and does one generally do better in rough/stupid use?

I own several knives in 3V, mostly from Carothers. I have one knife in 4V. Carothers has done extensive testing on both, is an expert on heat treating both, and will tell you the same thing I said. 3V is much tougher and is therefore better for rough use. 4V has better edge stability in a controlled environment due to higher hardenability. Carothers uses 4V for his competition chopper and 3V for everything else.

[benben]

I really like my 4V Chief and Military, I really don't have any complaints.

If y'all keep bringing up 3V we're going to have to collectively peer pressure Spyderco into making something. I'd give it a shot in a Military 2 or Bodacious for sure.

Bodacious in 3V, I’m definitely in!

[Red Leader]

I really like my 4V Chief and Military, I really don't have any complaints.

If y'all keep bringing up 3V we're going to have to collectively peer pressure Spyderco into making something. I'd give it a shot in a Military 2 or Bodacious for sure.

Bodacious in 3V, I’m in as well!

Let's gooooooooooo

Then I won't really need to go after that Demko AD20.5 in 3V.

[WilliamMunny]

Per Larrin back in April “CPM-3V – Still the Best High Toughness Steel”.

[Enactive]

And CruWear is the Goldilocks in between 3v and 4v.

For me CruWear has handsomely filled the category for years, and I have a lifetime supply in Spydie folders.

I don't wail on my folding knives much, but I use them daily for work (carpentry, construction and wood working), around the house, in the garden and kitchen, at the cabin, and in the woods and mountains. I value resistance to accidental damage and good sharpening response more than pure wear resistance. No miles of cardboard to cut for me. So far, I have found that 15v, K390, Rex 45 do surprisingly well in damage resistance in my uses for such hard, high carbide steels. Spy27, VG10, even s30V and 8Cr also do well. LC200n is a longtime favorite for wet, sweaty, and marine applications.

I've almost purchased some Spydie 4V but don't love coated blades. I would buy Spydie 3V and 4V.

A Carothers HT collaboration would be Golden!

[Spyderbot_matrix]

I really like my 4V Chief and Military, I really don't have any complaints.

If y'all keep bringing up 3V we're going to have to collectively peer pressure Spyderco into making something. I'd give it a shot in a Military 2 or Bodacious for sure.

All I heard was 3V Bodacious

[Brock O Lee]

And CruWear is the Goldilocks in between 3v and 4v.

[Enactive]

And CruWear is the Goldilocks in between 3v and 4v.

Thanks, Hans. We are spoiled with so many high quality choices.

Thank you for the responses

The only reason I'm still held up on 4v is because Mr. Houston has these videos of 4v doing some crazy things:


he says that 4v's hardness lets it resist deformation (plastic and fracture)

Then he has this knife at a crazy thin 0.001" bte:

Thanks for sharing these. Shawn makes amazing knives and does fun and informative videos. The torture testing videos are great! This one rocks. I like his vids with the K,390 Police 4 stabbing the CMU block and the Rex45 carving brass rods.

That 4v is impressive?

[VandymanG]

4V use to be on my list of must have steels but then Magnacut came along with the same toughness rating and edge retention so I passed on it. I’m thinking that may have been a hasty decision after watching the videos of BBB.

But 3V is still the one I want the most with a Spyderco heat treat and others here have done a far better job of explaining why so basically what they said.

Military 2 or Native Chief please.