Blade Steels, Specifically S30V

riz_aaroni

riz_aaroni

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Hello,

Over the past few years of knife buying/selling/using, I was never really into blade steels. There were are so many types and opinions on each, that I never really was worried about that. I simply focused on overall quality and the usefulness of the knife for me. Luckily the knives I've been buying have been quality ones, the steel has been good. Though after quick browse of this link, http://www.dougritter.com/pop_up_cpms30v.htm, I have to admit I can really see where people can be big fans of one steel over another. If all the information is correct on the link, S30V does look like an amazing steel. I'm glad it is in my Para Military I have and now appreciate the price of the Buck Vantage Pro that has S30V for $45 or so.

Anyone have similar stories or maybe a good resource for steels in general? A comparison table/chart of the different steel properties would be cool.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

-Aaron
 
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Buck's S30V is really good. Paul Bos heat treats it to 59. No chipping issues while cutting heavy copper wiring even at very acute angle edges. It's very fine grained as far as a stainless steel goes, in that I'm not getting a toothy edge after wear. Usually with stainless, after some wear, when I glide the edge over my fingernail, I feel the toothiness.

Edge retention is about the same as 154CM, but S30V is finer grained and more chip resistant. At least Buck's version of the steel. I might get another Vantage Pro and ask them to reharden it to 61.
 
It doesn't matter whether you get a hunk of S30V in a $46-$50 Buck #347 Vantage Pro or Spyderco Native ($50+), it makes the knife.

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Of course, in a Benchmade Skirmish 630 or 635BK, it's appropriate, too.

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The steel takes and holds an edge exceedingly well. I've never 'rolled' a fine edge - or chipped it - just evenly dulled it - usually after cutting down cardboard boxes. Great steel. A great bargain in a fixed blade of S30V is the Gerber Freeman hunter with a stag handle - as well as the Buck Kalinga Pro #408. All the knives I've mentioned are US-made, too.

Stainz
 
cotdt said:
Buck's S30V is really good. Paul Bos heat treats it to 59. No chipping issues while cutting heavy copper wiring even at very acute angle edges. It's very fine grained as far as a stainless steel goes, in that I'm not getting a toothy edge after wear. Usually with stainless, after some wear, when I glide the edge over my fingernail, I feel the toothiness.

Edge retention is about the same as 154CM, but S30V is finer grained and more chip resistant. At least Buck's version of the steel. I might get another Vantage Pro and ask them to reharden it to 61.
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154cm does not have similar edge retention as S30V, its not even close. Almost all CPM steels get a toothy edge when they start to wear that's what makes them cut so long. Good luck getting buck to re-harded a blade.
 
knifenut1013 said:
154cm does not have similar edge retention as S30V, its not even close. Almost all CPM steels get a toothy edge when they start to wear that's what makes them cut so long. Good luck getting buck to re-harded a blade.
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I have a Bos-ht'ed 154CM blade at hrc 60 which performs about the same as S30V at 59, but the S30V is more resistant to chipping, and so far I've got less of a toothy edge than the 154CM blade. In terms of edge holding I don't notice much difference shaving wood. My M2 (64) and CPM-M4 (62?) seems to have something like 5x better edge retention than these steels though, and finer grained at the same time (only noticeable after some wear).
 
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cotdt said:
I have a Bos-ht'ed 154CM blade at hrc 60 which performs about the same as S30V at 59, but the S30V is more resistant to chipping, and so far I've got less of a toothy edge than the 154CM blade. In terms of edge holding I don't notice much difference shaving wood. My M2 (64) and CPM-M4 (62?) seems to have something like 5x better edge retention than these steels though, and finer grained at the same time (only noticeable after some wear).
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In general cutting I could see how 154cm at Rc 60 might come close to S30V but when you really start cutting S30V will leave 154cm in the dust.
 
When it first came out there was a lot of skepticism, and a lot of inconsistencies in performance. (That's something to keep in mind when buying S30V knives from the earlier 2000s)
Now that the kinks seem to have been worked out, it's really come into its own as a knife steel.
 
knifenut1013 said:
In general cutting I could see how 154cm at Rc 60 might come close to S30V but when you really start cutting S30V will leave 154cm in the dust.
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You mean slicing abrasive rope? I could imagine that, I was doing mainly push-cutting where if you gave me one blade in S30V and another in 154CM, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

missin_hobo said:
When it first came out there was a lot of skepticism, and a lot of inconsistencies in performance. (That's something to keep in mind when buying S30V knives from the earlier 2000s)
Now that the kinks seem to have been worked out, it's really come into its own as a knife steel.
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I avoided this steel for a long time because of bad reports. Now it's one of my favorite stainless steels, it's pretty tough among stainless steels and takes a keen edge. Mine has not rusted yet, unlike my knives in VG-10 and ZDP-189.
 
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Yes, if you cut anything abrasive S30V will be the clear winner. Cutting something like wood is not going to give you accurate depiction of edge retention.
 
Thanks for all the information and first hand reports. Quality of the steel is always nice. For some time there I didn't really see the differences between steels, but once you sharpen a POS United knife that has noname steel....you get the idea. My friends knife was nearly impossible to sharpen. I was doing it by hand mind you, but it took forever to even see any marks on the blade. Compare that to VG10 that does take some time to sharpen, but there is visible improvement with the sharpening.

All this talk and thinking about steel and knives has got me hankering to buy another knife lol.
 
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