If your favorite knife that you own is in S30V and you came across one for sale in 20CV, would u buy it again to "upgrade" or not worth the $?

[Slice-and-dice]

So strictly by the numbers published by Larrin (Knife Steel Nerds), I don’t see a huge difference on paper:

S30V- T: 4, E: 6, CR: 7.5
20CV- T: 3.5, E: 6.5, CR: 9

In the real world, not sure you’d see much difference.

 

[Insipid Moniker]

Probably not. I don't need a ton of edge retention these days. If I did, I would probably do it so I had a backup of a favorite design more than for the upgrade in blade steel.

Now if my favorite knife came in G10 and I saw another in a maroon micarta, I might have a different answer.

 

[norcalAF]

Non believers will be assimilated

Resistance is futile

 

[K.O.D.]

I didn't mention this in my previous post but:

I love the look of the CF Kapara but hate S30V.

I hate G-10 so the 20CV is out too.

If I could get one in CF or micarta in S90V or CTS-XHP that would be ideal.

I still don't see the draw of Magnacut in a folder. Maybe the forthcoming Magnacut911F40DeltaEvo will be better.

 

[NG VI]

Probably, it's my favorite knife after all!

 

[goldie]

I think Spyderco and Benchmades s30v is well done to a point it wouldnt be worth the trouble to upgrade to another steel.Maybe a sprint run with different steel and handles would be one exception....

 

[greater]

If your favorite knife that you own is in S30V and you came across one for sale in 20CV, would u buy it again to "upgrade" or not worth the $?​

No.

It may be worth the money to someone for whom it will make a world of difference if the type of tasks he/she does is a match for the steel.

That person is not me.

 

[greater]

You should change 20cv to magnacut. Then the responses would be quite different.

Maybe.

Magnacut is supposed to be very rust resistant without giving up too much in other areas such as toughness and edge retention.

I really like a hassle free steel that does not have me worried about rust and I suspect anyone who lived in the 1800s frontier would too.

Another thing I would like to bring up is if the S30V had an improper heat treat that turned it into snappy peanut brittle I may opt to upgrade if I like the knife design a lot, the user reviews of the 20CV are good, and if I am not too pissed off at the company that made it.

 

[David Mary]

If you had your favorite knife, and it happened to be in S30V and ran you $240 at the time of purchase, would you jump on the chance to "upgrade" to a 20CV blade for another $300?

20 who now?

 

[David Mary]

Only if I could find it in 440C

Vg10

I was all set to say "Why stop there when you can have 8Cr13MoV", but looks like I was beat to it.

My only knife is a kershaw brawler which is in 8cr13mov, and I refuse to replace it. Because I want to see how far it can go, I just cut through the binding of 30 hardback books, no issues.

I hear you. I replaced most of my Resiliences and Tenaciouses with S35VN versions, and while I do like the added edge retention, and blue FRN scales, 8Cr13MoV is so easy to sharpen and so tough. I still have one Resilience in it left that I reground from plainedge to serrated, and it is my at home EDC. I still love it very much, and it is usually sharper than my S35VN Resilience, just on account of how much easier it is to hone back up. And S35VN is not hard to hone...

 

[David Mary]

I had the chance to get a Kapara in 20cv for a reasonable price, but didn't pull the trigger. I'm hoping one comes out in CTS-XHP

I had some Cold Steel Recon 1s in XHP a while back, and although it's not a particularly tough stainless steel, I found it had quite good edge retention, particularly in keeping a toothy and bitey working edge for quite a long time. As I understand, it is extremely hard to come by anymore, and for the last few years. I can't remember the last time I heard of a knife being made with this steel, let alone seen the steel available at any of the knife making suppliers I visit.

 

[David Mary]

I wouldn’t because youd be going from carbon fiber to G10. It it was other way around? Maybe.. but s30v to 20cv and a downgrade in scales is nothing gained or lost net.

Buy, blade swap, sell?

 

[David Mary]

if the S30V had an improper heat treat that turned it into snappy peanut brittle

Hopefully at that point they would have replaced it for you already...

 

[K.O.D.]

I had some Cold Steel Recon 1s in XHP a while back, and although it's not a particularly tough stainless steel, I found it had quite good edge retention, particularly in keeping a toothy and bitey working edge for quite a long time. As I understand, it is extremely hard to come by anymore, and for the last few years. I can't remember the last time I heard of a knife being made with this steel, let alone seen the steel available at any of the knife making suppliers I visit.

Cutlery Shoppe is using XHP in their Spyderco exclusives. I've had it with a Manix 2 sprint since 3/2014 and am really impressed.