Alloy – Condition Thick Len Wid Price Qty Stock

CPM S60V Stainless Steel, Flat Ground

 .097 in 23.5 in 6.0 in $332.90
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 BSS60-0097-235060G 1

CPM S60V Stainless Steel, Flat Ground

 .140 in 12.8 in 1.5 in $55.80
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 BSS60-0140-128015G 6

CPM S60V Stainless Steel, Flat Ground

 .135 in 12.9 in 1.5 in $54.70
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 BSS60-0135-129015G 1

CPM S60V Stainless Steel, Flat Ground

 .142 in 23.5 in 1.5 in $103.50
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 BSS60-0142-235015G 4

CPM S60V Stainless Steel, Flat Ground

 .144 in 23.5 in 1.5 in $104.60
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 BSS60-0144-235015G 4

CPM S60V Stainless Steel, Flat Ground

 .141 in 12.5 in 1.6 in $58.40
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 BSS60-0141-125016G 1

CPM S60V Stainless Steel, Flat Ground

 .139 in 12.8 in 2.0 in $74.00
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 BSS60-0139-128020G 7

CPM S60V Stainless Steel, Flat Ground

 .142 in 23.5 in 2.0 in $138.00
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 BSS60-0142-235020G 5

CPM S60V Stainless Steel, Flat Ground

 .136 in 23.5 in 2.6 in $173.60
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 BSS60-0136-235026G 1

CPM S60V Stainless Steel, Flat Ground

 .136 in 23.5 in 6.0 in $400.70
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 BSS60-0136-235060G 1

CPM S60V Stainless Steel, Flat Ground

 .159 in 23.5 in 1.5 in $113.20
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 BSS60-0159-235015G 2

CPM S60V Stainless Steel, Flat Ground

 .163 in 12.3 in 2.0 in $80.60
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 BSS60-0163-123020G 6

CPM S60V Stainless Steel, Flat Ground

 .159 in 23.5 in 2.0 in $150.90
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 BSS60-0159-235020G 3

CPM S60V Stainless Steel, Flat Ground

 .208 in 23.5 in 2.0 in $180.30
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 BSS60-0208-235020G 2

CPM S60V Stainless Steel, Flat Ground

 .208 in 23.5 in 2.5 in $225.40
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 BSS60-0208-235025G 1

CPM S60V Stainless Steel, Flat Ground

 .199 in 12.4 in 3.0 in $137.70
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 BSS60-0199-124030G 1

CPM S60V Stainless Steel, Flat Ground

 .208 in 23.5 in 3.0 in $270.50
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 BSS60-0208-235030G 1

CPM S60V Stainless Steel, Flat Ground

 .211 in 12.4 in 1.5 in $72.20
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✓
 BSS60-0211-124015G 2

CPM S60V Stainless Steel, Flat Ground

 .213 in 23.5 in 1.5 in $137.90
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✓
 BSS60-0213-235015G 2

CPM S60V Stainless Steel, Flat Ground

 .211 in 12.4 in 2.0 in $96.30
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✓
 BSS60-0211-124020G 6

CPM S60V Stainless Steel, Flat Ground

 .211 in 23.5 in 2.0 in $182.50
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✓
 BSS60-0211-235020G 3

CPM S60V Stainless Steel, Flat Ground

 .213 in 23.5 in 2.0 in $183.90
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 BSS60-0213-235020G 2

Steel Glossary:
B/U CPM CG
CRA CRHT ESR
FG FGHT HRA
HRDA HRPA
See All Blade Materials By Thickness:

InformationS60V Stainless Steel Information and Composition

Condition:
Our CPM S60V has been properly annealed and is in the soft condition. You do not have to do any non-standard wasteful processes before heat treating. The steel must be heat treated to get to a hardened state. Follow the heat treat recipe and the steel will harden.

Ratings:
16 = Maximum Toughness
65 = Maximum Edge Holding

The rating scale is 0-100, 0 being minimum and 100 being maximum. The ratings are the maximum potential of the alloy. I do not recommend heat treating to the maximum value. Choose a heat treat recipe that results in the attributes you want.

Thank you to Dr Larrin Thomas for all the testing he performed and information he has provided. Buy his book Knife Engineering to learn more about knifemaking.

Alloy Comparison Table:

Description:
CPM S60V is an interesting alloy that should be used more often. A historical perspective may help knifemakers better understand this alloy.

