High end steels for hard use?

F

Furious_Toast

Joined
Jul 28, 2014
Messages
51
Hi everyone,
First let me start off by saying merry Christmas/happy holidays! So i have a dilemma, i regularly edc a Benchmade 940 with s30v steel. I have yet to give this knife some hard use and this being my first s30v knife means i dont know how well the steel will hold up. I am able to get my hands on the s90v replacement blade for the 940 but is it worth the money?

Just a little insight into my hard use. My knives see thick rubber and foam like tire rubber, heavy plastic straps and heavy zip ties, thick cardboard, fire hosing, and sometimes even the occasional roofing shingle and tuna can.

So this begs my question, do i stick with the s30v or upgrade to s90v? Will the s90v sustain more damage then the s30v? Any imput will help!

Thank you and have a great new year!
 
The 940 isn't a hard use type of knife, the blade geometry is a bit thin for that, the knife itself is designed as more of a light to medium duty.

Might want to think about something else, another model.
 
The thought of using a knife as a can opener makes me cringe a bit. By all means use your knife as you wish, but it's not designed for that kind of task. You'd probably be better off with whatever you find easier to resharpen.
 
pretty much any modern styled folding knife, even ones far from the "overbuilt" side should be able to handle that with ease. The amount of meat on a blade necessary to handle heavy cutting tasks is often grossly exaggerated in the internet knife community, and I would say it is usually the handle's ergonomics, or lack thereof, that would cause extended heavy cutting chores to end much faster than anything to do with being a thin blade. Opening cans is far from hard use, just not ideal. If you find yourself sideloading the edge heavily that's where a geometry leaning towards strength could help a bit more.
 
From you description of uses, you may want to think about a good sharpening system as opposed to a steel that can take that much abuse. I've got can openers, side cutters, utility blades and my knife for most of my chores. I try to fit the tool for the job.
 
I doubt you'll notice that much difference.

Use the S30V for awhile. If it works, great. If not, then consider an upgrade ... be it steel or knife.
 
S30V is probably as good as S90V for that use.
If you really want hard use look for something with M4 such as the Benchmade 810.
 
I have a Benchmade Bushcrafter in S30V I've beaten hard on for over a year with no edge issues whatsoever. Battoned through lots of sticks with knots , dropped on the ground lots , dug in dirt , pryed with the tip , etc. etc. My favorite FB knife by far.
 
Im liking the Elmax right now,it holds an edge for a good while. And with regular stropping it seems to be as sharp as when i got the blade.
 
In stainless, Elmax and S35VN would be excellent choices, but for the kind of hard use you're giving your knife, you will also want geometry on your side. The ZT0550 in S35VN is an incredibly tough knife. It should be able to handle the abuse you intend to give it.
 
kelpie said:
Ankerson what knife would be hard use enough for this role?
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You would have to look at the BM heavier duty models, compared to the 940, it's quite a list.

The 940 is one of their lighter models.
 
kelpie said:
Ankerson what knife would be hard use enough for this role?
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I'm not Ankerson but I'm going to stay with my suggestion of M4. Actually except for cutting metal you could probably do fine with S30. I think in this case the blade grind will matter more than the material. Elmax was mentioned, I think it would be the best of the real stainless steels, with XHP second. In non-stainless it would be M4 or 3V if you can find it. Benchmade Adamas or 810 would work, or something like the Spyderco Manix 2 or Bradley Folder. The only one of these that I have is the Manix 2 in M4 and I would not hesitate to use it for the uses that the OP names.
 
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