Are the "teething problems" of S30V and S35VN gone?

dkb45 said:
Alright, so Gaston is full of it.
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Truth.

Unlike Gaston, I actually use my knives rather than stuff them down my pants in a sock, or ruin them with idiotic sharpening attempts.
I have never has any issues with S30V steel, even when cross-grain batonning to make a shelter:

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The only problem is that the combination of S30V steel and titanium can result in time travel, as the date stamps of photos taken on the same outing prove. :D

And yes, Gaston should never be listened to.
 
Many thanks for your replies. I have two conclusions:
1. Regardless whether S30V and/or S35VN knives had any problems their first years of general availability, there are no significant problems or difficulties creating or maintaining knives having these blade materials now. Since my sharpening fixture assembly is a Gatco diamond, and I sharpen my blades to have 19-degree edges on each side, "No worries, mate."

2. Gaston444, if 500 people tell you you're drunk, perhaps you should sit down.
 
I am quite free from doubt whether actual ugly-through-great S3*V* experiences (use & maint) taken place based on personal and others accounts.

Rational/analytical mind most likely to choose/decide on 95% confidence interval (i.e. common sense ;)). While uglies & greats are just outliers (simply unluckies & luckies). Ongoing 95% CI of S3*V* indicate/IMO - they are good steels for general cutting tasks.
 
Im no steel expert ... but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night ...

but seriously I own several knives in both S30V and S35VN ... I prefer S35VN ... but I have never had any roll or chip in my uses. And they both are reasonably easy to sharpen ... and very easy to maintain with a few minutes attention at the end of a day of use.

So I wouldn't think twice about buying a knife you like if it has either steel.
 
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I have not personally experienced any defciencies with the two steels. I think just like with any other steel, if they are not properly heat treated one may have issues. I have had spyderco s30v and s35vn and zt s35vn
 
I have used a lot of S30V and S35VN from Spyderco and only once did I have any real issues. I took a S30V Para2 down to around 20 degrees inclusive and cut up a large area rug with rather rough technique and did have some rolling of the edge. Other than that one time I have not had any issues.

I did once drop that same Para2 on asphalt tip first. I lost less than 1/16 of an inch of the tip. It actually bent and when I tried to press the tip against a hard surface to straighten it out it snapped right off. It was a small piece that broke off and sharpened right out. I was pretty impressed that it wasn't worse than that.
 
Naphtali said:
Many thanks for your replies. I have two conclusions:
1. Regardless whether S30V and/or S35VN knives had any problems their first years of general availability, there are no significant problems or difficulties creating or maintaining knives having these blade materials now. Since my sharpening fixture assembly is a Gatco diamond, and I sharpen my blades to have 19-degree edges on each side, "No worries, mate."

2. Gaston444, if 500 people tell you you're drunk, perhaps you should sit down.
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Can you drink more if you sit down :D
 
Only time I've seen a tiny bit of S30V chipping was on a new factory edge. Once I sharpened it, no more problem. I do prefer S35VN though, seems a bit more forgiving, like it's tougher or not quite as hard, and neither is a problem to sharpen.

I sit down to drink, because I'm getting old and don't want to spill any.
 
S30V is a very easy steel to sharpen. I don't have to do more than a few passes with my Wicked Edge to get a really nice edge.
 
To be honest even during the time when s30v was receiving all the bad press and like every knife was being made in it, I only got one knife that displayed any chipping at all. It was a BM 940, the green aluminum handled one back quite close to when they were switching all their models from 154cm to s30v. The edge took some unexplainable chips as I han't exposed the edge to anything hard.

After a few sharpening sessions I got down to better steel and haven't had chipping issues with it sincs, fingers crossed. So even the one bad example of s30v was fine after someg sharpening. Any of my other s30v blades that experienced chipping it was totally my fault. Like dropping on a concrete floor or something. So yeah, in my humble opinion s30v's issues are way overblown.

S35vn I didn't even know had any bad. Reputation. To be honest I like s35vn much more than s30v because it feels like a happy medium between 154cm and s30v
 
I own two knives in S30v, both from Benchmade. The only time I have had chipping problems, it was of my own doing. Not the fault of the steel or the manufacturer.

I hope the problems have been worked out of both S30v and S35vn. I have plans to buy an S35 knife next summer or fall.
 
One infraction for trolling. This is not Whine and Cheese.

I have several knives in both S35VN and S30V. No problems with chipping. No problems with sharpening.
 
I have a correction, I have had micro chipping with S30V, actually during sharpening (which was rather odd), but it's happened with more than one steel, and I have had micro chipping from cardboard (which could be from hard inclusions in the cardboard, stuff is really dirty sometimes), and a major chip once on S35VN from prying a chunk of wood out of my electric hedge trimmer (might have hit the blade).
 
knarfeng said:
I have several knives in both S35VN and S30V. No problems with chipping. No problems with sharpening.
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Pretty much my experience. I have not been impressed by S35VN though. Lots of people like it and think it is a worthwhile improvement. I think it trades some edge holding for ease of sharpening, not better just different. As long as the knife is properly heat treated they are both good steels for a folder or small fixed blade. For medium to large fixed blades I do not care for either.
knarfeng said:
One infraction for trolling. This is not Whine and Cheese.
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Maybe he was just happy to see him.
 
I remember the problem with S30V. Every time a suspect knife was tested in the lab at Crucible they found nothing wrong except in one case. That was a blown heat treat IIRC and it was a custom maker not one of the major companies we deal with here. It turned out there wasn't a problem after all. Some people/knife makers weren't exactly blowing anything but the way the knives were finished wasn't ideal. There was no progression up grit #s during sharpening on the belts. They were ground then finished at whatever they were left at. Hand sharpening at home had many guys doing things properly which was one of the reasons the idea of "sharpening off the burnt steel" became common knowledge. The thing was in the labs there wasn't any burnt steel.

