I was wondering if any one had used any knives that were made of 3V. I have several INFI knives and had heard that 3V rivals INFI steel in edge retention and hardness but is difficult to sharpen compared to INFI. I had saw this discussion (below) on BF about it and was wondering if any one has used a Fehrman knife before and how it compares to a Busse? I know how tough the Busse knives are cutting through concrete blocks, trees, bed frames, etc.. and still remain razor sharp plus being able to bend 90 degrees and spring back to true and I have heard that Febrman may be similar in strength but I have heard it does chip sometimes in extreme strength but most people would never reach that level unless cutting through aircraft skin. So my question would be if anyone had any experience with 3V and your opinion.
Thanks

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=87a3240f6bdb175f420d355e6d7f6ed0&t=778811

fehrman
http://web.archive.org/web/20071027080302/www.fehrmanknives.com/knives.htm

busse
http://www.bussecombat.com/knives/index.shtml

I won't comment on the crazy cutting through concrete and stress tests.

3V by both Fehrman and Dan Koster is good stuff. I have three Fehrman knives and should be getting my second Koster (Bushmaster) this week. No complaints.

What is the metallurgical composition of Infi? Is it still proprietary?

Yes Russ I think infi is still propriety, I understand the contrversal views on extreme knife abuse but I like sometimes to see what knives can do before they fail. Most of my use is chopping small trees and such and it's nice to have that edge retention thatseperates the lower and upper end products sometimes. I'm glad to see someone who uses 3v to see how they like it thanks russ.

http://www.crucibleservice.com/eSelector.htm Select CPM 3V and you'll find:

Thanks Russ, I had found that out yesterday as well, this is all I could find out about INFI, I know it's good stuff as well. I do like the ability to get a knife now vs having to wait for windows of opportunities for certain knives to come up. Jerry makes awesome knives but it is very frustrating on how to get them and if his knives weren't in such high demand maybe he would change his business model. That's extremely doubtful. I can vouch for his knives are the toughest knives I have came across and I have yet to damage one yet including cutting a head off a snake on concrete and not even a scratch on the blade. I will look into 3V as well and may order one and see how it does, I appreciate the feedback Russ.


------------INFI Info if interested-------------------------

http://homepage.mac.com/zombiekiller/badmojo/infi.html

http://zknives.com/knives/steels/infi.shtml

http://zknives.com/knives/articles/knifesteelfaq.shtml

INFI is currently only used by Jerry Busse. In place of some of the carbon (INFI contains 0.50% carbon), INFI has nitrogen. The result is a non-stainless steel that is nevertheless extremely stain resistant (informally reported at close to D2, or even better), incredibly tough for a high-alloy ingot steel, and with extremely good wear resistance. Ref - INFI Steel Composition.

INFI - The composition shown in the primary record was obtained by a lab in Germany and it contains Nitrogen, which was confirmed by Jerry Busse (the presence of nitrogen, not the whole composition), although Jerry didn't dispute the results either. However, there is another X-Ray SEM analysis of the INFI steel, performed by Darrel Lewis, working at Inobond, child company of the Bodycote. The result is different, andat the moment I have no idea which one is correct, or those were two different INFIs. Alternate composition:
Carbon C - 0.64
Silicon Si - 0.63
Chromium Cr - 8.12
Molybdenum Mo - 0.85
Vanadium - 0.33
As you can see this one has no Nitrogen.

Although the hardened INFI knives are 60 - 62 Rc we have yet been able to chip an edge. The edge can be dented or disalligned but its high level of malleability at such high hardness has never been duplicated by any other steel that we are aware of or have tested. We have bent INFI 35 degrees in a vise and it springs back to true. Why? What is the benefit to the customer? Not only does this test demonstrate the enormous toughness and lateral strength of an INFI blade but because our hardness is homogenous and not differential it demonstrates the amount of lateral strength and "spring" that the edge has as well.

INFI has demonstrated very high levels of stain resistance in many different climates. Uncoated blades have been tested for more than a year in Alaska and have made their way into the wilds of British Columbia, the High Sierras and the tropical rain forest. No rust in Alaska or British Columbia! No rust in the High Sierras, even when exposed to great quantities of blood and left in the wet grass overnight. The tropical rain forest, which has been known to rust plastic (just kidding), did offer the toughest of the environmental exposures and a light speckling of oxidation did occur but was easily removed in the field with a hand rubbing of sand and water. No pitting was reported. Now I'm sure that salt-water exposure would offer some different results. The point is that although INFI is not a stainless it is certainly not a rust aggressive steel as many of the high carbon steels have proven to be.We highly encourage gross abuse as it is covered by OUR warranty.

A thread you may be interested in. Note the preference in steel. . .

Wow, very nice. Thanks Russ, I was actually looking for one of these in either infi or 3v and this is something I would definitely be interested in. I didn't see a time frame, I take it is similar to the busse forum and keep monitoring for a release. This would make a good companion to my leatherman. And I did notice a lot of familiar faces that are at the Busse Combat forum as well. Thanks once again.

Update, I signed up for his mailing list for a heads up.

Those knives are cool to look at and collect but lugging around a 9" long 1/4" thick knife seems excessive.

If you wish to chop firewood bring a small hatchet. Probably weigh less with a small hatchet and a medium fixed blade than one large fixed blade.

I have a: http://www.knivesplus.com/ontario-qn-rat7.html
One of my favorite multi-purpose knives, and even at .187 thick it's pretty heavy/big to lug around. Great for small limbs though, and great grip. Also 1/3 the price iirc to the Busse or Fehrman.

In the woods/hiking I like to carry my BENCHMADE 140 Nimravus Plain Blade in M2 steel. Light weight, razor sharp, and strong. Having a small hatchet, or backpack folding / bow saw for wood work is great addition too. I normally also carry my Benchmade Folder for small tasks.. probably don't need it but it's always clipped to my pocket.

falcon, you may also want to consider 4" 2010 Bushcraft - Flat Ground CPM 3V

Cool thanks russ, I have a few 4 inch blades,I'll probably pass on that one. Thanks anyway though.