What is Cruwear steel - Is Cruwear steel Good For Knife?

There are many steel alloys found in today’s world; Cruwear is one of them. Some of you may already know about Cruwear steel. If you are unaware of Cruwear steel, this guide is for you. In this guide, I will explain the chemical composition of Cruwear steel, the properties of Cruwear steel, and almost everything about Cruwear steel.

Let’s start with an in-depth review of the Cruwear steel.

Table of Contents

What is Cruwear Steel?

Cruwear is one of the super steels that is made by Crucible Industries. It is popular for its balance between wear resistance, corrosion resistance, toughness, and hardness. It is an Air-hardening tool that is used for making knives, blades, and a wide variety of demanding tooling applications.

What is Cruwear Steel

Moreover, it is a good alloy for assembly line equipment. Common assembly tools are thread rolling dies, laminating dies, coining, and blanking dies.

Cruwear steel chemical composition

The elements in the Cruwear steel help the steel to reach a high level of hardness, wear resistance, corrosion resistance, and toughness. Each element is used for different purposes and has different features.

The elements which are included in the Cruwear steel grade are as follows:

Elements	Percentage	Features
*Chromium*	7.5	Chromium increases the steel’s edge retention and strength. It also enhances the wear resistance and corrosion resistance of the steel.
*Vanadium*	2.40	It improves the steel’s hardenability and wears resistance.
*Molybdenum*	1.6	Molybdenum increases the steel’s machinability and strength.
*Silicon*	1.20	It increases the strength of the steel.
*Tungsten*	1.15	Tungsten improves the hardness and wears resistance of the steel.
*Carbon*	1.10	It increases the wear resistance and hardness of the steel. However, a high amount can decrease the steel’s strength.
*Manganese*	0.35	Manganese increases the brittleness and hardness of the steel.

As you can see, the Cruwear steel has a high mixture of Chromium, Carbon, Tungsten, and Molybdenum, in its composition which offers the steel great hardness, toughness, and wear resistance.

Moreover, it is not stainless steel because it has not that much percentage of chromium (only7.5%) in its composition. For stainless steel, the minimum requirement of chromium is 12%; this steel is short of that requirement. Therefore, it is considered semi-stainless steel.

What is the Rockwell hardness of Cruwear steel?

Cruwear steel has great composition and a combination of elements, and because of this, it possesses great hardness. Moreover, it offers great toughness, corrosion resistance, and wear resistance. The Rockwell hardness of the Cruwear steel is around 64 HRC.

Cruwear steel properties

As you know, Cruwear steel has a great chemical composition and has a great hardness; it offers some amazing properties, which are as follows:

Edge Retention: As you know, Cruwear steel offers a high hardness which is around 64 HRC; this means Cruwear steel offers great edge retention.

Wear Resistance: Cruwear steel contains a mixture of carbon, tungsten, manganese, and chromium, which offer the Cruwear steel a great wear resistance.

Corrosion Resistance: Cruwear is not stainless steel. It is semi-stainless steel; therefore, it offers decent corrosion resistance.

Sharpness: Cruwear steel is easy to sharpen compared to other steel with close or same hardness.

Toughness: The composition of the Cruwear steel gives it an amazing toughness on the cost of corrosion resistance.

Is Cru-Wear steel good for Knives?

Yes, Cruwear steel is good for knives.

Cruwear steel offers amazing wear resistance, edge retention, hardness, and toughness. Moreover, it has decent corrosion resistance that can handle rust. These features make it a good option for EDC knives.

Cruwear steel is also budget-friendly, which makes it a perfect option for EDC knives. Another great benefit of Cruwear steel is that it is effortless to sharpen. So, if you are looking for toughness and hardness, Cruwear steel is for you.

Pros & cons of Cruwear steel

Pros

It is very tough and will not break easily
Cheaper
Cruwear steel is best for high-pressure applications
It is easy to sharpen
Cruwear steel offers a decent resistance to rust
It can hold a sharper edge for a long time
Cruwear steel will not damage carbide belts during polishing

Cons

Cruwear steel needs occasional re-sharpening because it doesn’t perform well in wear-resistance
It works better for tools other than knives

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Cruwear Steel Best Knives

Most of the knife makers are using Cruwear steel to make knives. There are many knives available in the market that are made with Cruwear steel. In this section, I will review one of the popular and best knife of Cruwear steel.

BEST XMAS GIFT KNIFE

Specifications

Overall Length: 7.625-inch
Closed Length: 4.58-inch
Handle Material: Titanium
Blade Length: 3.07-inch
Blade Thickness: 0.1875-inch
Blade Edge: Flat
Blade Style: Tanto Blade Grind
Blade Steel: Cruwear steel
Locking Mechanism: Frame Lock Pivot Assembly

It is a perfect tactical knife. It comes with a 3.07-inch blade with an overall knife length of 7.625-inch. This is the perfect size of a tactical knife. The blade of the knife is made with Cruwear steel that offers amazing toughness, edge retention, wear resistance, and hardness to the knife’s blade.

