Spyderco - Blade Steels

Blade Steels

Spyderco has experimented with new blade steels over the years. In 1994, Spyderco was the first company to use powder metallurgy in a production knife (in the form of Crucible's S60V tool steel), and the first knife company to use H-1 steel in a folding knife. The blade steel used by Spyderco over the years include:

52100, a ball bearing steel used in the first run of the Mule project.

154CM a high-end American stainless premium cutlery steel

8Cr13MoV, a Chinese stainless steel tempered at the Rc56 to Rc58 range and used in the Tenacious, Persistence, Ambitious, Resilience, Grasshopper, Kiwi3 and Byrd lines of knives. Often compared to AUS-8, but with slightly more Carbon.

9Cr18Mo a higher end Chinese stainless steel used mostly in high-end barbering scissors and surgical tools.

440C, a stainless steel, known for corrosion resistance and ease of sharpening.

Aogami Super,(青紙スーパー) a Japanese exotic, high-end steel made by Hitachi. The "Blue" refers to, not the color of the steel itself, but the color of the paper in which the raw steel comes wrapped.

ATS-55, a performance stainless steel similar to ATS-34 with the molybdenum reduced, used only by Spyderco for knife steels until the early 2000s

AUS-6, similar in quality to 440a, used as a "budget" steel in early Spyderco models.

AUS-8, a frequently used Japanese steel, which is known for taking a very fine edge, due to the inclusion of vanadium. Sharpens easily, and has moderate edge holding and corrosion resistance.

AUS-10, a Japanese stainless steel series made by Aichi with the same carbon content as 440C but with slightly less chromium.

BG-42, a high performance stainless steel formulated for ball bearings, often compared to ATS-34, which has similar properties.

CTS-XHP, made by Carpenter Technology. Often referred to as a stainless version of D2, which has similar properties.

CTS-20CP, Carpenter Technology's version of S90V, with slightly reduced chromium. Features incredible wear-resistance and edge-holding, hardened to about 60 Rc.

CTS-BD1, Carpenter's versions of Gin-1 with improved chemistry. Originally feature in a Mule Team fixed blade.

D2, a high performance tool steel that has 1 percent less chromium than required to classify as stainless steel. Spyderco uses Crucible's version of D2, which is a particle metallurgy ("powdered") version, not wrought. CPM-D2 is found in a sprint run version of the Military model.

G2, aka GIN-1. (銀紙１号)A Hitachi-made low cost stainless steel comparable to, but softer than, AUS-8. Generally hardened in the mid to high Rc 50s. A tough, corrosion-resistant steel.

H-1, a rust-proof "steel", ideal for marine applications, because it substitutes nitrogen for carbon. Sharpens easily, scratches easily, and has good edge retention. Can be forged down in size to increase the strength of the steel. Rather than be hardened through heat treating, H-1 gets its hardness through work hardening.

MBS-26: A Japanese steel, very fine grained with high corrosion resistance used in the Catcherman and in most kitchen knives by Spyderco.

N690CO, an Austrian stainless steel hardened to the high Rc50 range. Currently found in the Squeak and previously used in Spydercos manufactured by Fox Cutlery.

CPM-M4 - Has a usual Rc of 62-65, used in special purposes, high-speed steel with combination of high Carbon, Moly, Vanadium, and Tungsten for excellent wear resistance and toughness; a powder-metal, non-stainless steel.

CPM S30V steel an American powder-metallurgy, high-carbide steel developed for the cutlery market.

CPM-S60V, (aka 440V, aka CPMT440V) A modern American super-steel that is wear resistant, but difficult to sharpen. Unfortunately the low level of toughness means that it can only be hardened to around 56 Rc, causing the edge-holding performance to be diminished.

CPM-S90V (aka 420V), similar to Crucible's S60V but designed to be more wear resistant with a very high carbide volume and high vanadium content. Appreciated for extreme edge-holding. S90V was featured in a sprint run of Spyderco's Military in 2008. Since then it has been used in several sprint runs in knives like the Manix 2 and Paramilitary 2. While S90V holds an edge significantly better than S30V, both are usually hardened to about 59-61 Rc.

VG-10,(V金10号) a Japanese super-steel developed for the horticulture industry by Takefu, often hardened around the Rc60 range. Reported to have better corrosion resistance but slightly less edge retention than S30V. Appreciated for taking an extremely fine edge, and being extremely easy to sharpen, while still holding an edge well. Used in most of Spyderco's Japanese-made knives.

ZDP-189, a premium Japanese powdered super-steel made by Hitachi, hardened into the mid & upper Rc 60s, with very high carbide volume. Along with S90V, it boasts some of the best edge-holding of any steel on the market.