CPM S30V: A Great Steel

G

GhOsT1321

Joined
May 5, 2009
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92
Was using my Spyderco Sage CF and ended up slipping and hitting some steel :eek:
The edge was slightly dented, this was easier seen under a high intensity light. I decided that instead of sharpening just the dent out, I would try to sharpen the entire knife, out of curiosity as to just how "hard" S30V is to sharpen...
I used a spyderco medium ceramic stone, then the fine, then stropped. This steel responds very well to a stone and to stropping, both do not take very long before a hair popping edge is established. This steel may be among my favorites, time and experience will tell, but the ease to sharpen and edge holding really make it stand out. Also, this knife quickly takes a micro serrated edge on the fine stone and cuts aggressively, while being able to shave hair off of the arm. When stropping, it takes a few passes before this steel shows any sign of being stropped, but it still does not take long to get a very smooth and refined edge.

Although I was a bit concerned about other users claiming S30V to be hard to sharpen, I would classify it as slow... Not particularly difficult, but sharpening just takes about another 5-10 minutes or so, as opposed to other steels (VG-10 for example). I sharpen my knives often and keep them sharp, it is rare if a knife ever gets unable to cleanly cut paper.

Just thought I would share my experience
 
I have to agree.

S30V was the first stinless to get my interest in over 20+ yrs.

ZT does a great job with it, Benchmade does ok with it as well. My ZT 0121 is quickly becoming my fixed blade EDC mainly due to this steel and a fantastic compact design.

I find it very easy to sharpen to a hair wiping edge, and it holds it way better than most other stainless steels I've tried. Greaat stuff.
 
Spyderco does an excellent job with S30V usually hitting right on or around 60 RC, that's were it's supposed to be. :)
 
After being a 1095 guy for a long time I had my reservations about my first knife with S30V and sure enough it chipped right off the get go. I worked it out on the Sharpmaker and it has never since chipped again. I believe it was just the factory edge.
 
bigmo66 said:
After being a 1095 guy for a long time I had my reservations about my first knife with S30V and sure enough it chipped right off the get go. I worked it out on the Sharpmaker and it has never since chipped again. I believe it was just the factory edge.
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That's one of the biggest problems with S30V, not the steels fault at all though, it was the factory edges that were the problem.

One of the reasons I always tell people to sharpen their blades once they get them in any steel. ;)
 
Ankerson said:
That's one of the biggest problems with S30V, not the steels fault at all though, it was the factory edges that were the problem.

One of the reasons I always tell people to sharpen their blades once they get them in any steel. ;)
Click to expand...

Seems to be especially prevalent with S30V, though, and my impression is that it is especially common with Benchmade and always gets solved as described.
 
i would'nt call s30 great but a real decent workhorse in stainless steels. buck's vantage pro in s30 is an outstanding value. spydie purchasers would probably do better to buy uncoated blades in s30 since the black blades i'm familiar with are softer than the standard.
dennis
 
When S30V is done right it will take an insane crazy sharp edge and hold it. :)
 
jim i certainly believe what you say--probably will buy another millie in uncoated blade to give it another try--but on 2nd thought will stay with the 2 b.m. m390s i bought.
dennis
 
DennisStrickland said:
jim i certainly believe what you say--probably will buy another millie in uncoated blade to give it another try--but on 2nd thought will stay with the 2 b.m. m390s i bought.
dennis
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I don't have a lot of experience but I seem to have noticed that the blade on my black millie was a bit easier to reprofile than on the satin blade of my orange millie. I thought it was just my imagination.
 
singularity35 said:
I don't have a lot of experience but I seem to have noticed that the blade on my black millie was a bit easier to reprofile than on the satin blade of my orange millie. I thought it was just my imagination.
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It would be odd if the heat treat were different. ??? :confused:
 
I couldn't agree more. I sharpened my Buck Vantage Pro the other day after almost a year of casual use. During that year, the blades done everything I asked of it, without a problem. I to was concerned it would be hard to sharpen, but it was easier than I thought and is now hair popping sharp again.

I really like VG10, but it doesn't hold an edge like S30V.
 
I have an F1 in VG10 and it takes a good crisp edge, and easily too. But it doesn't hold the edge anywhere near as long as my S30V ZT's.

The S30V has always been easy for me to get an excellent edge on. Plus it holds it very well. I haven't had any experience with some of the other more exotic stainless steels due to the fact that they have only been available on a very few blades of deisgns I haven't been interested in.
 
Recently made a skinning blade with S35VN which is basically Crucibles "new and improved" version. The extra time it takes to sharpen is well worth the edge holding abilities of this steel.
 
Ankerson said:
That's one of the biggest problems with S30V, not the steels fault at all though, it was the factory edges that were the problem.

One of the reasons I always tell people to sharpen their blades once they get them in any steel. ;)
Click to expand...

JNewell said:
Seems to be especially prevalent with S30V, though, and my impression is that it is especially common with Benchmade and always gets solved as described.
Click to expand...


That is interesting...
Most of my knives from Spyderco are right around the sharpness that I can achieve, some may need a little stropping, but many are just fine the way they come.
I thought this was the same with the S30V Sage, however, after sharpening it the edge did improve quite a bit.
 
S30v is also the only steel to give me trouble. S30V native kept getting an impossible wire edge no matter how many time I resharpened or how many techniques I tried to get rid of the wire edge. Only steel to drive me nuts like that.
 
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