hhmoore
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Post by hhmoore on Mar 4, 2014 15:34:29 GMT
I've had it in my head that I want a blade in this steel; and I've been narrowing down the options...anybody have any experience with Bark River's CPM 3V?
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Post by ineffableone on Mar 4, 2014 18:53:28 GMT
I have a BRKT Aurora in 3V I like it a lot and think it is a great bushcraft knife. I really like the Aurora, seems like the perfect sized and shaped knife for general camp and bushcraft use. Recently I have been slowly sanding down the blade as I watch TV each night to get a nice polish on the blade rather than the satin finish. Something I am surprised more BRKT knife owners don't do. As for the blade metal I find it works very nice, though 3V is supposed to be abrasion resistant and I am finding that true as I try to polish it. LOL. The blade is very much a more difficult one to grind the previous grit scratch pattern out. From what I understand they only go to 330 grit on BKRT CPM 3V knives, rather than the typical 600 grit, to save the consumer money in the finish of the blade. So I spend a little time ever few nights polishing my blade while watching TV, slowly working it to a higher polish. I figure wear resistant will mean when polished up it will be harder to mar that polish. The 3V is supposed to be impact tough also, but I haven't done any serious chopping with my knife and don't really plan to, I have an axe for that. What little chopping type actions I have done probably don't test the toughness much but the blade performed quite well in what I have done. More than steel what makes or breaks a blade it quality heat treat. Soooo.... I should point out however, BRKT has a known issue of some of their blades chipping with use due to after heat treat they grind the blade and sometimes they are getting too hot. Not all their knives end up with heat treat issues. Mine so far seems fine thankfully. But enough have reported the issue that it is something to consider. It can be as mellow as to just something you can easily sharpen past the small portion that lost the heat treat, or it could be dramatic enough you need to send it in to be replaced. BRKT does have a Lifetime warranty. So any problems with the heat treat and your covered. Though it would suck to have just gotten a knife barely get to use it and have to send it back to be fixed or replaced. But that is better than just being out the money. Hope this helps.
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hhmoore
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Sneaking around once in a while
Posts: 656
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Post by hhmoore on Mar 4, 2014 21:09:34 GMT
Thanks For some reason, I thought the Aurora was a composite blade...not sure why. Currently, I'm leaning toward their Bravo line; primarily because I've got a Gunny (A2), lol. I do like the Gunny...but I find the handle a little too small for my taste. I also think that the properties of '3V are probably better utilized in a larger blade; so I'm thinking 1.5 or 2 (though I've recently been revisiting my fondness for 3-4" fixed blades, so I don't rule out the Bravo 1)
Thanks for the heads up on the chipping issue - I don't remember seeing that in my reading.
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Post by ineffableone on Mar 4, 2014 23:05:35 GMT
I honestly think half the reason we don't see more people bring the issue up is a large amount of BRKT buyers never use their knives. They sit in a safe to rise in value, or sit in a display box, or other such collector situations. While the BRKT motto is knives made to be used (or something to that effect), the prices and limited runs, make them more collector items than function items for a lot of people. So these people never test their knives more than to slice paper with to test sharpness. Same thing happens with Busse blades and many other limited run knives. More people buy them to eventually resell them than to actually use them. Which of course eats up the supply and raises the resale value etc. Vicious circle of artificial scarcity that I find annoyingly common these days. Nothing wrong with the Bravo line, it is one of BRKT's most popular lines. The Bravo and Gunny were the knives that first got me looking at BRKT. Though I ended up liking the Aurora just a bit more. If the costs were lower, I would have a big collection of many different BRKT styles but at their prices I just can't afford to. So picked the one I really wanted and filled a need I would use often and regularly. Something to mention, is that for the price of BRKT stuff you can also buy a full custom knife often times. Though finding a good custom knife maker who has not stopped taking custom orders, or has a waiting list of a year can be difficult. It seems there is way more demand for custom knives than there is ability for custom makers to meet the demand. For some ideas of custom makers if your interested in that route you might check the BCUSA thread Custom Knife Shortage bushcraftusa.com/forum/showthread.php/115384-Custom-knife-shortage
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hhmoore
Member
Sneaking around once in a while
Posts: 656
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Post by hhmoore on Mar 6, 2014 13:05:47 GMT
Sorry about the delay in responding. Thanks for posting that link - having them consolidated like that will be a big help. I've seen the work of some of those makers, and have heard of even more of them (but didn't necessarily have contact info).
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Post by ineffableone on Mar 7, 2014 19:16:00 GMT
No problem, I agree having a source of custom knife makers in an easy semi condensed format is helpful. There are some great blade smiths out there, but often times they aren't the best at advertising and getting in touch with. LOL.
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