The first knife I purchased with this alloy was a serrated Spyderco Military. The alloy listed on the blade is CPM440V. Later the alloy name was changed to CPM S60V. At that time, most of my high end knives were 440C, 154CM and ATS-34. Compared to these alloys, S60V had much better edge holding. It was also more difficult to resharpen.

Within a short time S60V was offered in several factory and custom knives. However, some collectors complained about difficulty resharpening with their old sharpening equipment. A rumor started that S60V was brittle and that the edge rolled easily. The rumor was false (and contradictory) but collectors looked for other alloys. I personally never experienced edge rolling or brittleness.

S30V was released a short time later. Knifemakers and knife factories quickly adopted the new alloy. Collectors rejoiced about S30V, until the next (false) rumor was started. S60V was ignored.

In Aug 2020 Dr Larrin Thomas wrote an article about S60V:
CPM S60V - The Forgotten Super Steel

When I read the article, look at the composition, the CATRA tests and Charpy tests, I’ve concluded this alloy should be used today. The edge holding of S60V is significantly better than S30V, S35VN and S45VN. The toughness is comparable to S30V & S45VN.

One important point made in the article is that when S60V was released, The highest austenitizing temperature was about 2,000°F. Now heat treat ovens go much higher. Larrin made the point that S60V may benefit from heat treating at higher temperatures such as 2,050°F and tempering at 400°F.

When S60V was released, it was a ground breaking alloy. Now we have many similar alloys. Knifemakers regularly use ceramic belts and many collectors have diamond sharpeners. If S60V was released today, I think it would be quickly accepted as a super high performance alloy.

Flat Ground:
Any alloy that has “Flat Ground” in the description has been Blanchard ground. Our tolerances for flat grinding are +-.001” across 12”. You can identify Blanchard grinding by circular grind marks. Do not be mislead by other descriptions. Others try to pass off less accurate types of grinding with lower tolerances as flat grinding. This is why we call out our tolerances.

Information Sources:
There are many sources of information regarding knifemaking. Some sources, like Dr. Larrin Thomas of Knife Steel Nerds, are excellent. Other sources are not as credible. It is important to vet the your information sources. Be careful of anyone who says the way to heat treat 1095 or O1 is to heat to non-magnetic and quench in used motor oil. Anyone who publishes this type of information is not credible. When possible, we use information from manufacturers and industry experts.

AI Information:
The latest trend of bad information is from Artificial Intelligence (AI). Multiple companies have AI programs. AI collects and compiles information. The problem is, AI is does not know if the information is accurate or garbage. When asked, AI regurgitates and merges good and bad data. Beware of AI data when researching materials. If you read material information that sounds like it was written by a poetry graduate student, compares materials that are not similar, contains blatantly false information, etc, it was probably AI generated. At AKS, we never use AI to generate material information.

Data Sheet:
Crucible CPM S60V Data Sheet

Heat TreatCPM S60V Heat Treat Information:

Preheat: Heat to 1,550-1,600°F. Equalize temperature.

Austenitize: It is critical to not exceed the maximum austenitize temperature. If you overshoot the maximum temperature by a small amount, toughness will go down dramatically.

Heat to 1,950-2,050°F, soak times for the different austenitizing temperatures are listed below:
1,950°F = 30 Minutes
2,050°F = 20 Minutes
The recommended heat treatment is to austenitize at 2,050°F then quench to below 125°F. Cryo if desired. Temper twice at 500°F for 2 hours minimum each temper. Cool to hand warm between tempers.

Quench: Plate, air or positive pressure quench (2 bar minimum) to below 125°F, or interrupted oil quench to about 1,000°F, then air cool to below 125°F.

Temper: Double temper at 400-700°F. Hold for 2 hours minimum each time.

Use the graph below to select your temperatures:

Additional Information:
Referring back to Larrin's previously mentioned S60V article, the following is a quote where Larrin discusses testing higher austenitizing temperatures:

To see the steel’s potential for high hardness I also tried heat treatments with 2100°F for 15 minutes and 2,150°F for 10 minutes, each followed by a plate quench, cryo, and temper at 300°F. The 2,100°F heat treatment led to 64.3 Rc and 2,150°F resulted in 65.0 Rc. Therefore very high hardness levels are possible for those knifemakers that are interested.

Based on the results of Larrin's testing, more testing should be done.

CertsCPM S60V Certs

Chemical Composition Certification*

  1. Click on the button below to get the chemical composition of the steel you purchased.
  2. You will be required to enter the three character code written in red letters on your steel.
  3. If you do not see red letters on the steel, your specific chemical composition is not in the system.

