Chipping in Spyderco S30V

Broos said:
So you're telling us that 4 sheets of newsprint made the tip of an S30V knife chip off? Not one possible explanation posted in this thread even comes close to explaining a few pieces of paper making a steel chip. It is akin to saying a gust of wind blew off the tip of the knife! I have a hard time believing that this is even in the realm of possibility, even if there was some kind of issue as hypothesized in previous posts.

I have many S30V knives, a number with thin and polished edges (S30V will take a wicked polished edge) and have never had a chipping problem.
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So it is possible. If somethings wrong witth the single blade, it is. I have noticed a clear visible chip in my very first D2 blade (the thing that made me part of this forum, very first post here, five years ago) after cutting through soft sausagge.

I have noticed a visible chip where there was no before with out cutting anything special in a S30V blade.

Doesn´t mean it happens all time and again. But it is possible.

Razosharp has pointed out the reasons.
 
I have a Walmart Native. The edge chipped in several places. I have no idea what I cut that caused it to chip. Touched up the edge, and removed the chips.
 
Using a knife will cause it to chip, scratch, scuff, discolor, rust, dull. Unless it renders the knife useless, I no longer care. I sharpen them up, clean them off and keep on going. Some won't agree with that, and that's okay. Having a chip-free polished edge on my cutlery isn't at the top of my list of my priorities right now, although it had been in the past.

I refuse to buy anything else with S30V because it's a bitch to sharpen without diamond rods. Just my preference. Isn't it funny how a steel specifically designed for cutlery has had so many perceived problems, at least here on the forums?
 
symphonyincminor said:
Using a knife will cause it to chip, scratch, scuff, discolor, rust, dull. Unless it renders the knife useless, I no longer care. I sharpen them up, clean them off and keep on going. Some won't agree with that, and that's okay. Having a chip-free polished edge on my cutlery isn't at the top of my list of my priorities right now, although it had been in the past.

I refuse to buy anything else with S30V because it's a bitch to sharpen without diamond rods. Just my preference. Isn't it funny how a steel specifically designed for cutlery has had so many perceived problems, at least here on the forums?
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I actually have no problems sharpening my S30V and S90V knives on my ceramic rods. And I've only heard few, if any, complaints about S30V in general.

Can someone post some pictures of these "chips" ? I personally have never had a blade chip on me before. Is this like a chip in the edge? Or a bit of the steel that flaked off?
 
Josh K said:
I actually have no problems sharpening my S30V and S90V knives on my ceramic rods. And I've only heard few, if any, complaints about S30V in general.

Can someone post some pictures of these "chips" ? I personally have never had a blade chip on me before. Is this like a chip in the edge? Or a bit of the steel that flaked off?
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I agree that S30V is not difficult to sharpen.

I don't have a pic handy of my paramil with the chip, but there are 2 chunks of edge completely gone, each about 1 mm or so long and maybe a bit less than that deep. Rectangular divots out of the edge, not just flaked off or rolled, but metal complete gone.
 
dogrunner said:
My paramil in S30V (an early one, most likely, since I bought it as soon as they became available, and even got one with a collector club number on it) has some substantial chips in it. Two very visible missing chunks of metal from the edge.

I use my knives for all sorts of cutting jobs and sometimes shi! happens - you hit a nail or a rock or something. I don't baby them, nor do I expect them to remain pristine. Still, I was surprised to see chips of this magnitude...
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Any chance you have photos, or can describe what in particular made the knife chip? Interested to hear.
 
After three weeks, the first sharpening, with the slight change in edge angle, I've seen no more chips. I've used the knife for the same chores as initially. It's still just as sharp. From the different theories, sounds like the edge was a little brittle initially and now has stabalized out with removal of some metal and a slightly different angle. Maybe if I'd put a little custom edge on it at the beginning, there might have been no chipping at all.
 
COULD have had slight tempering embrittlement in the very edge if the grinding was slightly too hard. When you re-ground the edge and removed some material the blade is fine. Could be like that, but without a real analysis it's impossible to know for sure.
 
Razorsharp244 said:
COULD have had slight tempering embrittlement in the very edge if the grinding was slightly too hard. When you re-ground the edge and removed some material the blade is fine. Could be like that, but without a real analysis it's impossible to know for sure.
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I'm inclined to believe that the chipping is a result of how the edge was ground too. ;)
 
Vivi said:
Any chance you have photos, or can describe what in particular made the knife chip? Interested to hear.
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I'll try to remember to get some pics this weekend - knife and camera don't come to work with me.
I'm almost certain that the first and larger chip happened when the blade hit a nail in a piece of wood I was trying to cut through. Obviously that will be hard on a blade :eek: but it has happened before with other knives and no chipping (rolled or dented edges yes, but no chunks knocked loose).

I certainly do not blame the blade ! Nor do I think it was unreasonable use - knives are tools for cutting things and sometimes those things hit back in realworld use (accidental contact with metal, rock, really dry pronghorn skulls, etc). I would not use a knife I thought I had to baby. I still use this one and have had few problems.
 
Hi Mr. Brownshoe.

Sorry for your difficulty.

I don't think there is a heat treat problem. If any, the "culprit" is that we use a very thin edge geometry on our knives. Most of our customers prefer this.

The edge might be considered too thin for some tougher cuts, but sharpening is far easier with the thinner edge, especially with the high carbon and high vanadium steels.

If it's really a problem, please send it to me and I can run it run it through the lab. Be sure to include your return address so I can return it or replace it with somethng that would please you.

sal
 
Sal Glesser said:
Hi Mr. Brownshoe.