To give people a fix to the problem they fiddled with the chemistry. Notably they put in Niobium to pin the grain boundaries which was nice but not really needed. It fixed a non existent problem but it did give us a choice of another really good steel so for us consumers it worked out. I wouldn't guess how much R&D dollars were spent by Crucible though to fix a problem someone with little real knowledge of steel created from having a larger ego than a knowledge base. Crucible later went out of business and was purchased by Carpenter, I believe?

Unfortunately there was a guy that then "found" a problem with S35Vn steel leading to more common knowledge about a problem that didn't exist. It was a lack of sharpening skill with the one self professed you tube reviewer and that naturally caused other people to agree showing how knowledgeable they too were.

A similar thing happened with Elmax and Kershaw/ZT. Naturally common knowledge has it that the heat treat was changed and there are generations of certain knives with good and bad steel.

Essentially the problem is one for sociologists or ? more than it is metallurgists. The point I'm making is it's inevitable that when we see new steels introduced some self appointed expert will attempt to show how he found and diagnosed a problem no one else did and it will catch hold like a spark in tinder and become a fact to some people even though it isn't true.

In my 50 years of knife use I can't say I've ever found a true blown heat treat. I've seen pot metal blades from Pakistan with unhardened stainless in the 40's to low 50's hrc ( I think it was stainless steel) but I've never encountered a quality made knife that was that snafu'ed up and if I ever do I'll return it under warranty. Typically though when I see someone posting something I find hard to believe I try to find out more before I begin talking about things I'm not really qualified to talk about especially when it's having to do with someones money and livelihood.

Joe
 
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I have a number of knives in S30V and S35V. I have only had chipping with the Northarms bird and trout that I use as a paring knife. It is ground at 25 degrees inclusive and comes without a secondary bevel. The company has a section on their website devoted to how to deal with chipping.

The knife is a bargain and excellent. Once I put a micro bevel on the blade, there has been no more. mocro chipping. The knives are sent out with a too fine included angle on the blade. Despite this, I would highly recommend them. It is no big deal to touch up the edge and in every other respect, the knives are fine. They are well worth a look.

I haven't had any chipping with any of the other knives I have in S35V or S30V and I use them quite a bit.
 
There certainly was an issue with S30V chipping in the early days, although it was controversial even then. My EDC is a Benchmade Rukus, first production run. Even after all these years and many sharpening down to "good" steel, it will still chip under hard use. With normal or light use, it's not an issue. But in the early days, some blades would micro-chip with even light use. One knife maker told me the problem was in the quench. If S30V isn't quenched quickly enough, it can chip.

Personally, I think S30V is an excellent steel. It's more difficult than most steels to properly heat treat; but if you get it right, the steel is great. Look at all the major companies that use it. They like it. It works. But it did chip.
 
How true Joe.
We have a few self proclaimed ‘experts’ on You Tube that feel it is their responsibility to educate us Knife knuts.
All that BS comes down to is click bait.
I especially loved the sanctimonious apostle’s vid titled ‘Comsumer Alert’. Alerting us to the fact that Spydie was calling their customers stupid by using red Loctite.
Jdavis was another pinhead in that regard. I remember Sal reached out to him to send that Native in for testing......never happened.
Joe

The Mastiff said:
I remember the problem with S30V. Every time a suspect knife was tested in the lab at Crucible they found nothing wrong except in one case. That was a blown heat treat IIRC and it was a custom maker not one of the major companies we deal with here. It turned out there wasn't a problem after all. Some people/knife makers weren't exactly blowing anything but the way the knives were finished wasn't ideal. There was no progression up grit #s during sharpening on the belts. They were ground then finished at whatever they were left at. Hand sharpening at home had many guys doing things properly which was one of the reasons the idea of "sharpening off the burnt steel" became common knowledge. The thing was in the labs there wasn't any burnt steel.

To give people a fix to the problem they fiddled with the chemistry. Notably they put in Niobium to pin the grain boundaries which was nice but not really needed. It fixed a non existent problem but it did give us a choice of another really good steel so for us consumers it worked out. I wouldn't guess how much R&D dollars were spent by Crucible though to fix a problem someone with little real knowledge of steel created from having a larger ego than a knowledge base. Crucible later went out of business and was purchased by Carpenter, I believe?

Unfortunately there was a guy that then "found" a problem with S35Vn steel leading to more common knowledge about a problem that didn't exist. It was a lack of sharpening skill with the one self professed you tube reviewer and that naturally caused other people to agree showing how knowledgeable they too were.

A similar thing happened with Elmax and Kershaw/ZT. Naturally common knowledge has it that the heat treat was changed and there are generations of certain knives with good and bad steel.

Essentially the problem is one for sociologists or ? more than it is metallurgists. The point I'm making is it's inevitable that when we see new steels introduced some self appointed expert will attempt to show how he found and diagnosed a problem no one else did and it will catch hold like a spark in tinder and become a fact to some people even though it isn't true.

In my 50 years of knife use I can't say I've ever found a true blown heat treat. I've seen pot metal blades from Pakistan with unhardened stainless in the 40's to low 50's hrc ( I think it was stainless steel) but I've never encountered a quality made knife that was that snafu'ed up and if I ever do I'll return it under warranty. Typically though when I see someone posting something I find hard to believe I try to find out more before I begin talking about things I'm not really qualified to talk about especially when it's having to do with someones money and livelihood.

Joe
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