I'd certainly appreciate any help that anyone might be able to give in finding a piece of CPM 440V in this size: (Or approximately this size.)

3/8' to 1/2" thick, (Pref. 3/8") X 1" wide X 7" long
for a little integral gent's knife.

I can get 420V from Crucible, but that has to be satin finished, and the customer wants this little knife to be shiny. (Or am I wrong here?) He also, however, is specifying "440V."

Mr. Cox, at Crucible, says no more 440V, unless I want to order 500 lb.

I'd really appreciate whatever help anyone can give me.
Steve

Maybe Jerry Hossom could help, he uses CPM440V.
I think his e-mail address is: knives@mediaone.net

Roger

Paging Roger Gregory...

Excuse me for butting in. If Roger's still hanging around in here, Andy Gascoigne has put in a request for info on steel suppliers in the UK over in The Supply Center (http://pub42.ezboard.com/fcustomknifedirectoryforumfrm14) forum. If Roger or anyone else can give him a hand, I know he'd appreciate it. He hasn't been getting any nibbles yet.

To atone for barging in here like this, I'll see if I can help locate some CPM 440V for Steve while I'm trying to help Andy. Just trying to do some community service.

Thanks, guys, I'll contact Jerry.

Also, this is a FORUM, you're not butting in here, Terry. Any comments are welcome,
and in this case needed!

I hope Andy gets some help, and I appreciate your offer of assistance, too.

I know an Italian steel supplier, but don't know if they'd be able to help, or have what you need.
It's "FAPA" and their email is : "FAPA" <frpaga@tin.it> They may know of UK outlets. Talk to Ms. Pagani.

Wolf Borger in Germany might be able to help, also, at:
www.wolf-borger-messer.de (http://www.wolf-borger-messer.de)

Or you might try sending a note to the German Knifemaker's Forum, MesserForum.net also
located on Wolf's site. They might have some contacts, and many will savvy English, most likely.
There's also a translator attached to the site, I think. (A good idea for CKD, perhaps, too.)

Thanks again.

Terry

Message received! I've chipped in over in the Supply Centre. But, if Mr Johnson can't find CPM440V what hope do we have of finding stainless over here?

Roger

admiralsteel.com is now listing 440V in various sizes.

Thanks a million, I sent them a request for this size. We'll see what they can do. The largest size they list online is 1/4" thick.

I surely do appreciate your help! Steve

FOLLOW -UP:
I got an email back form Admiral and they don't have anything thicker than 1/4." As noted below, Crucible's going to help. Thanks toJerry Hossom and his contacts there.

All I use is Crucible Steel out of Detriot. I will contact my source and see what can be done. If you need 420V I have a couple of chunks 0.388 thick that I am getting ready to cut on. I would be glad to cut you off a chunk.

Hey, thanks, you guys, for all your help. It looks like Jerry Hossum has referred me to a man at Crucible who will be able and willing to help me and it sounds like he's getting some out of Detroit, so it looks like it's handled.

Man,ain't forums great!

The customer doesn't want 420V, as it won't polish, or so I'm told, haven't used it yet. Maybe I oughtta give it a try.... what size is yours?

Thanks again!

I had some .388 thick 420V. I have a 15"x8"x1/2" piece right now. I am going to use it on a couple integral knives for some Las Vegas police officers.

I saw a knife in Blade last year in the issue that talked about Crucible steel. It seems to me a maker had a mirror polish on a 420V blade in there somewhere.

Speaking of polishing anyone ever put a mirror polish on CPM 10V? I started to buff out a blade in my normal fashion starting with a sisal wheel and grey emory compound and I couldn't put a mark on it!!

Thanks, again.

I'll try to run down that copy of Blade and see if I can find reference to polishing 420V.

I've never used 10V, but am have two 3V blades that are VERY tough and don't act like they have any intention of ever having a polish on them!

I just hope we're going to see the knife/knives pictured here after the steel has been tracked down.

I love those integrals.

Roger

I'll be glad to post a photo, if I can get it done and get one taken prior to, or at, Solvang, where I'm supposed to deliver it.

I wouldn't have found the steel without your help; thanks!

