M390 is one of the new "super steels". It is an ultra premium steel manufactured by Bohler-Uddeholm. It is a martenistic steel produced with third generation powder metallurgy. It offers extremely high wear resistance and corrosion resistance. Bohler is calling it a "micro-clean" steel, and it has a very fine grain size structure. It is very close in composition to CPM-20CV. Many are calling it the ultimate knife steel as it excels in so many of the important properties of knife steels. M390 can be polished to achieve a true mirror polish finish. Some have said that M390's corrosion resistance ranks just under H1. Carbon – 1.9%, Silicon – 0.7%, Manganese – 0.3%, Chromium – 20%, Molybdenum – 1%, Vanadium – 4%, Tungsten 0.6% with a typical Rockwell of 60-62 Rc.
