Buck S35VN chipping

R

Roamad

Joined
Feb 1, 2016
Messages
605
I have a Buck Marksman Inferno, a semicustom from SKBlades, which I love. But I recently noticed edge chipping in two places on the blade:

B0-FFADE9-FA1-F-4-C0-F-8088-33-AAF0-B2-F940.jpg


I’ve had the knife for about two years and never sharpened it. It has held an edge extremely well, except for this chipping. I have not abused the knife, but I’ve used heavily as an EDC for all kinds of stuff, from shaping bits of lumber for small woodworking projects to cutting heavy rope and some bushcrafty stuff.

Has anyone seen this in Buck’s S35VN, and will Buck repair this under warranty?
 
My 112 in S35VN has not shown any chipping. I have always thought a edge that chipped was because of the way it was sharpened not the steel type. If a blade was profiled very thin for instance for self defense (true razor's edge) it would be easily damaged by normal use. My Slim Pro plus was the 'sharpest' knife I have ever received from Buck and has held a usable edge for months now with no damage. I consider S35VN to be the best steel I have personally used but I have not resharpned it yet myself or abused or given it any hard use.
 
Roamad said:
I have a Buck Marksman Inferno, a semicustom from SKBlades, which I love. But I recently noticed edge chipping in two places on the blade:

I’ve had the knife for about two years and never sharpened it. It has held an edge extremely well, except for this chipping. I have not abused the knife, but I’ve used heavily as an EDC for all kinds of stuff, from shaping bits of lumber for small woodworking projects to cutting heavy rope and some bushcrafty stuff.

Has anyone seen this in Buck’s S35VN, and will Buck repair this under warranty?
Click to expand...

Sometimes when the initial edge is applied at the factory with a grinder or belt sander, it can overheat the edge ruining the temper - resulting in brittleness and chipping. Reprofiling the edge by hand (not machine) - maybe multiple times - can remove enough material to expose the properly heat treated and tempered steel. This can result in a much more stable edge.
 
I’ll agree, the factory edge can chip as two of my s30v blades have and a 20cv. After getting the chipped edge removed by hand with diamond stones and re profiled they haven’t chipped yet. I don’t know if it’s heat and grinding to fast or if it’s the grinding force that is loosening the carbides at the very thin apex where there is less metal for structural strength. IDK Maybe both. So far my S35vn hasn’t chipped and two of my s30v blades haven’t chipped. It would be interesting to know for sure why this happens to new factory edges and after hand sharpening they don’t chip.
 
S35VN was intentionally designed to be slightly tougher than S30V. It gives up some edge retention as the trade off. That said, it is still not really a tough steel and the toughness is very dependent on the entire heat treatment process.

Burnt factory edges are very common across the entire industry and I suppose it might be a factor but my experience is that usually means quicker dulling rather than chipping. But it could certainly be thinned and brittle as a result.

The likely culprit is the wood working. That's lateral stress and can lead to chipping, especially in higher vanadium-carbide steels. But as others said, if you've been using that untouched for two years for the tasks you mentioned, I'd say it is doing well. Sharpen it and go back to using it. I don't think I'd drop the profile any though and some might advocate a micro-bevel but I just don't bother with them.

There's a lot more to it than just steel X and steel Y, with the heat treatment and geometry being critical factors in performance. But as Phil Wilson more or less said, they all fail at some point. You either get a chip or a roll, take your pick. :)
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the feedback. Can y’all recommend a specific sharpening tool for this steel? I have a fair bit of sharpening experience, but not with this steel.
 
Roamad said:
Thanks for the feedback. Can y’all recommend a specific sharpening tool for this steel? I have a fair bit of sharpening experience, but not with this steel.
Click to expand...

jbmonkey jbmonkey is right that diamond or SiC will work. S35VN has 3% vanadium and 4% is generally considered the point at which diamond/CBN is needed.

I only have one knife in S35VN so not much experience but I think I'd still opt for diamond for it.
 
I dropped my Ranger Pro the other day on a cement slap while cutting through some thick cardbord and the blade had a small chip. I expected it to be worse for wear as the top heavy knife landed blade down. I used my Sharpmaker with a diamond stone first and sharpened with the finer stones next down to the ceramic. Its now good to go. Just a good ol tough knife.
 
And this was touched on earlier, but would anybody recommend reprofiling the edge to prevent future chipping?
 
Roamad said:
And this was touched on earlier, but would anybody recommend reprofiling the edge to prevent future chipping?
Click to expand...
depends what you want to continue to cut with it. if harder wood is a regular use of the knife I might widen the bevel to around +-35 or 40 degrees inclusive. should hold up fine to wood if none to very limited lateral pressure is applied when working the harder wood. really just depends on what you're cutting and what you experience while doing it. adjust to minimize/eliminate it. this assumes there is no metal defects of course.

could also send to Buck and have them sharpen it out and watch and see if it happens again under same cutting tasks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top