Anyone using Cru Forge V?

Chris Railey

Chris Railey

Well-Known Member
Here is my problem. I have gotten more orders for Serbian Chef's Knives (hey it pays for my handle materials addiction so hold your fire) and I need a steel I can get in maybe 1/4 inch thick and two inches wide so I can forge that giant belly down and to shape. I do not want to use leaf spring because these are paying jobs. You guys know me, I am more blacksmith than bladesmith so I do simple HT. I read that CRU Forge V forged well and responded well to simple HT. Kelly Cupples has some on his list now 1/4' thick two inches wide. Would that be a better choice or 5160? Remember simple HT...
 
Cruforge V is good steel. It's basically 1084 with a dash of vanadium.
I would not use 5160 on a chef knife. It's tough but not very wear resistant.
 
CruV is great steel, but if you're planning to hand sand these blades, pick something else. It's REALLY wear resistant, and you will hurt before you're done.
 
I got my CruForge from Kelly Cupples in those dimensions and made a Kukri out of it. I treated it just like 1080 except that I had to quench it in water as it didn't get hard when I quenched in Canola, (most likely because of it's size.) Yes, I know that is not ideal, but in this case I think I got away with it. I have no idea whether it would be better or worse than 5160.
 
tkroenlein said:
knifesteelnerds.com

Cru Forge V - Toughness testing, Processing, and Background - Knife Steel Nerds

Cru Forge V was developed by Crucible for those who forge their steel for knives [1]. It was developed shortly before Crucible’s bankruptcy and is reported to have been tested with the help of knifemakers Howard Clark and Dan Farr and that the code name prior to its official name was 1086V [2]...
knifesteelnerds.com knifesteelnerds.com

Pretty good write up on that steel.
Click to expand...
That is good info. I have read a lot about it thus far but I think I will not use it. My reasoning is different than most though. It does not bother me that it is not being made anymore because I forge using a lot of different steels so if I could not get it that is not a big deal. It is the ultra wear resistance that bothers me. I do hand sand my blades and from what I understand CRUFORGE is very hard to sand by hand. Hand finishing is hard enough for me I do not need to add any difficulty to the mix.
 
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