As luck would have it, I had a chance to pick up two new knives.
The first is the OSS Dagger by WE K’nife. I’ve always been interested in the small ‘James Bond secret agent’ knives. I have heard about a replicate kit of special knives made for the OSS, but I have never seen one. Perhaps it is just urban legend. In any case, a small concealable dagger would be part of that kit.
The WE OSS dagger is a tribute to those days. The knife is made from CPM 20CV steel. CPM20CV is considered one of the super steels with amazing edge retention. The formula is 1.9% carbon, 20% chromium, 4% vanadium, 1% molybdenum, and 0.6% tungsten. But this only tells part of the story. Heat treatment and edge geometry can make or break any steel. In this case, vanadium and chromium help create fine-grain carbides and allow for sufficient chromium for stain resistance. The downside is that 20CV can be extremely challenging to properly sharpen.
Frank chimed in on an earlier post. I wonder if he will here too.