Chipped S30V...

S

Starmarion

Joined
May 5, 2023
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I've got a Spyderco Manix 2 with S30V steel, and I was dressing some game and cutting zip ties on the same day, and somewhere along the line, I chipped the blade pretty good but didn't notice it until I got home. It's not that bad, but S30V is a hard steel, and I don't have a work sharp or any of that killer stuff. Any ideas on a good way to sharpen out the chip?
 
A DMT coarse stone is fairly cheap. I would consider either that or adding a diamond stone to your current system. But anything will work if you have patience.
 
Starmarion said:
I've got a Spyderco Manix 2 with S30V steel, and I was dressing some game and cutting zip ties on the same day, and somewhere along the line, I chipped the blade pretty good but didn't notice it until I got home. It's not that bad, but S30V is a hard steel, and I don't have a work sharp or any of that killer stuff. Any ideas on a good way to sharpen out the chip?
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I have watched a few videos on steels and so on. In one blade show interview, Tim Reeve mentioned in passing, that chipping is one reason that CRK moved away from S30V and on into the higher alloys in these past twenty years or so. Today, they use magnicut for "civilian use" knives for its all around corrosion resistance, withadequate toughness and edge retention.

He said that their "military" blades were from 45V (?) to maximize toughness and edge retention but treated them with Cerecoat (is that Epoxy?) for corrosion protection.
 
Ceracoat is a ceramic epoxy based coating, often used on firearms. Not sure why one would need to coat CPM S45VN as it is pretty well corrosion resistant (16% Cr and .15% Nitrogen), better than S30V.
 
Starmarion said:
I've got a Spyderco Manix 2 with S30V steel, and I was dressing some game and cutting zip ties on the same day, and somewhere along the line, I chipped the blade pretty good but didn't notice it until I got home. It's not that bad, but S30V is a hard steel, and I don't have a work sharp or any of that killer stuff. Any ideas on a good way to sharpen out the chip?
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Buy a spyderco sharpmaker, easy simple way to get a good edge. Bench stones are better but require more practice and precision. Good luck with whatever you decide
 
Zip ties, bone, even grit embedded in animal hide can cause chips. You need diamond hones to sharpen high vanadium carbide steels like S30V. A DMT DiaSharp coarse/fine works great and is not expensive.
 
For grinding out edge damage, either a Coarse/XC diamond hone or a Coarse silicon carbide stone (SiC) can grind S30V pretty easily. Grind out the chipped portion by putting the edge vertically perpendicular to the stone's surface, as if cutting into the stone, and grind the apex uniformly flat to the depth of the chipped portion, along the edge's full length. Then regrind the edge bevels to near apex. Then use diamond for apexing and refining to full sharpness. Diamond is better in the refining stages because that's where the size of the carbides will be an issue relative to the size of the finer grit used to refine & shape the carbides. At much coarser grit, the grit will essentially 'scoop' carbides out of the softer matrix steel. And that can be done with other grit types like SiC, because the grit doesn't need to shape the harder carbides in that stage, but just get them out of the way.
 
Meridian said:
Buy a spyderco sharpmaker, easy simple way to get a good edge. Bench stones are better but require more practice and precision. Good luck with whatever you decide
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Having sharpened s30v on a sharpmaker, I would never want to sharpen out a chip with a sharpmaker. It'll take a month of Sundays.

I'd recommend a dmt aligner system. Like a lansky with better stones, diamond. I've had some chipping in a k390 knife which is a good bit harder and more wear resistant than s30v and had no problems getting it sharpened out with my dmt. A regular dmt coarse plate would work too, I'm just not a handsharpener. I would recommend a coarse dmt plate at least. Coarse is a good combo of fast removal but still makes an edge you can shave with
 
I have had S30v chip but can’t remember which knife.

As others have said get diamond abrasives and go to work.
 
elevator man said:
Having sharpened s30v on a sharpmaker, I would never want to sharpen out a chip with a sharpmaker. It'll take a month of Sundays.

I'd recommend a dmt aligner system. Like a lansky with better stones, diamond. I've had some chipping in a k390 knife which is a good bit harder and more wear resistant than s30v and had no problems getting it sharpened out with my dmt. A regular dmt coarse plate would work too, I'm just not a handsharpener. I would recommend a coarse dmt plate at least. Coarse is a good combo of fast removal but still makes an edge you can shave with
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It's simple with diamond stones on it to remove the chip then move down grits, coarse, medium, etc. Ive sharpened 10v, s90v with that setup. That said a 240/400 grit venev diamond bench stone is superior, I'd wager the same for dmt diamond stones. Just higher skillset using em
 
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