CPM-20CV in stock
Yes, it is a flagship-tier steel. Crucible's CPM-20CV runs about 1.9% carbon, 20% chromium, 4% vanadium and 1% molybdenum at 60 to 64 HRC. Corrosion resistance is excellent thanks to that very high chromium, and edge retention is top-tier from the high carbide volume. It is compositionally matched to Bohler M390.
Nearly 2% carbon and 4% vanadium is a lot of carbide. That is what gives 20CV its class-leading resistance to abrasive wear: cardboard, rope and dirty material that would blunt a lesser steel in an hour barely register.
The 20% chromium simultaneously keeps corrosion resistance excellent, which is unusual at this carbide volume.
Toughness is good for its hardness and wear class but not in MagnaCut territory. At the top of a 60 to 64 HRC range in a thin grind it will chip before it bends.
Sharpening is genuinely demanding. Diamond is not optional if you need to reprofile, and even maintenance takes patience.
People who cut abrasive material in volume and would rather sharpen rarely and properly than often and casually. It is also, straightforwardly, one of the specification steels people buy premium folders for.
Bohler M390 is the same composition under a different mill's name, so the two are effectively interchangeable in performance.
The grid below shows CPM-20CV listings from Gerber and Case, chosen from the catalog when this answer was written. Each one carries CPM-20CV in its own specification table, and its price is read from the live catalog every time the site is built.
The full reference entry, with the published composition and hardness range and every listing we carry in it, is CPM-20CV in the Steel Lab.
