bye bye S30V....hello S35V....? :/

jacobwilson99

jacobwilson99

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Jan 6, 2012
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My local knife store owner said that Crucible reorganized their company recently. In the reorganization, they discontinued the manufacturing of S30V. When Chris Reeves and another knife maker [forgot who] heard about this, they went over to Crucible and co-designed S35V as its replacement. They intentionally made it a little softer for the ease of other manufacturers use.

Any validity to this? Am I just hearing about old news late?

If true...I'm gonna miss S30....
 
This is the first I've heard about s30v going out of production, but I suppose it could be feasible though as s35vn was created as a successor to s30v. S35vn definitely was not made softer to the easier on manufacturers though. S35vn is typically heat treated to the same hardness ratings as s30v and features better toughness with a supposed slight bump in edge holding. Essential, it's a slight upgrade to s30v.
 
jacobwilson99 said:
My local knife store owner said that Crucible reorganized their company recently. In the reorganization, they discontinued the manufacturing of S30V. When Chris Reeves and another knife maker [forgot who] heard about this, they went over to Crucible and co-designed S35V as its replacement. They intentionally made it a little softer for the ease of other manufacturers use.

Any validity to this? Am I just hearing about old news late?

If true...I'm gonna miss S30....
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whoppers based on half truths .

S30V and S35VN are both on the web site. I have never heard of any plans to drop S30V. One does not drop a hot selling item immediately after a takeover.

Chris Reeve is currently using S35VN. He did not design it. He didn't whop up S30V either. He is a knife maker, not a metallurgist.

IIRC Chris Reeve and Phil Wilson both evaluated early batches of S30V for knife making. I have heard nothing about them evaluating S35VN.
 
knarfeng said:
whoppers based on half truths .

S30V and S35VN are both on the web site. I have never heard of any plans to drop S30V. One does not drop a hot selling item immediately after a takeover.

Chris Reeve is currently using S35VN. He did not design it. He didn't whop up S30V either. He is a knife maker, not a metallurgist.

IIRC Chris Reeve and Phil Wilson both evaluated early batches of S30V for knife making. I have heard nothing about them evaluating S35VN.
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Good memory. According to Dick Barber, the actual maker of S30v: " In addition to working closely with Chris [Reeve] I also consulted makers like Sal Glesser, Ernie Emersion, Tony Marfione, Phil Wilson, Bill Harsey, Mike Jones, Steve Ingrim, Tom Mayo, Jerry Hossom and Paul Bos."
 
I have no clue if it's true, but I'd be ok with it as long as makers learn to perfect the heat treat of s35vn
 
As far as I know, and don't quote me on this, the main difference between S30V and S35VN is that S35VN contains Niobium, supposedly allowing the steel to retain a finer grain structure and better wear resistance while not being as brittle at higher RC as S30V. It may be an improvement upon S30V, but a totally different steel suited for different purposes. S30V is still one of the most popular mid/high end production (and up until recently, many custom as well) knife steels. I can't imagine that they would discontinue it with it being so popular and different from S35VN. From a business standpoint it just doesn't make sense. If that were the case, then any stainless steel that may not perform as well as another steel in any given criteria would be discontinued so that the better, "improved" steel would take its place.
 
I'm not saying it makes sense, they should do it, or it's real. I love S30V. Just relaying what I heard today.
 
knarfeng said:
whoppers based on half truths .

S30V and S35VN are both on the web site. I have never heard of any plans to drop S30V. One does not drop a hot selling item immediately after a takeover.

Chris Reeve is currently using S35VN. He did not design it. He didn't whop up S30V either. He is a knife maker, not a metallurgist.

IIRC Chris Reeve and Phil Wilson both evaluated early batches of S30V for knife making. I have heard nothing about them evaluating S35VN.
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Chris Reeve came in awhile after others like Phil Wilson were working with S30V to figure out how to adapt it to use in knife blades, figure out the heat treatment and tempering process etc.

The original heat of S30V that was being tested was different from what we have today.
 
Lycosa said:
Bring back BG42.
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Too many steels out there that are a jump in performance to go backwards really.

BG-42 is a good steel though, but compared to what is available now....

As time goes on more steels will be available in quantities that the knife companies can use so things will only continue to get better.
 
jacobwilson99 said:
I'm not saying it makes sense, they should do it, or it's real. I love S30V. Just relaying what I heard today.
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I understand man, I didn't mean to come off like I was directing that at what you believe. You asked us if it was true and that's just my logical interpretation of the S30V / S35VN situation.
 
S30V is an excellent steel when it's heat treated and tempered correctly for those who use their knives.

It will get extremely sharp and holds an edge for a very long time.

It's harder to work with and finish than S35VN though due to the higher Vanadium content so time will tell how well S35VN does.

S35VN is somewhat easier to sharpen than S30V, or should I say faster from what I have seen, but that's perception based on what I have experienced with it.

The steel I would like to see more of, the one that was passed over in favor of S30V due to being hard to deal with due to the high Vanadium content is S90V.

S90V and S110V are two of the best steels around for those who use their knives, although harder to deal with and make knife blades out of the knives tend to be more expensive than those with S30V or S35VN.

Others are Steels like M390, VANAX and ELMAX, all high performance steels as are CTS-20CP, CTS-XHP and 20CV.

The steels are around...
 
spydusse said:
I believe the new rj martin collaboration with zero tolerance is going to be a powder version of bg42 from cts
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Spyderco has something coming down the road also in that steel if I remember correctly.
 
What I have read previously regarding S35V was that some time ago knife makers were looking for a S30V type steel that was easier to manipulate. S30V is a steel which is great for blades and not too good on the tool and dies. Costs of manufacturing blades rose as the time to grind S30V was longer and the dies that stamped out the blade shapes had to be replaced more frequently. Hence S35Vn was formulated to retain most of the characteristics of S30V and in the same instance be easier on the knife making tools.
 
RobCamlin said:
I understand man, I didn't mean to come off like I was directing that at what you believe. You asked us if it was true and that's just my logical interpretation of the S30V / S35VN situation.
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I appreciate that! :]


Urban Dweller said:
What I have read previously regarding S35V was that some time ago knife makers were looking for a S30V type steel that was easier to manipulate. S30V is a steel which is great for blades and not too good on the tool and dies. Costs of manufacturing blades rose as the time to grind S30V was longer and the dies that stamped out the blade shapes had to be replaced more frequently. Hence S35Vn was formulated to retain most of the characteristics of S30V and in the same instance be easier on the knife making tools.
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This is exactly what I heard when S35V first came out and makers started using it more.
 
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