Moreover, the knife’s handle is made with Titanium which is a light material. The Titanium handle is easy to grip because of its lightweight for a long time. It is a perfect tactical knife for carrying because of its convenient pocket clip. Its Frame lock makes it more appealing.

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Comparison of Cruwear steel with the Other Steel

In this section, I will compare the Cruwear steel with some other steels. Comparing Cruwear steel with other steels helps bring out an even clearer picture of how it performs in terms of toughness, edge retention, corrosion resistance, and so on.

Cruwear vs. 3v

	Cruwear steel	3v steel
Edge retention	5/10	6/10
Stainless steel	Semi-stainless	Semi-stainless
Ease of Sharpness	6/10	5/10
Rockwell Hardness	64 HRC	58-60 HRC
Toughness	7/10	10/10
Corrosion Resistance	7/10	4/10

3v steel is better in terms of edge retention and toughness. However, Cruwear steel is better in terms of ease of sharpness, Rockwell hardness, and corrosion resistance.

Cruwear vs. M390

	Cruwear steel	M390 steel
Edge retention	5/10	8/10
Stainless steel	Semi-stainless	Yes
Ease of Sharpness	6/10	5/10
Rockwell Hardness	64 HRC	60-62 HRC
Toughness	7/10	6/10
Corrosion Resistance	7/10	8/10

M390 steel has better edge retention and corrosion resistance than Cruwear steel. On the other hand, Cruwear steel is better in terms of ease of sharpness, Rockwell hardness, and toughness.

Cruwear vs. M4

	Cruwear steel	M4 steel
Edge retention	5/10	8/10
Stainless steel	Semi-stainless	Yes
Ease of Sharpness	6/10	3/10
Rockwell Hardness	64 HRC	65 HRC
Toughness	7/10	6/10
Corrosion Resistance	7/10	3/10

M4 steel is better in terms of edge retention and Rockwell hardness. However, Cruwear steel is better in terms of ease of sharpness, toughness, and corrosion resistance.

Cruwear vs. ELMAX

	Cruwear steel	ELMAX steel
Edge retention	5/10	7/10
Stainless steel	Semi-stainless	Yes
Ease of Sharpness	6/10	5/10
Rockwell Hardness	64 HRC	57-59 HRC
Toughness	7/10	7/10
Corrosion Resistance	7/10	7/10

ELMAX steel has better edge retention than Cruwear steel. On the other hand, Cruwear steel is better in terms of ease of sharpness and Rockwell hardness. However, in terms of toughness and corrosion resistance, both are the same.

Cruwear vs. S35VN

	Cruwear steel	S35VN steel
Edge retention	5/10	6/10
Stainless steel	Semi-stainless	Yes
Ease of Sharpness	6/10	6/10
Rockwell Hardness	64 HRC	58-61 HRC
Toughness	7/10	6/10
Corrosion Resistance	7/10	7/10

Cruwear steel is better in terms of Rockwell hardness, and toughness. In contrast, S35VN steel is better in terms of edge retention. However, in terms of corrosion resistance, and ease of sharpness both are the same.

Cruwear Steel Equivalent

Cruwear steel can be compared to many steels. It is more wear-resistant than tough steels like A2, and 5150. It is tougher than stainless steel like M390 and S30V. However, it is between S30V and D2 in terms of wear resistance.

Moreover, Cruwear steel is less corrosion resistant than stainless steel, but it is more corrosion resistant than some carbon steel like 1095.

Conclusion

Cruwear steel has very well-balanced properties of edge retention, toughness, hardness, wear resistance, and corrosion resistance. Moreover, it has decent corrosion resistance that can handle rust. These features make it a perfect choice for EDC knives.

Another great advantage of Cruwear steel is that it is very easy to sharpen. So, if you are looking for toughness and hardness, Cruwear steel will be the best choice for you.

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FAQ’s

Is Cruwear steel stainless?

Cruwear steel is not stainless steel because it has not that much percentage of chromium (only7.5%) in its composition. For stainless steel, chromium’s minimum requirement is 12%; this steel is short of that requirement. Therefore, it is considered semi-stainless steel.

What is CPM CruWear?

CPM CruWear is air-hardening steel that is widely used in making hunting pocket knives. It has far better than average edge retention. Moreover, it offers better wear resistance, higher attainable, and much greater toughness. CPM CruWear comes with a Rockwell hardness of around 60-65 HRC.