Sorry for your difficulty.

I don't think there is a heat treat problem. If any, the "culprit" is that we use a very thin edge geometry on our knives. Most of our customers prefer this.

The edge might be considered too thin for some tougher cuts, but sharpening is far easier with the thinner edge, especially with the high carbon and high vanadium steels.

If it's really a problem, please send it to me and I can run it run it through the lab. Be sure to include your return address so I can return it or replace it with somethng that would please you.

sal
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Hi Sal,

I've seen thinned out Spydies in S30V plenty of times from other forum members and I've done it with my Para and didn't see this type of chipping in these cases. I know the edge on my Para was a lot thinner than any factory edge that I've seen. You're probably right since you see more of your knives than I do. I just haven't seen any factory edge with really thin edges and I haven't seen any thinned out edges that exhibited this type of excessive chipping.
 
i have a spyderco manix with the same problem,restored the edge 2 times with the edge pro apex,seems there are no problems anymore with chipping,seems to me there are more than a few knifesteels who needs another angle to perform better,in the german messer magazin it was tested as a winner,also more than a few knifenuts from belgium and netherlands think it is at the same level as a sebenza,i think spyderco makes theyre knives pretty good.

grtz,jurgen.
 
Blop said:
So it is possible. If somethings wrong witth the single blade, it is. I have noticed a clear visible chip in my very first D2 blade (the thing that made me part of this forum, very first post here, five years ago) after cutting through soft sausagge.

I have noticed a visible chip where there was no before with out cutting anything special in a S30V blade.

Doesn´t mean it happens all time and again. But it is possible.

Razosharp has pointed out the reasons.
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That is quite an extrapolation from his post to what you are claiming. What Razorsharp posted were explanations for chipping. It was not an explanation for a tip to come from cutting a few pieces of paper. The force on the tip from the UPS man throwing the box into the truck was probably greater than from cutting paper. Maybe he cut the paper while it was laying on something? That could cause a (very) weak tip to fail. There is something missing in this story, and somebody with "materials testing experience" should be able to offer a better description or explanation than what is offered here, especially given his past vendetta against this company (who makes some great knives, btw).
 
I thought I'd update this after a few months of T-mag use. After removing the one chip and fixing the tip, I've used the knife quite a bit. There have been no more problems. There were two industry people that responded. Glesser indicated it might have been the severe angle and the man from Sandivik indicated possible grinding with insufficient cooling.

I could test one theory at home but not the other. I took my Buck Hartsook and reduced the edge to about what the Spyderco initially was and used it for the same mundane chores. Low and behold it got a tiny microchip just like the Spyderco within a few days. When I subsequently backed off the angle a bit...no additional chips.

Sooo, this certainly unscientific test using two different products made of the same material by two different companies, comes up with the same answer. An edge angle significantly less than the 30 degree inclusive or 15 degree one-side of the Sharpmaker can cause S30V to chip. Is it coinkydink or truth...you decide.

As a final test of the Spyderco s30v, just for grins, I took off a non-screw-cap beer bottle cap with my T-mag. Some would count this as knife abuse. As expected (or I wouldn't have done it) the tip did not break off nor was there any chip in the cutting edge. Overall a good steel and good heat treat by Spyderco. My edge retention has been excellent for the Tmag and my two Bucks in S30v. S30v is certainly worth the money if edge retention is important to you.

If I get another S30V knife with an acute edge, I'll probably run it on the 15 degree sharpmaker rods for about 10 strokes a stone and finish up with about 5 strokes on the 20 degree white rods.

I will say that I've got new respect for the potential utility of the old fashioned brass rod test. This test would have probably caught whatever was less than perfect with my knife.
 
Outdoors Fanatic said:
That sounds exactly like my Native in S30V. The tip not only chipped, but it broke right away after falling onto my carpeted floor tip down. Also, the edge had several chips from cutting aluminum beer cans-- a pretty easy and mild task for all my other folders made of cheaper steels...
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brownshoe said:
As a final test of the Spyderco s30v, just for grins, I took off a non-screw-cap beer bottle cap with my T-mag. Some would count this as knife abuse. As expected (or I wouldn't have done it) the tip did not break off nor was there any chip in the cutting edge.
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There should be a primer on Knife Use posted as a sticky.

For instance:

When making a katana-esque downward swing at the apple on your desktop in an attempt to cleave it in two, it would be wise to place a wooden cutting board underneath it.

Unless your knife comes equipped with a bottle cap lifter, it is unwise to use the sharpened edge to lift off bottle caps.

Crushing is a great method for making cans smaller. It may not leave you with a glittery potpourri of aluminum scraps, nor will it impress your beer drinkin' buddies, but some have called it more sensible than the inexplicable practice of whittling cans to prove the worth of a pocketknife.

A beer can crusher can be purchased at nominal cost. Note, the can crusher does not have a sharpened edge, whereas the cutting tool has a fine edge designed for use on things are not, themselves, metal.
 
Well beer cans (up to half liter) are still made from steel over here and i never had any problems cutting them into pieces.

I have noticed edge wear by cutting cat food cans, that are, made of steel too but definatly thicker. Beer cans about 5 Liters are as thick too and can cause noticable wear on the edge.

Using the edge to open caps will damage any edge for sure!
 
"Using the edge to open caps will damage any edge for sure!"

Didn't do it to my T-mag. One caveat though, I pried the cap loose with the tip, I did not use the edge to bully it off. No rolling, no chips.
 
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