Cru Forge V

[Brad Lilly]

So I tried the search function and came up short. Any one using Cru Forge V steel? I’m not a very experienced smith by any means. 5160 and 52100 have been the steels I use mostly but I was thinking about trying this stuff. Any comments are welcome.

 

[EdCaffreyMS]

There WAS a lot of excitement about CruForge when it first hit the scene. I've worked with it, and it's without a doubt one of the most foolproof steels. Where is met it's demise was when Crucible went belly up. For me personally, the decision was to not continue using it, simply because I saw no point in putting the time and effort into tweaking it, then not being able to acquire any more. You can still find it here and there, but the last I heard, once the current supply is gone, no more will be made. (Maybe somebody from Niagara will read this and start producing it again!....not likely)

I was one of the early "testers" for crucible, and can remember asking the Rep what the heat treat was for it....his response was "Get it hot, and quench it in something wet." Ironically, that's pretty accurate. It's a very easy steel to work at the forge, and is very liberal about how it's heat treated.....too bad it's an endangered species.

 

[Justin King]

Think of it as 52100 with a bit of vanadium. It performs well, and also rusts very easy.

 

[Brad Lilly]

So much for that idea. Thanks guys I will stick with 5160 for now

 

[Doug Lester]

You can still get it through USA Knife Maker Supply. The version of the story that I heard is that the company that took over Crusible may make another melt if the stock on hand sells well. I have read that, even though it has good forgability and heat treats easily, the vanadium content makes it hard on grinding belts. The way I see it is that it just lacks name recognition and is not likely to get much. There are too many good blade steels out there that people are experienced and comfortable with and people will stick with what they are comfortable with. It's like there are better paperclips out there than the oval spiral of wire that we are all use to. But that's the problem. We are use to them and they work so that's what we order. It's the same with blade steels for forging. We are used to the 10XX series, the W series, 5160, 52100 and even lesser known steels like 9260 and happy with them. That leaves Cru Forge V a solution in search of a problem to solve.

Doug

 

[Justin King]

It's worth a try if you haven't already. My take is that it offers better wear resistance than just about any other "forgeable" steel currently availible. It is noticeably harder to finish post-HT than 0-1 or any other steel I have forged, hand sanding it is a little like working with 3v due to the vanadium carbides. Sort of a cross between the classic forging steels and the newer rash of vanadium-bearing super steels such as the cpm steels from Crucible. I like it and will work with it as long as it is availible, even for stock removal.

 

[EdCaffreyMS]

I like how you put that Doug! It is quite the paradox with CruForge....they'll make more of it, if it sells well, but unless folks are confident there will be a supply available, they won't buy it. Kind of a bummer, because it is a very promising steel.

 

[Doug Lester]

Another problem is that I can get a whole lot of 1084 for the cost of a little Cru Forge V.

 

[Salem Straub]

AKS had it last I checked, for very reasonable prices. I got a few bars from them in 1.25" round, it works like butter under the power hammer. It does NOT work like butter under sandpaper. I've only made a few blades of it yet, the last one was a BIG blade and quite an ordeal to finish to 600 grit. The blade I finished after that was W2 and seemed incredibly easy after sanding the CruForge.

I like it, the big camp knife I made for the guy elicited the response "definitely one of the sharpest knives I own." Matthew Gregory has had a lot good to say about CruForge over on BF, says he makes thin-edged choppers with it that cut very well and don't chip.

I've been quenching it in Parks 50, it's really too fast of an oil to be entirely safe for thin blades with this steel, but so far so good. A little warpage here and there.

The other side of the coin with new blade steels is that many customers become enamored of whatever the new "hot" steel is in custom knives. Sometimes all it takes is for a few well known makers to champion a steel, and everyone has to own a blade of it. I think "CruForgeV" sounds sufficiently cool to generate some buzz, and have noticed some interest with my customers.