154CM - Development, Properties, and Legacy

[Larrin]

New article on 154CM, this one was very interesting as I was able to solve a couple of mysteries I had always wondered about. And there were a couple misconceptions I had about other things related to its history and properties.

Why are 154CM and BG-42 so similar?
Does 154CM have superior properties to 440C?
Was 154CM designed for turbine blades?
What does the "CM" stand for?

http://knifesteelnerds.com/2018/05/21/1 ... es-legacy/

[colin.p]

Thanks for the lead, now bookmarked. Very interesting read (somewhat above my pay grade though).

[ChrisinHove]

Thanks for the lead, now bookmarked. Very interesting read (somewhat above my pay grade though).

Lol. Me too

[Larrin]

Come on you guys are plenty smart enough to read the article.

[FK]

Well written and researched article, thanks for posting.

Regards,
FK
Member since Feb 17, 2001

[Evil D]

My experience with it was not good at all. It seemed like no matter what I did I could not keep it from burring. It felt like I was trying to sharpen lead.

[Larrin]

My experience with it was not good at all. It seemed like no matter what I did I could not keep it from burring. It felt like I was trying to sharpen lead.

Burr formation and removal is greatly controlled by various factors such as hardness. It could be that the knife/knives you were using were relatively low in hardness, had high retained austenite, or other effect leading to difficult burrs.

[fcox]

Outstanding Work Larrin! I worked for Crucible for 20 years and this article is very well done!

[Evil D]

My experience with it was not good at all. It seemed like no matter what I did I could not keep it from burring. It felt like I was trying to sharpen lead.

Burr formation and removal is greatly controlled by various factors such as hardness. It could be that the knife/knives you were using were relatively low in hardness, had high retained austenite, or other effect leading to difficult burrs.

I'm not against blaming myself either, this was pretty far back in my experience with better steels and my sharpening experience was on the low end. I would be open to trying it out again today. I've had great luck with other not so hard steels like plain edge H1 and I'm able to get them super sharp with minimal burr. I believe part of the issue was that I was taught (like many) that you HAD to raise a significant burr to know that you were sharpening the knife, whereas now I aim to raise as little burr as possible.

[fcox]

Excellent Job Larrin!

[sal]

Hi FCox,

Welcome to our forum

'Bout time Frank.

sal

[Larrin]

Excellent Job Larrin!

Thanks!

[sal]

Thanx much Larrin.

sal

[SpyderNut]

Thank you for sharing this article with us. Very fascinating! It certainly helped clear up some of my questions/speculations about this steel (as well as 440V). When I was younger, I remember reading about Bob Loveless using 154CM and ATS-34. For this reason, ATS-34 was one of the first steels I experimented with when I started making knives.

Welcome to the forum too, by the way. :)

-Michael

[zhyla]

My experience with it was not good at all. It seemed like no matter what I did I could not keep it from burring. It felt like I was trying to sharpen lead.

I had the same experience on my 154CM Manix 2. The first few times I thought I had it nailed only to find it had a wire edge that rolled immediately. I think just grinding away the outer layer of steel by sharpening a few times sorted that out. The steel may be prone to that but I suspect it was slightly soft on the outside out of the box.

[Halfneck]

Interesting article. A lot of my hard use with knives while in the Army was with 154CM. Worked great and was easy to get a good edge back on it when I'd get in from the field. I have 2 custom knives from Tom Krein in CPM154 that are outstanding.

[xceptnl]

Very interesting article Larrin. Thank you for sharing.

As for the subject at hand, I have had similar experiences with 154CM to yours @Evil D @zhyla
Not so much with my 154CM Manix 2, but several of my Emerson knives gave me fits because of burrs. I am still not sure where the problem was, my skill, the steel or the asymmetric grind on the examples I owned. Either way I am hopeful that more knives will be offered in CPM154 since the Respect has broken the threshold for Spyderco. It is a far superior steel to 154CM especially at higher hardnesses.

[bearfacedkiller]

As a steel geek I am extremely grateful to whom ever is putting that together and will eagerly support them.

Great stuff! Not just the technical aspects but the history too!

[Sharp Guy]

As a steel geek I am extremely grateful to whom ever is putting that together and will eagerly support them.

Great stuff! Not just the technical aspects but the history too!

It's Larrin's blog

http://knifesteelnerds.com/about-me/

I agree. Great stuff!

[Larrin]

As the nerdiest of all steel nerds I make my contributions where I can.