STEVE HOPE YOU FIND THE THICK 440-V. I HAVE SOME .1/4 X 1 1/2. HAVE YOU EVER DID A MIRROR FINISH ON 440-V? I HAVE TRIED IT WITH OUT MUCH LUCK. I HAVE NEVER GOT A GOOD MIRROR ON ANY OF THE CPM STEELS,BUT THEN I ONLY USE THE 440-V 420-V AND 10-V.-----RADE

I've used a couple of CPM steels, but never 440V. I'm hoping it'll polish, but maybe I'm dreaming. I was told that 420V will not polish, but haven't used it. Maybe I'd better try it, huh?

Jerry Hossom got me in touch with a man from Crucible who ran down a piece of 1/2" for me.

Thanks for your input.

Steve,
I've never bought any 440V, but I just traded a knife for 70 pounds of 440V steel. How did I do? The knife is about $125.

Hey, Doug.
I have been wanting to play with some different steels. Are you willing to sell a bit of your new found bounty?
dogman@tampabay.rr.com

Sounds to me like you probably have negotiated one heck of a deal!

I'm not sure on the cost/lb., but one Crucible rep. offered to make me some, if I'd order 500lb. I have a quote, I think, somewhere for 440V, per lb.

I might be wanting to talk you out of some, also, should you be of a mind. Back tomorrow with a price, if I can find it.

Admiral Steel lists 440V @ $161.00 for one length of 3/16" X 2". This length would weigh 8.76 lb. So.....if you bought 70 lb of 440V from them, in that size, you'd get not about 8ea, 7ft. lengths. and it'd cost you $1288, more or less.

If you want to check my figures (Highly Recommended!) you can go to Admiral's address:
www.admiralsteel.com/prod...M440V.HTML (http://www.admiralsteel.com/products/blades/CPM440V.HTML)

This will give you the wgt./lb of various sizes, then go to the link at the bottom of that page to get prices for different steels.

Good luck with that stuff.

I think you can probably polish the two CPM V steels in question.......HOWEVER>>>>>>>> its going to be a LONG SLOW process.....the scratches do NOT like to come out of the stuff.....I have tried to polish just the outside top and bottom of 440V knives on many occasions (rest was satin finished) with very little success.....I will admit I gave up pretty quickly... but I spent as much time or more as I do mirror polishing the outside of a BG 42 knife and the scratches were STILL THERE! Goodluck....youre gonna need it!!!!!!!!!!
:)
:p

Tom, thanks for the insight. Now I'm really scared!

But, since I need a bit of luck in every knife I make, I'll just hope for some when I get going on that 440V integral.

I'll plan on taking plenty of time. I appreciate your comments.

You're not likely to get 3V polished unless you use diamond. The problem is that the carbide particles in 3V are finer than in other CPM's and will scatter white light, even though they may be too small to see by eye. So you can have a blade that is dead smooth in every respect and still not reflect images.

The smoothest finish I've gotten is after etching with 50:50 FeCl for about 10 minutes, followed by copious amounts of rubbing with very fine scotchbrite. This also seems to give it some corrosion protection by providing a protective layer of oxides on the surface.

I've gotten Scratchless Pink at 3600 rpm to bring up the shine quite a lot, but the best I can do is to get all the scratches going in one direction - lengthwise.

Green RCH is poison to 3V. It will instantly cloud the steel and you'll have to go back to your grinder to get rid of it.

Jerry- Delighted to see you make an appearance! I hope you'll come back often and share your experience with us. We miss you here.

Ditto, for me, Jerry. Thanks, so much, for the input on 3V from the guy who knows more than anyone else about it. Your expertise is valuable and very appreciated.

I have completed several knives made of CPM440V and on those that I tried to finish with a high polish I was very disapointed. Certainly the finish was very smooth but what I would call sort of cloudy . I ended up calling the customers involved and fortunately got approval as such or to go to a satin finish. I hope you are able to achieve the finish you desire Steve! I to will look forward to see your results. Frank.

I was right next to Jerry this weekend at the Atlanta Show. We had a blast. His stuff is just awesome. He's really carved out a style.

He's got some great crowd one-liners that kept me laughing, too. "Hey buddy, you can't see balance!" He knows how to make a man pick up one of his knives.

Any aspiring show contender should try to get next to Jerry Hossom at a show at least once. You'll take something to the next show with you.

Alex

Jerry's always teaching someone somehting. I appreciate all he's done for me. It was great to sit next to him in Denver last yr.