Another S30V Question

[culpritish]

Forgive me if this question has already been answered. Is s30v infact a stainless steel? Or is it an "almost" stainless, like D2 for instance. I've read several posts where the info suggested that it should be treated more like a high carbon steel, and that it is prone to corrosion.I thoroughly understand the idea that stainless steels "stain less", and would'nt unnecessarily abuse or neglect any knife, and I take care of my knives accordingly, but I was curious as to how s30v stands in the stainless catagory.

 

[Chuck289]

S30V is a stainless steel. What makes stainless steel, "stainless" is a naturally forming chrome oxide coating on the surface of the steel.

 

[mete]

S30V is fully a stainless steel. Stainless steels can all rust under the proper conditions .How easily they rust is a function of their composition and heat treatment.Kept clean and dry it will never rust .For severe conditions such as a dive knife in salt water there are more rust resistant knives than S30V.

 

[rifon2]

S30V, with its 14% chromium content, is definitely considered stainless steel.

there's a lot to be said on the topic of stainless steel, though!

 

[Confederate]

Stainless also depends on the finish. A highly polished stainless will resist rust better than a brushed satin stainless. And when tests were performed using salt spray on a Smith & Wesson Model 60 a number of years ago, the Navy learned that though it resisted rust more than its carbon counterpart, the Model 36, once rust started in stainless, it actually ate away the steel faster.

Also in the early days, when finishing stainless, sometimes carbon steel bristles and other materials would embed themselves in the stainless and create horrible problems. In blades this is not likely to happen, but the chromium in the steel is what protects it, and polishing a blade is said to make it even more resistant.

 

[culpritish]

Thanks for the input, everyone. So I guess if I keep the metal polished, it should resist corosion fairly well, and if I read the CMP data correctly, it should be easy due to the grain structure of s30v.