I reached the conclusion that I really liked this steel in 2012, after I was sent a Spartan Blades knife to do the tests and evaluation on for Tactical Knives Magazine in 2010. With it being a knife with which the stated purpose was to serve a soldier well in a combat environment, I tested it pretty hard. I did a lot of puncture tests through plywood, thick plastic drums and vehicle fuel tanks, and tin cans, fiberglass panels, etc., and was really impressed with the toughness. It was during those tests, after already having done a lot of cutting of webbing, rope, and cord that I was impressed with the abrasion resistance of the edge. I had done an interview with Bill Harsey, the designer of the knife, in 2011 for information for the article, but it wasn't till it spent three months on my belt in the swamps and coastal plains of South Florida in 2012. and I noted the impressive level of corrosion resistance, that it dawned on me how much I liked it. I have talked with Bill several more times about the steel over the years, and a few other makers as well. At present I own more field knives made from CPM S35VN than any other steel. When it is heat treated and cryo-quenched properly it is just very well suited to my uses and my working environment. There are reasons my mid-tech Kephart lives on my day kit in my truck, always ready to go. The steel type and the quality heat treat it has is definitely among those reasons.
