Anyone dislike S30V?

I don't feel under-steeled carrying S30V at all, especially with good HT ;)
 
newknife said:
Who do you think does S30V good, and who do you think does it bad? I only have experience with Sypderco and Buck.
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I can assure you spyderco has a damn good S30V. You probably wont ever need anything more for an all around edc folder (although its fun to have more). Kershaw is another brand that has some great S30V. I have tried others (rather not say) who's S30V was lacking the edge retention. Could have been a bad heat treat or maybe it was just the blade grind but I was not at all happy with it.
 
I don't understand the hype behind it , after they sold for good the uparedate S35V too, they will come out with a new steel S40/45V.....again for marketing gaining.

Be ready to pay 1k X 1 damn folder soon??!!
 
I don't love s30v as much as the forum chatter made me think I would before I owned it. I have hade a Paramilitary 2 in s30v for almost two years now. It is an excellent knife and a very good steel. Spyderco has improved the compression lock on the PM2 since mine was made, and the lock on my newer sprint PM2 is much better.

Back to s30v. It holds a working edge very well but I think the reason I don't love it is because of how fast the razor edge goes away with even light use. VG-10 is (for me) more "lovable" because of how easy it is to get shave sharp and how long it holds that fine edge.

I keep a Rat-1 in my truck and lent it to my helper last week. He gave it back yesterday. Last night I sharpened both the Rat and the s30v PM2 on the Sharpmaker. I had forgotten how quickly AUS-8 takes a razor edge. Neither blade had significant damage but the Para took a lot longer to tune up and didn't feel as sharp as the Rat when I was done.

I appreciate s30v for its balance of qualities, but it just doesn't inspire affection from me the way VG-10, ZDP-189, and M390 do.
 
Apparently, enough people "dislike" it that Crucible felt the need to bring out S35VN.:D
 
I have set S30v as my steel standard. on a scale of 1-10 (all steels from 8cr13mov to infini) its a 5. In reality it is better than a 5 but I compare everything to it making it my medium
 
I like S30v most of the time. Just a tad tough to sharpen. But still a great steel to work with.
 
I have limited experience with S30V. But the S30V bladed knives(from Spyderco and Benchmade) I currently own and use have proven to hold an edge really well. Better then AUS8, 8Cr14MoV and even VG-10 and 154CM. I probably wouldn't ever need a "better" steel. Not to mention I probably wouldn't be willing to spend the extra money that more expensive steels would demand.
 
I bought a Spyderco Native several years ago. Something about the steel hit me all wrong, then i tried to sharpen it. Gave it to my son, who never sharpens his knives. If a knife has S30V, i will leave it for someone else to enjoy. But what do i know. I like the steel in my 70's era Buck 309 "Companion".
 
Apparently, enough people "dislike" it that Crucible felt the need to bring out S35VN
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It was because of all the "chipping" complaints here and other forums. From what I've read Crucible never really found anything wrong with the knives that were sent to them for testing. One was heat treated incorrectly, one was burned like on a grinder ( figure that one out. :) ) Etc. They brought out S35VN to get the folks who think it's a chipping prone steel an option of a knife with almost the same wear resistance. It also helps out the professional knife makers who complained about it being difficult to finish and eating belts. When you do it for a living any extra time saved, and longer life of belts means money savings.

S35VN got off to a rough start here through no fault of the steel. One guy who did most of the discovering of the "problem" , did lots of posting on you tube, and several forums including this has refused to send the knife in to W&R for lab testing. He has claimed there is no need because it doesn't have problems anymore or something similar. He has since made statements in other threads claiming that he sharpens every knife that he gets before use. This leaves open the possibility of his troubles being related to his own sharpening. We'll never know as the knife hasn't hit the lab yet.

The steel seems to be doing exactly what it was designed to do, rolling and not chipping. It does admittedly have a bit less abrasive wear than S30V but how much so you really are not going to tell unless you do some real testing.

Back on the subject of S30V, I found that I like the Carpenter analog CTS BD30P (?) which came out in a Spyderco sprint. Slightly cleaner, crisper sharpening and possible slight wear advantage. It's a nice user steel anyway, which I also consider S30V as.

S30V is a great example of how far we have come in my lifetime anyway on steels overall, and Stainless cutlery steels especially. I recall when knives were marked "stainless" or "surgical" and did not perform worth squat. One reason for my fondness of carbon and alloy tool steels. It wasn't until 92 when I bought my first Gin 1 ( marked G-2) Endura, and actually had respect for it. It took a decent edge, better than 440C IMO, but had a bit less wear resistance. It was sure better than most of the "surgical steel" knives made before then. This steel was supposed to be a stainless version ( sort of) of 3V. That's supposedly why it was called S30V instead of S40V ( 4% vanadium, not 3%.

That we could be bored with, or not impressed with the performance of S30V shows just how far we've come in that time. It's pretty amazing if you think of it

Joe
 
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The Mastiff said:
That we could be bored with, or not impressed with the performance of S30V shows just how far we've come in that time. It's pretty amazing if you think of it

Joe
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Oh man, this just is the crux of the issue for me Joe. I grew up on 5160(leaf springs) and 52100(ball bearing and ball races) with hit or miss heat treat and this makes s30v pretty impressive to me. I still have knives in both steels that I really like but they also make me appreciate more what is available now.
 
I like Spyderco s30v and how agressively it cuts!I just put toothy edge on it and dont care if it has small micro chip in it, it still cuts very well!!!I stabbed through drywall few times to see how the Para2 tip would hold up...no damage at all.
 
Looking at my collection I have found only one knife in S30V, my DDR Gun Hammer. This knife came razor sharp and after using it for some time has stayed sharp. I have plenty of knives in 154CM, ATS-34, 1095, VG-10, AUS-8 and one in CPM 440V. Of these I like the 440V best.

Edit: Remembered my ZT 350 is S30V also. This knife hasn't been used as much as my Gun Hammer so I'm not sure of the edge retention, but again it came razor sharp.
 
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