School me on Cru-Wear

[ZrowsN1s]

I've done a little on line research. Most of the reviews of it were conflicting. I have read the Crucible.com page on it and read their comparisons to D2. So what I would like to know is, what would you say is the benefit of this steel? What do you like about it, what's its main feature so to speak. How would you compare it to s30v and s110v? Or to other steels. I just don't know much about Cru-Wear and was looking for some insight. thanks!
-Z. :D

[elena86]

My all time favorite steel for plain edges.It exibits almost perfect balance of properties: excellent toughness, very good edge stability, it sharpens like a dream and has more than decent corrosion resistence.I own 3 PM2, 1 Millie and 1 Manix2 in this superb steel.Guess what's next :eek: Enough said

Marius

[The Mastiff]

It's tougher than the stainless steels like S30V, M390, S90/S110V etc.

It's more wear resistant than the tough steels S7, L6, 5160 on up through A2 to about 3V.

It's between D2 and S30V in wear resistance but tougher than either.

It is less corrosion resistant than the stainless steels but more corrosion resistant than the 1% carbon steels like 1095, 52100, etc.

I does better with thinner edges than the stainless steels that have greater wear resistance like S30V, M390, etc.

So, instead of going on and on I'll just say Marius is right about it being a great balance of properties for those of us that aren't set on stainless and want more than we get with plain carbon steels. It's a great alloy not far off 3V. Between 3V and CPM M4 in many respects.

Joe

[Surfingringo]

My all time favorite steel for plain edges.It exibits almost perfect balance of properties: excellent toughness, very good edge stability, it sharpens like a dream and has more than decent corrosion resistence.I own 3 PM2, 1 Millie and 1 Manix2 in this superb steel.Guess what's next :eek: Enough said

Marius

I was going to comment but Marius already said it all. ^

[murphjd25]

It is my favorite steel to sharpen, it sharpens like a dream. Haven't had any corrosion issues, I think it's more corrosion resistant then people think. Keeps a working edge for a long time, it is really my favorite steel and I wish I had more knives with it.

[PayneTrain]

Yeah, I have nothing else to add other than "buy it already!" It's probably my favorite steel. It doesn't do anything better than everything else, but it does everything so well that the combined overall goodness (C.O.G. among the scientific community) is way above any specialized steel. It's beyond well-rounded. It's steel optimized for knife blades.

If you need something specialized, you may be better off with the H1's or the Maxamets or the 5160's. But if you want an EDC knife, or one knife to rule them all, it doesn't really get better than Cruwear. Yet somehow I only have one. Hmm...

[3rdGenRigger]

It's tougher than the stainless steels like S30V, M390, S90/S110V etc.

It's more wear resistant than the tough steels S7, L6, 5160 on up through A2 to about 3V.

It's between D2 and S30V in wear resistance but tougher than either.

It is less corrosion resistant than the stainless steels but more corrosion resistant than the 1% carbon steels like 1095, 52100, etc.

I does better with thinner edges than the stainless steels that have greater wear resistance like S30V, M390, etc.

So, instead of going on and on I'll just say Marius is right about it being a great balance of properties for those of us that aren't set on stainless and want more than we get with plain carbon steels. It's a great alloy not far off 3V. Between 3V and CPM M4 in many respects.

Joe

It's definitely in between 3V and M4...in fact that's one of the better comparisons I've read but I think it edges a little closer to the performance of M4, but is a lot easier to maintain (Tougher and easier to sharpen). I find it as easy as a pure carbon steel to sharpen...for some reason I can get it scary sharp with basically no effort, and I don't get any noticeable burr formation (Opposite of S110V in that respect). I just lent my Millie to the current manager of my local B&M because he tried to get all 3 CruWear folders and wasn't successful and he's been dying to try it out (He's a lot better than I am at sharpening so I told him to have fun with it and get it back to me sharper than it was when I brought it in), and he's basically sold on it already. He heard mixed reviews and M4 was his all time favourite steel, and after the second day he's already on the lookout for CruWear, even at the inflated secondary prices.

[npad69]

how does cruwear compare to cts-xhp?

[spyderg]

I typically don't buy more than one of a knife model, but I jumped on a cruwear PM2 even though I have a standard s30v. If funds would have allowed I would have bought 2! My Cruwear manix was my first Spyderco, sold me on the brand and the steel! Anyone on the fence about Cruwear, get it. If for some strange reason you don't like it, it'll resell no problem.

[ZrowsN1s]

Thanks for the detailed responses everyone! I appreciate it. :D

[paladin]

any steel choice is a compromise...

when you go for an extremely high performance in a specific category, you leave another quality extremely low...

Cruwear is well balanced in all categories and above average in some. There's a reason for the hype-- take one of your favorite Spyderco model platforms for a Cruwear test drive and you'll see why.

[toxophilus]

Keep your eyes open on the secondary market, sometimes you get lucky; got this user for a Benjamin :spyder:

Cleaned it up and made it mine :cool:

[ZrowsN1s]

any steel choice is a compromise...

when you go for an extremely high performance in a specific category, you leave another quality extremely low...

Cruwear is well balanced in all categories and above average in some. There's a reason for the hype-- take one of your favorite Spyderco model platforms for a Cruwear test drive and you'll see why.

That's what I keep hearing from people here, I think I'm convinced. I want the Cru-Wear P3, the possibility of an m4-jade and the awesomeness of maxamet made me doubt myself for a minute, but I'm back on board with the cw sprint now. :D

[jdw]

how does cruwear compare to cts-xhp?

I was wondering the same thing. I have always heard that it's an enhanced version of D2. Hopefully somebody can chime in.

[PayneTrain]

I'm gonna say better edge-holding, but obviously less stainless. They both seem to take a great edge from my sharpening, but Cruwear seems to hold its scary sharpness longer. That's my take, but I'd wait for others.

[paladin]

.... I think I'm convinced... I'm back on board with the cw sprint now. :D

Well then our work here is done!

But seriously, through my personal usage I've become impressed with how easy it is to touch up on the Sharpmaker combined with how long it goes between those sessions while maintaining a nice toothy <brown rods> edge. :spyder:

[dodgie02]

I recently bought(got) one of the sprint run Grey pm2 cruwear a local vendor here apparently had been holding back. They were asking a crazy markup but there was a 10% discount on everything incidentally, and my girlfriend sneakily bought it for me since I had my birthday last week. Only problem I forsee is that I'm going to have a **** of a hard time matching that when it's her birthday. Perfect play, beautiful esthetics and the lock on pms is too much fun really. Immediately pre-ordered the pm3 cruwear. It's so elegant looking compared to my S110V pm2 and manix's, oh my oh my.

Edit. Excuse me, para 3, not pm3. :rolleyes: