CRK's S30V

J

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There have been many threads on S30V in general, but the way a manufacturer handles their steel has a huge effect on how the steel behaves. What are your impressions on CRK's S30V in particular? How well does it hold its edge? How well does it respond to sharpening? Have you experienced micro chipping or even larger size chipping doing normal cutting tasks?

I have used 2 S30V CRK blades and they both performed great. They responded very well to sharpening and held their edges for a long time.

My friend has an S30V Kershaw Leek that is an absolute pain in the butt to sharpen. It simply will not get sharp, the burr flops from side to side, and when I try to cut the burr off by using a higher angle, the edge will chip (only visible at 60x magnification). I have reprofiled this knife twice and sharpened it 3 times now. It has not improved. I believe something went wrong during heat treatment or the steel was overheated during sharpening. I will be borrowing the leek and testing it edge holding versus my S30V Spyderco in the next few days.

I have read on these forums that at least one person has experienced micro chipping on their sebenza just cutting cardboard.

Please share your experiences, albeit positive or negative.
 
I've never had a problem with micro-chipping on my small Sebenza, which I've used a lot. It's cut thick cardboard, hard wood, and copper wire. Last night I was cutting tape around the brake and shift cables on anodized bicycle handlebars, and I slipped and hit the edge on the bars. No chipping or rolling.

I've had two Spyderco VG-10 knives and a Benchmade 440C knife micro-chip on cardboard. However, after a good resharpening, none of them ever chipped again. I wonder whether people with chipping problems with S30V are giving their knives such a "second chance."
 
The steel is the same, the heat treat may be different, but nothing else. I have a Kershaw Random Leek that is S30V and the difference is the edge grind, it's horrible! It will only cut if the edge is at 90 degrees to whatever it's cutting.

CRK has some of the best grinds I've ever seen or used, no doubt. Just like you said, easy to sharpen and hold the edge forever. I've never used my Sebs hard and I've never chipped them. I'd be suprised and unhappy if that were to happen. The edge geometry is pretty solid and a steel at 58-59 hardness typically doesn't chip easily. Even the ZDP-189 at 62+ hardness doesn't chip.

I just got my first CRK 1 piece made from A2 steel. Apparently these things are indestructible, even easier to sharpen, and I doubt they'll ever chip unless I do something stupid. A2 is softer than S30V. I haven't been able to really try it out yet with heavy use, but so far it cuts better than my Sebenzas.
 
The angles on the sebbi (as it comes) is a fair bit less acute then most spyderco knives. I've found if convex the edge of them slightly (put a micro edge bevel on and blend it togeather) it stops chipping.
 
Search my user name, I have tried to relay my experiences in a positive light.

After repeated sharpenings, I no longer have chipping at a 8/17 PER SIDE relief angle, however, the new material I'm into is soft and does not hold a fine edge.

My Buck 110 with 425MOD steel takes a better edge than the Sebenza blade, holds it for the same amount of time, but cuts with less pressure and effort (13 deg per side profile) - it has come out of a short 2 month retirement (after 20 years of EDC) to replace my new "world class, king of the production knives" folder. That's a nice $425US kick in the nuts, thank you very much.

Sebenza - Nice feel opening and closing - excellent fit and finish.

MAT
 
Mat , send your Sebbie back to CRK if you are not 100% happy with its performance . Tell them what the problem is and they will fix it . CRK customer service is legendary, let them prove it to you .
$425 is too much to put into a knife that you do not like to use and you see as having a problem.
If you still are not happy with it when you get it back you can always move it on .
Paul.
 
CRK's heat treat works with the axe-like hollow grind they use - if they replace the blade I'm still using that profile. These are engineered characteristics of the product - not lapses in quality control. (IMO)

I need to go to a heat treat process that will allow me to use the profiles that provide the cutting performance I am used to - to find the increase in edge holding and wear resistance that S30V promised in the first place.

I could ship it back, but what are they going to say? I changed the original grind used to protect the original CRK heat treat S30V. It failed.

MAT
 
Mat,
If your blade is chipping by cutting cardboard as you've said in the past, then I am pretty sure it is a heat treatment problem. It should easily be able to handle 15 degrees per side.

The worse they can say to you is that the performance you experienced it typical, which I doubt. You are probably feeling guilty because you lowered the edge angle but people do this all the time. The folks at CRK are very reasonable.

