I am looking for a reasonably priced knife made of CPM420V steel.

I know there are some real nice knives made of other steels, but this is a tip for a Professional Hunter and he stated that the CPM420V was "the best", or so he had read.

I don't know if such an animal exists(a reasonably priced knife in CPM420V), all that I have seen are very expensive.

Thanks in advance,
Jason

It is now called S90V instead of CPM420V, see http://www.crucibleservice.com It's a stainless steel but I don't know what you mean by "best" It's certainly not common for knives. Explain just what you are looking for .The more complex the steel the more expensive it will be.

Mete

Thanks for the info. I am working off a letter he sent to me in 2002.

He read an article about knife steels. As I understand from the letter, in the article they tested the "normal"(cheap) steels that knives have been made from for years against the newer "space age" steels. They then came up with a "skinning index" which would tell how long a knife made of a certain steel would hold its edge. Long story short, the CPM420V came out at the top of the heap. It had a skinning index of 15(or whatever), and regular carbon steel had an index of 1/2.

The reason I want to find this exact steel is because the gentleman that I a buying this for is convinced that "CPM420V" is the be-all, end-all of knife steels. On top of that he is ultra critical when it comes to knives. I seriously doubt he will be pleased with the performance of any knife, ever. I figure that if I get him a knife made of this steel, at the very least, he won't think I got him a crapy knife. But I doubt anything will live up to his expectations.

He had a Boker(sp?) ceramic knife when I met him and he was very unimpressed with it. he said it did not hold an edge well and that he could not resharpen it.

So, long story short, "best" was his term not mine.

Thanks for the info,
Jason

S60V (440V) and S90V are both superb knife steels when properly heat treated. The vanadium content gives the edge an ability to "bite" that is seldom seen with other materials ... and they are not so hard that the mere mortal cannot sharpen them (like Vasco Wear or CruWear).

An advantage of S60V is that it is remarkable resistant to salt water. Folks like it for diving knives.

You might ask at the knife makers section of http://www.bladeforums.com and see who wouild make a knife and for how much.