Andrew, who tested S30V against A2 and INFI? I'd like to see their results, especially if they did a side by side comparison of INFI vs S30V in edgeholding, to see if my results are consistent with theirs if I test the two against each other. That would be interesting.
Awhile back, Jerry Hossom posted a pic of an S30V and INFI blade ground to identical angles. I believe they were chopped into nails. There wasn't a big difference in the damage to the edges, though, IIRC, the S30V had a slightly larger notch knocked out of it.
edit: here is the thread with the pic
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=188200&highlight=INFI
I'm going to include two different cut/paste jobs from comments I've already posted elsewhere about S30V, since I've been fooling around with a couple of knives in that material.
The first one is from where I compared it to a few other steels by chopping them all into a coat hanger.
For the sake of this post, the gist of it is...S30V did not exhibit the same impact resistance as INFI with both edges ground at the same angle. It was very good, though, and I have also done my own "sweat test" where I wore the knife under a shirt while working, made sure it was completely coated in sweat, and left it for a day or two. I've had problems with rust from wearing a knife like this at work. My S30V knife had a much coarser finish than the highly polished ATS-34 one I compared it to, and showed less than 1/4 the amount of rust after being left in the sheath for over 36 hours after being covered in sweat. Scientific it's not, but that's "real-world testing", IMO.
I hope to compare S30V's edgeholding with S90V, BG-42, and possibly some others, including INFI, in the near future. I'm not in a hurry, and really doubt that I'll see enough difference to matter in practical use, though I imagine BG-42 is probably going to be out of its league. It's all out of curiosity.
Here is the first cut/paste:
The two S30V knives I've been using are showing some serious edgeholding. The one that has seen the most hard use is ~58-59, and I don't think I'll ever know the difference between it and 420V. Going to try to compare the two (S30V/S90V) when I get the chance. They'll be almost identical edge profiles, identical edge bevels, I'll tape the longer blade off so they're the same length, and they're only about a point apart in hardness. There may be a difference in extended use, I just wonder if it will be significant enough to matter.
They are tough. I convinced myself of that by chopping into a coat hanger with them, INFI, and BM's ATS-34 and M2 a week or so ago, and just today, Camillus' 0170-6C (read that it was similar to A2, which S30V is supposed to be similar to in toughness), and comparing the results. All edges@40* included, except one of the S30V knives, and the Camillus which are at 30. There was no real difference that I could tell between the S30V blades at 30 and 40 included, respectively. The one with the 40* edge may be a point softer (DDR at 58-59 vs. Rinaldi at 59.5 from what I know). The S30V took on a little more damage than the 0170-6C, but the difference is not very noticeable-just a little more indention. INFI@40 was barely affected, and the tiny roll in the edge was gone after a stroke per side on a butcher steel. 0170-6C, M2 and S30V have a small indention in the very edge remaining after being steeled. I think the M2 rolled a little more, but it didn't chip out. ATS-34 took on a ripple in the edge, and a small chip that will have to be sharpened out.
The M2, 0170-6C, and S30V taking on similar damage just tells me I haven't pushed them hard enough to reveal the differences (nor do I intend to-this was just to get an idea about S30V, not tear up all my stuff just to see which lasts the longest).
Second cut/paste, about the same DDR mentioned above with the 40* bevel. This was the same coat-hanger chop as mentioned in the first c/p, but I was not comparing it to anything here, just commenting on this particular knife.
Note: this knife is a prototype with a double grind, and has a very thin tip. For anyone not familiar with it, we're talking about a 1/8" stock blade 4" in length, with a high thin hollow grind. This is not a chopper.
Some of this is repetitive, I know...
DDR ALB w/a freshly sharpened 40* included edge:
Cut a couple of aluminum cans into strips, used it with a baton to split some seasoned oak limbs ~3" diameter, made some fuzz sticks, chopped it into some green branches, and cut 225 linear feet of 1/8" cardboard (ran out of cardboard-just had a couple of boxes).
Knife still scrape shaved hair. [not in the other post, but I should note-this was at the front recurve where all the other cutting was intentionally focused, including all of the cardboard. Except for the wood splitting, I was basically using a 1" section of blade for all of stuff described]
Put it through a couple of staples with wrist snaps, and took a chop from the shoulder into a coat hanger.
Bent the last 3/16" of the blade about 15* to the side testing the tip by stabbing into a board (birch?, it was harder than pine), and torquing the tip out. Put it between two boards and bent it back. Can't tell anything ever happened to it.
[
I know, there's not an attachment, it's a cut/paste, remember
]Attachment shows a scan of the edge, after steeling, where it impacted the coat hanger. Look for the ding in the center of the pic (scanner makes the blade look alot rougher than it does in person). After a few strokes on a Spyderco Sharpmaker it was barely visible, and since the blade came back to hair popping sharpness easily, I didn't try to grind that little bit out. I expect all traces of it will be gone with the next sharpening.
At this point it's hard to imagine.
