I've forged and finished a number of knives from CruForge. I was one of those who was asked to "test" it.
I did about a dozen test blades, and about another 1/2 dozen that were sold. It's fairly easy to forge and work hot, the tough part comes after heat treating.....once heat treated it's simply a bear to work with/finish. The only other steel I can compare it to in terms of difficulty in finish is S30V.
I was all set to make it one of my "standard" steels, then when crucible went under, and there were no plans to produce any more of it, I abandoned it....no sense wasting time/effort on a steel that will become extinct.
I've since turned my attention to 80CRV2. I'm still in the testing stages with it, but so far it looks very promising....just hope it doesn't get discontinued.
