Ease of sharpening CPM S30V vs CPM 3V

Gotta say that my experience has been rather different. Although I have not put my para3 through the ringer just yet to see how it holds up, I can say it is far easier to sharpen than 3V. I have a BR mini-bushcrafter in that steel, and sharpening it has been difficult, as I've had to use either diamonds, or fairly course wet/dry to move any steel. I have a strop loaded with green lee valley compound, and it will hardly even darken, where as most everything else I've ever put to it polishes up very quickly. I have no doubt that the 3V will stay sharper longer, but ease of getting there has to be with the S30V. Not sure why its getting so much hate recently though,
 
I won’t buy anything in S30V. It takes forever to sharpen - forever (at least that has been my experience). Basically S30V was supposed to hold an edge moderately longer than S35VN, supposedly, but haven’t found it to hold any longer and redoing an edge is a bear to get sharp. Newer online posts say the S35VN holds longer. I much prefer S35VN. (even my Chris Reeve Sebenza is S35VN) So out of these two (S30V and CPM 3V), even though I have not reworked an edge on my Reiff F3(only had it for a week), since S30V is a no go, CPM 3V is preferred. [Caveat: over the years I have learned first hand that heat treatments have a lot to do with the final ability to form and hold an edge, so quality of manufacture frequently trumps the specific steel. Going with what a certain maker (or company for mass production) does well is the key.]
 
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I can't say I've noticed a difference, but if you just look at the composition of the steels and the performance numbers, 3v *should* be the one that's easier to sharpen. It has less Vanadium than s30v, lower edge retention, and higher toughness (i.e., more plasticity).
 
I don't think S30V is garbage. It's a good steel and I like it. I also like 3V. I think they are different steels optimized for different purposes.
 
Ease of sharpening? Use diamond plates and either can produce arm hair shaving edges easily enough.

I had exactly one Bark River, used it one time and gave it away. The poor quality fit and finish was surpassed by even worse edge retention. It was supposed to be 3v, but sure was not like other 3v blades I’ve used. There will not be a second Bark River for me. Way overhyped, there are plenty of better options. Benchmade’s S30v is ok, it is very functional.

Spend a little bit more and have one of the makers here make you exactly what you want. Paul Rasp has made me two Kepharts in 20cv that are top notch knives to use and very fairly price. His sheaths are quite nice too. Take a look in the knifemakers’ forum. We have some excellent makers offering lots of nice knives.
 
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I have knives in both steels and I prefer 3V any day, all day. Both are easy to sharpen using the right stones and 3v will hold an edge much better, so less time sharpening. I do keep a lite coat of wax on mine to hold back rusting if around water a lot.
 
I have a convex grind knife in CPM 3V. But it has a secondary micro bevel that I want to remove. How can I do this in a neat way without damaging the blade? Will it be sufficient to work with sandpaper on a flexible underlay (like a mousepad or piece of leather)? Or will it be necessary to use a grinding stone to get the micro bevel removed?
 
Knygathin said:
I have a convex grind knife in CPM 3V. But it has a secondary micro bevel that I want to remove. How can I do this in a neat way without damaging the blade? Will it be sufficient to work with sandpaper on a flexible underlay (like a mousepad or piece of leather)? Or will it be necessary to use a grinding stone to get the micro bevel removed?
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I should add that it is a Bark River Bravo 1.5 3V
 
I have no experience with 3V blade steel but I do with S30v and my experience with it has been very good. I don’t find it difficult to sharpen and for my cutting tasks holds an edge for a reasonable length of time. Maybe I have just been lucky.
 
I've owned two blades from Spyderco in S30V. I am unimpressed with S30V. It sharpens reasonably easily and achieves nice high sharpness. However, a *tiny* amount of use results in a large loss in sharpness. It goes from hair popping to less than hair shaving with just a few feet of cardboard cutting. It then stays at that level of sharpness, which is quite useable, for a long time.

By comparison a less "super" steel will hold the hair popping for longer and gradually fade away until it is super duper dull. Overall the S30V blade will have longer usable sharpness. But I like REALLY sharp blades. With S30V I have a much shorter duration of "really sharp" and a much longer duration of "sharp enough to use, but unimpressive". In practice, this means I sharpen the S30V far more often than a more simple steel. I'd rather have that than S30V.

I won't buy another blade in S30V.

Brian.
 
TheOne45 said:
Brian; what stones do you use to sharpen your S30V blade?
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I've used DMT XXC, C, and EF on them at one point in my sharpening. I've frequently done maintenance with Spyderco brown/gray triangle rods on the sharp maker (roughly 800 grit). These days I mostly sharpen with 3M Trizact belts on my 1x42 sander. I think the last one I did I stopped at 360 grit, but it's been a while and I can't remember. I know that I recently touched it up on the Sharpmaker and returned it to hair shaving goodness.

S30V isn't hard to sharpen on man made stones. Burr formation is just fine and taking it off is about average. I can get S30V plenty sharp. It just doesn't hold high sharpness for long enough in my opinion.

I'm down to just a Spyderco PM-2 in S30V. I sold off my Yojimbo 2. If I could buy a PM-2, for a reasonable price, in a better steel, I'd be all over it. There are a few Benchmade knives I'd like to own, but all of them are in S30V and I can't convince myself to buy any more of that steel.

Brian.
 
Strange. I was looking at Knife steel nerds edge retention tests and S30V was not bad. Not something special but better than all those simple steels and better as D2.
Still, I don't have a knife in S30V, only K110, chinese D2, 12c27 and Swedish HSS steel (my home made Bowie made out of industrial metal saw) so I can't say much about your problem.
All I can say is I noticed something similar with my K110 knife (61HRc). Shaving edge wears out relatively fast but it holds working edge surprisingly well. If I sharpen it with #220 grit diamond plate (toothy edge) and do some stropping (7 micron diamond paste) to remove the burr the knife holds it's working edge very good.
 
That idea of "working edge" is where my expectations differ from the delivered performance of the steel. Yes, the "working edge" cuts for a long time. But it's comparatively dull. I want a very sharp edge for a long time. S30V fades from "very sharp" to "working" faster than simple steels.

Once it gets to the "working" state, it holds that for FAR longer than a simple steel. But I don't really care, because that working edge is too dull for me. So I end up sharpening S30V more often than simple steels.

Brian.
 
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