Last fall Brion (thank you) was kind enough to give me a piece of Cru-Forge V to play with and I'm just now getting around to finishing a knife out of it.
I'm confident that it will make a quality user but I found that it didn't move under the hammer as well as the 10xx or "W" series steels that I'm used to. Also, I went through 2/3 times as much wet/dry paper as usual in order to get a simple 600 grit finish on it.
From this one experience with the Cru-Forge V my opinion would be that it's probably a high quality forging steel but I think that I'll stick to the "W" series for a mono-steel blade.
I invite any & all opinions pro or con.
Thanks,
Gary
You are welcome Gary. I have found it to be fairly easy to forge about on a par with 5160 and W2. Pretty forgiving of warpage too. After heat treating is another matter, ceramic belts make things easier, but still tough. Hand sanding is an exercise in patience. Like you state, expect at least two to three times as long. That vanadium makes sanding tough. Good tough steel and works well with a belt finish.
Brion
Brion Tomberlin
Anvil Top Custom Knives
ABS Mastersmith
Yep - that vanadium is your friend and your adversary.
I love Cru-V.
Karl B. Andersen
Journeyman Smith
Back in my stock removal days I quit using S30V because owners complained about not being able to re-sharpen their knives.
I'm sure that was because of the vanadium. [Something to think about.}
Gary
Mr. Mulkey that is a work of art! You know for the longest time I also wore out a ton of regular sharpening stones on vanadium steels and CPM products before I discovered diamond sharpeners. With a diamond stone or belt In my Opinion S30v sharpens about the same as 440c that has been harden in the rockwell 60's. I know that sounds crazy due to the .45 carbon difference and the added vanadium in the S30v.
