M390 steel !!!

I've had quite a few types of steel in a pocket knife. The soft carbon steel of Moore Maker, Old Timer, Case XX stainless, Gerber stainless, Benchmade 154CM. I've been carrying a Kershaw model 1812BLK for about four months, which is M390 steel. It is hard! You really need a good way to get it sharp, and I do, I use Wicked Edge. For decades I would sharpen my daily carry pocket knife every week, or every other week. Not this M390, I touch it up once a month, it just stays By Gawd sharp for a long time. Now, I've decided I need a full set of kitchen knives made of this steel.

Just an FYI, if you have the ability to maintain perfect edge geometry, every time you sharpen, this steel will hold up!

Where did you get your knife? Ron

If memory serves the website is Kershaw Guy. Been an excellent pocket knife. Have a holt of it when opening, the spring assist is legit!

FiremanJG if we all get some knives made from this hard [censored] M390 - I will need your mailing address so you can sharpen them every 30 days or so or sooner if used on pigs . This hunting season is the year of the Damasteel Knives. Will be trying them out: Deer/pigs whatever needs cutting on. I am sure the ms390 blade is harder but temper hardness should be the same 60 Rockwell more or less.



Bohler M390 Steel

Bohler M390 stainless steel is one of the recent wave of “super steels” heralded by knife makers all over the world. It has characteristics of high hardness and excellent corrosion resistance. This means you’re going to get a very fine edge that retains it sharpness even through hard use, with little to no patina. Introduced and manufactured by Bohler-Uddeholm, M390 is a powdered steel utilizing 3rd generation technology. In industrial applications, it is often used in screws, barrels, and in injection molding. Bohler’s specifications claim a Rockwell hardness of 60 – 62HRC, putting it in the higher echelon of stainless knife steels. M390 is called a “micro clean” steel and takes a mirror finish very well. It has minimal dimensional changes and is very resistant to vibrations and mechanical shock. The chemical makeup is as follows:

Iron – 71.5%

Carbon – 1.9%

Silicon – 0.7%

Manganese – 0.3%

Chromium – 20%

Molybdenum – 1%

Vanadium – 4%

Tungsten 0.6%

Comparison

Bohler M390 is almost identical to Latrobe DuraTech 20CV stainless steel. The corrosion resistance is superior to 420C stainless and it has twice the cutting edge retention. This does make it more difficult to sharpen, though not as difficult as S90V, a close cousin. The reason for this is the fine grain size, small carbides, and superior cleanliness of the powder metallurgy (PM) microstructure.

Bohler M390 is undoubtedly in a class all its own, being almost as corrosion resistant as H1. While the hard blade will require some owners to use a bit more elbow grease to sharpen than other stainless steels, the blade will keep that edge long after others have failed. Many bladesmiths and large knife making companies are utilizing M390 more and more thanks to these characteristics. Some online forums have even hailed this as the “holy grail” of knife steel. The truth is, as always, the perfect knife steel is the one used in the knife you choose to carry.(link)

I read that data, right before buying the knife. The knife does live up to what was written. The first time I put my angles on the edge, it did take a while, the stuff is hard! But now, I can touch it up quite quickly, beginning with 400 gr, then 600 grit. Through experimentation, 600 gr is as fine as I go now. The mircro-serrations of 600 grit make the edge cut quickly.

If you need to mail some to me, I will take care of them, and send em back!

Jason says it, I believe it.

I was given a Benchmade knife model 486 Prototype made with 20CV that I really like but I may need to look into knives made from the M390