How well does CRK's s30v hold it's edge?

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I like it - I really don't want to spend an entire Saturday sharpening one knife.

I touch them up on ceramics regularly and they stay sharp.
 
lambertiana said:
My sebenza was a bit on the soft side, and did not hold an edge nearly as well as my other S30V blades from Buck, Benchmade, and Spyderco when sharpened to the same angle and edge polish.

Chris Reeve recommends sharpening it at 20 degrees per side, and when I sent mine in for him to look at it, he measured it at 14 degrees per side. So it is apparent that at that hardness (mine measured at Rc 58) it does not do as well at lower angles. I don't know how it would do at the recommended angle. I prefer lower angles, so I sent my blade to Paul Bos for a heat treat to higher Rc.
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So what was the end result? Does the knife cut better? Better edge retention? Pics?
 
While I would love to see a S90V blade option in the Sebenza, I don't see anything "wrong" with Chris's S30V. I may have to touch it up after heavy use on some cardboard or something, but most of the time I just have to run it along a Spyderco 306 ultra fine stone every week or so, maybe a strop if it's been a light week.

I like that, it's covers my mundane EDC very well and it's very easy to keep razor sharp :thumbup:
 
Steven Andrews said:
If you enjoy sharpening, you'll be very happy with the S30V of your new Sebenza.
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Absolutely. In fact, it's my understanding Chris Reeve leaves his blades soft so customers will have to replace the blades every 6 weeks to 3 months(depending on sharpener) at $125 a pop. Hell, in the 5 or so years of EDCing a Sebenza, I've had to replace the blade 31 times..
Hasn't everyone read all the threads about blades being sharpened down to nubs in the archives?...;)
 
Back to the question from the OP, I think you would be VERY happy with a micarta Sebenza with an S30V blade. Keep the blade angle at around 20º per side (40º total) and use it hard! You won't be disappointed.
 
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flipe8 said:
Absolutely. In fact, it's my understanding Chris Reeve leaves his blades soft so customers will have to replace the blades every 6 weeks to 3 months(depending on sharpener) at $125 a pop. Hell, in the 5 or so years of EDCing a Sebenza, I've had to replace the blade 31 times..
Hasn't everyone read all the threads about blades being sharpened down to nubs in the archives?...;)
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I can only presume this post is pure sarcasm or it's absolutely beyond preposterous ! I mean, do you sharpen your knives with a chainsaw ? or mayby you hang out the car window and sharpen them on the road at 70 mph........:D
 
My small sebenza came reasonably sharp and it held until I had to cut 2 medium sized cardboard boxes and some small branches off my Christmas tree this year. I don't think that is "Hard" use and the edge was kaput. Resharpening was a pain on Japanese whetstones its Rhino steel to resharpen. So it depends on your skills in maintenance more than anything.
 
I've never had a problem but then again I can also sharpen so it doesn't matter much to me.

I find most steels hold an edge just fine as long as you're cutting materials meant to be cut by a knife...
 
I touch mine up ever two weeks (or less). The edge holding is a bit less then say Spyderco's S30V, but it's still a great all around performer.

S30V @ 58-59 RC out performs BG-42 @ 60-61 RC while still being tough and stainless. Go look up the thread where the guy bent the tip of his Umnumzaan and managed to bend it back straight. That's tough stuff.

I trust CRK to produce a quality product. They don't do something without reason or benefit to their customers.
 
Josh K said:
S30V @ 58-59 RC out performs BG-42 @ 60-61 RC while still being tough and stainless.
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I really wished you lived around here because I could prove you wrong right in front of you, you could bring your knives to use.....

And I could do it as many times as you would need.

There ain't no way S30V at 58~58.5 HRC will out perform BG-42 at 60~61 HRC.

Now S30V at 59.5 to 60.5 will though..
 
Ankerson said:
I really wished you lived around here because I could prove you wrong right in front of you, you could bring your knives to use.....

And I could do it as many times as you would need.

There ain't no way S30V at 58~58.5 HRC will out perform BG-42 at 60~61 HRC.

Now S30V at 59.5 to 60.5 will though..
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I don't own any BG-42 knives, though that does bring to mind a quote:

... choice to change our folding knife blade steel to S30V was thoroughly thought through, as was the selection of RC hardness 58-59. I was privileged to be involved in the development of S30V with the metallurgists at Crucible Steel – they asked what attributes I wanted in a steel and they delivered. At RC 58-59, the blade will hold a good edge and will be easy enough to sharpen. One of our tests resulted in S30V cutting 14,000 linear inches of e-flute cardboard before notable edge wear against 12,000 for BG42. I have been completely satisfied with the performance of S30V.
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Josh K said:
I don't own any BG-42 knives, though that does bring to mind a quote:
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That's back in 2001 when it was being developed, that's not today's S30V, it's different, they changed the steel.

The data is out there. ;)

Here is the Specs on S30V from today and back in 2001.

This is current here:

CRUCIBLE CPM® S30V®
Issue #4
Carbon 1.45%
Chromium 14.00%
Vanadium 4.00%
Molybdenum 2.00%


This is back in 2001 from the 1st production run of S30V.

CRUCIBLE CPM® S30V®

Carbon 1.50%
Chromium 14.00%
Vanadium 4.00%
Molybdenum 2.00%
 
Ankerson said:
That's back in 2001 when it was being developed, that's not today's S30V, it's different, they changed the steel.

The data is out there. ;)

Here is the Specs on S30V from today and back in 2001.

This is current here:

CRUCIBLE CPM® S30V®
Issue #4
Carbon 1.45%
Chromium 14.00%
Vanadium 4.00%
Molybdenum 2.00%


This is back in 2001 from the 1st production run of S30V.

CRUCIBLE CPM® S30V®

Carbon 1.50%
Chromium 14.00%
Vanadium 4.00%
Molybdenum 2.00%
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You're going to complain about 0.05% C? Other (non CPM) steels have a tenths accuracy (+- 0.1), and you're going to complain about a five hundredths difference?
 
Josh K said:
You're going to complain about 0.05% C? Other (non CPM) steels have a tenths accuracy (+- 0.1), and you're going to complain about a five hundredths difference?
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That can make a big difference in HT and tempering and is why S30V is such a pain to get to 60 HRC without chipping issues. S30V isn't easy to HT at all, it takes a Heat Treater that really knows what they are doing to get the tempering right.

That's the reason we see most of it in the 58~59 HRC range today...
 
Ankerson said:
That can make a big difference in HT and tempering and is why S30V is such a pain to get to 60 HRC without chipping issues. S30V isn't easy to HT at all, it takes a Heat Treater that really knows what they are doing to get the tempering right.

That's the reason we see most of it in the 58~59 HRC range today...
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You go from first questioning the "soft" steel to now question CRK's ability to properly heat treat steel. :rolleyes: Really on a roll there.
 
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