Lookup Cert
 
* This material is NOT certified for medical or aerospace applications.
  .

B/U: Bohler / Uddeholm

Bohler and Uddeholm are two large steel companies based in Europe. Both companies make high quality steel alloys and are subsidiaries of Voestalpine.

Cross Grain:

Steel is toughest when it is cut with the grain. However, we occasionally get pieces that were cut across the grain. We call this “cross grain”. The cross grain billets are discounted.

CRA: Cold Rolled Annealed

Cold rolled steel has a nice finish. The surface is bright and smooth. It can be darker on the edges of the sheet showing some heat coloring from annealing. Cold rolled alloys have minimal runout. The steel is annealed (soft).

CRHT: Cold Rolled Heat Treated

Cold rolled heat treated applies to only some 15N20. The steel is heat treated to approximately HRC 45. This alloy is used extensively for sawmill bandsaw blades. The sawmills require the steel be heat treated.

Even though this 15N20 is heat treated, it is not full hard. It is easy to work with metal working tools. When drilling this 15N20, It is important to keep constant pressure and use a lubricant.

ESR: Electroslag Remelt

Electroslag remelting is a process of remelting and refining a steel alloy to make it cleaner. The result is very clean steel. The steel is annealed (soft).

FG: Flat Ground

The AKS definition of flat ground is +- .001 inch runout across 12 inches. The surface of the steel is ground until it is bare steel with a uniform grind pattern. The front and back of the billet are parallel.

FGHT: Flat Ground Heat Treated

Flat ground heat treated applies to only some 15N20. The steel is heat treated to approximately HRC 45. This alloy is used extensively for sawmill bandsaw blades. The sawmills require the steel be heat treated.

Even though this 15N20 is heat treated, it is not full hard. It is easy to work with metal working tools. When drilling this 15N20, It is important to keep constant pressure and use a lubricant.

The AKS definition of flat ground is +- .001 inch runout across 12 inches. The surface of the steel is ground until it is bare steel with a uniform grind pattern. The front and back of the billet are parallel.

HRA: Hot Rolled Annealed

Hot rolled steel has mill scale and is dirty on the surface of the steel. The mill scale is easily removed by multiple processes such as pickling or sand blasting. The steel is annealed (soft).

HRDA: Hot Rolled Descaled Annealed

The steel is heated and run between rollers to achieve the desired thickness. As the steel cools, scale forms on the surface of the sheet. The scale is removed by sand blasting or shot blasting. After blasting, the surface of the sheet has a rough finish. The steel is annealed (soft).

HRPA: Hot Rolled Pickled Annealed

The steel is heated and run between rollers to achieve the desired thickness. As the steel cools, scale forms on the surface of the sheet. The scale is removed by immersing the sheet in a bath of acid. The process is called pickling. The acid removes the scale. After pickling, the surface of the sheet has a rough finish. The steel is annealed (soft).

PESR: Pressurized Electroslag Remelt

PG: Precision Ground

The AKS definition of precision ground is less than .001 inch runout across 12 inches.

PM: Particle Metallurgy

Alloys using particle metallurgy processes are made from powdered metal. The powder is put in a can and pressed into a solid billet in a hot isostatic press.

CPM: Crucible Particle Metallurgy

Crucible is a steel company based in USA. They produce multiple steel alloys. Some of the alloys are made using the Crucible Particle Metallurgy i.e. CPM process.

The first step in the CPM process is heating the steel until it is a liquid. The liquid is sprayed through a small nozzle and forms into a powder. The steel powder is packed into a steel container that is welded shut. The container containing the powder is placed into a hot isostatic press or HIP. The HIP heats the container and compresses the steel powder into a solid billet. After the billet cools the container is removed. The remaining billet has a consistent composition.

The major advantage of the CPM process is producing alloys that would not be possible using traditional steel production processes.

CG: Cross Grain

Steel is toughest when it is cut with the grain. However, we occasionally get pieces that were cut across the grain. We call this “cross grain”. The cross grain billets are discounted.

BSS60 BSS60-0040 BSS60-0060 BSS60-0080 BSS60-0100 BSS60-0120 BSS60-0140 BSS60-0160 BSS60-0180 BSS60-0200 BSS60-0220 BSS60-0240 BSS60-0260
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CPM S60V Stainless Steel
Average rating:  
 1 reviews
 by Skylar

I am very pleased with this steel. It made a beautiful knife and holds an edge very well.