By the way, your blade is the one I was referring to in my first post. I am pretty sure what you are experiencing in regards to chipping is not common, which is why I made this thread in the first place: to find out how common a problem this is. What I am basically saying is that your blade is a lapse in quality control and how common these lapses occur. We've read that it is fairly common with other brand's S30V but not how common it is with CRK's.

What Paul said is very true. The people at CRK will jump through flaming hoops just to make you happy, their customer service is that good. If your knife is older, the problem you are experiencing might have since been fixed. If not then you may be helping them fix future problems.
 
Some interesting news about my friend's "faulty" kershaw that I talked about in my first post. It turns out that the edge of the blade will hit the backspacer every time the knife is closed. I would sharpen it up, go to the restroom where there's more light and on the way, would sometimes close the knife (since it is fun to play with) and open it again to see if it'll shave/cut hanging hair. I was dulling the knife every time I was closing it! I made sure not to close it last night while sharpening it and it sharpened up fine. :)
 
If the edge of the blade contacts the backspacer or anything else when it's closed -the design, simply put, sucks.

I had one of those cheapy knifekits.com folders which uses a framelock, the edge of the blade actually hits one of the pins that holds it together and chips pretty badly. Basically, if I'm going to buy a folder, the cutting edge should never contact the handle at all when closed.

The sebenza rests on the stop pin and the edge doesn't contact anything. Great design (among other things).

P.S. The heat-treat of CRK's S30V to me seems a little on the soft side, another 2 or 3 points on the HRC scale would greatly improve edge retention, but it works for most general tasks and most importantly is consistent.
 
I take bbcmat at his word that his Sebbie blade chipped on cardboard -- even CRK can make a mistake on heat treat, I suppose. It's unfortunate.

What I don't understand is why his response to this was to thin the blade so drastically. It just seems counterintuative -- a thinner blade is even more likely to chip. Am I missing something here? :confused: Perhaps, as I've enountered with the 2 Spydercos and 1 Benchmade, there was some brittle steel at the edge that once removed would eliminate the chipping, regardless of the angle.

As far as cutting ability goes -- I have a couple of old Buck 110s in 440C that I've thinned to about 10 degrees per side, and they out-slice the thicker convex edge of my Sebbie. And my $8 Opinel beats them all. But it's not as if the Sebbie performs poorly -- mine splits hairs. But there's more to performance than simply how much pressure must be applied to cut something -- there's also durability. The original convex edge on the of Sebbie, the vast majority of which are properly heat treated, is far more durable than something thinned down to be the winner of one of Cliff Stamp's thread-cutting contests.

Buck 425M holding an edge longer than CRK's S30V? I can't account for that at all.
 
And Mat you didn't really take a $425 kick in the nuts. If you're so unhappy and refuse to get help from CRK, then sell the darn thing. Sebbies tend to have a decent resale value unless of course you have thrashed it by sharpenning it and then you really only have yourself to blame.:jerkit:
 
Somehow this thread doesn't ring true. Was this knife reprofiled at a very acute angle? It almost sounds like you were trying to pull those big old staples out of cardboard.

Bottom line, send it back (unless it is a Sebbie counterfeit purchased from a guy in Central Park who sells them for $5).
 
I'm rather mixed about s30v.

My impression is, and I haven't done ANY testing, that the BG-42 blades stay sharper longer. The complicating problem is that I now want my sebbies to be as sharp as a Caly ZDP-189, which I'm not capable of achieving myself.
 
I'm not going to debate with the CRK Cheerleading and Hype Squad. Thank you to those who chose to think instead of react.

Read all my posts - choose what is relevant to your expectations of a great cutting tool.

Sebenza - Nice feel opening and closing - excellent fit and finish.

MAT
 
bbcmat said:
I'm not going to debate with the CRK Cheerleading and Hype Squad. Thank you to those who chose to think instead of react.

Read all my posts - choose what is relevant to your expectations of a great cutting tool.

Sebenza - Nice feel opening and closing - excellent fit and finish.

MAT
Click to expand...

I don't need to read all your posts to know that was a rude comment. If you are unwilling to even consider having the company help you with the problems you are having with your knife perhaps you should think before you react by posting said problems repeatedly.
 
I'm not part of any cheerleading squad. If you have a problem with any part of a CRK product, the quickest most reliable way to resolution is to pick up the phone and call them in Boise. They've always been willing to go the extra mile for me.;)
 
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