INFI vs S30V

I have several Strider fixed blades in S30V. They have held up very well. I think a lot depends on the heat treatment.
 
Cobalt said:
S30V is a stainless CPM steel, that has good edge holding. It isn't bad for Folding knife use. It absolutely sucks for fixed blade hard use, as it is not a tough steel by any means. INFI is a hard use steel that holds an excellent edge, is extremely tough and has extreme abrasion resistance. It is not nearly as corrosion resistant as S30V. If you are going for a light duty folding knife S30V is adequate. If you are going for a fixed blade INFI is the only way to go. Really, these two steels are not even in the same class and I am not sure why you would pick S30V to compare, as it seriously lacks toughness.
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What he said.
I do like S30V in folders.
 
Is there a special way to sharpen S30V to get the best out of it? I seem to recall reading it was more difficult to sharpen than other steels? (Could be wrong though)
 
RoyalM said:
Is there a special way to sharpen S30V to get the best out of it? I seem to recall reading it was more difficult to sharpen than other steels? (Could be wrong though)
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It is not bad to sharpen as long as you do not let it get very dull before you touch it up.
I sharpen my S30V folders on 30 degrees.
That is on Spydercos,I have had problems sharpening S30V on BMs because of the edge grind on them.
 
Mr. Clean said:
Just so I got this straight.

The S30V in your Strider has performed well. But you want to know if there is a problem so you can upgrade.:confused:



I battoned my Sebenza through some wood yesterday, hacked limbs off of a tree, the other day I made 100+ cuts through the Christmas carboard and haven't touched it up yet. There are no micro chips, there's no loss in edge performance.

I took my SFNOLE out yesterday too and beat the livin' crap out of the Christmas tree. It too is fine after a good chunk of abuse.

I'd say they're both pretty good.
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Give a fellow a good reason to upgrade and ask Jerry one more time to put the Folder into production.
 
S30V in hard use knives is crap. Pretty much any stainless steel in hard use knives is crap. Stainless has it's place, but it's not on hard use knives. Folders yes.

CPM3V is a whole different story. Arguably the toughest of the CPM steels and one of the toughest steels made. This subject has been killed to death. There has been mixed results with CPM3V as far as how great it's toughness is. Cliff managed to induce failure in 3V where he had never been able to in INFI. Cliff also destroyed the basics M-INFI, but it took 2 years plus grinding it down until the knife did not look anything like the original Basic7. I have chipped 3V myself and broken the tip off of a custom 3V knife, where I had not done so with INFI doing the exact same thing. The knife I had, had been HT'd by Paul Bos, who is one of the top HT'ers in the country. I am sure that properly heat treated 3V can hold up to whatever abuse most people would pile on it. As long as you don't plan on batoning it with a hammer you should be ok, and really, you should not do that with any steel unless you have no choice. As it as tough as INFI, no and it has been proven. Is it as tough as S7(scrapyards derived steel called SR77), no on paper for sure. S7 has considerably more toughness but looses it's edge faster.

Just to give comparative date, not exact of course.

S7 = 92.2 ft-lbs Charpy toughness at an Rc of 60 (125ft-lbs at Rc of 57)
cpm3V = 70 ft-lbs at Rc of 60
A2 = 40 ft-lbs at Rc of 60
S30V = 10 transverse and 25 longitudinal ft-lbs at 60 Rc

as you can see S30V is far below A2 which is the weakest of these steels.
 
Hey that's kind of like ... well you know... factual.

What's up with that :grumpy:

.
Cobalt said:
S30V in hard use knives is crap. Pretty much any stainless steel in hard use knives is crap. Stainless has it's place, but it's not on hard use knives. Folders yes.

CPM3V is a whole different story. Arguably the toughest of the CPM steels and one of the toughest steels made. This subject has been killed to death. There has been mixed results with CPM3V as far as how great it's toughness is. Cliff managed to induce failure in 3V where he had never been able to in INFI. Cliff also destroyed the basics M-INFI, but it took 2 years plus grinding it down until the knife did not look anything like the original Basic7. I have chipped 3V myself and broken the tip off of a custom 3V knife, where I had not done so with INFI doing the exact same thing. The knife I had, had been HT'd by Paul Bos, who is one of the top HT'ers in the country. I am sure that properly heat treated 3V can hold up to whatever abuse most people would pile on it. As long as you don't plan on batoning it with a hammer you should be ok, and really, you should not do that with any steel unless you have no choice. As it as tough as INFI, no and it has been proven. Is it as tough as S7(scrapyards derived steel called SR77), no on paper for sure. S7 has considerably more toughness but looses it's edge faster.

Just to give comparative date, not exact of course.

S7 = 92.2 ft-lbs Charpy toughness at an Rc of 60 (125ft-lbs at Rc of 57)
cpm3V = 70 ft-lbs at Rc of 60
A2 = 40 ft-lbs at Rc of 60
S30V = 10 transverse and 25 longitudinal ft-lbs at 60 Rc

as you can see S30V is far below A2 which is the weakest of these steels.
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Cobalt said:
...
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I'm sure everyone has a story of their favorite steel doing fantastic things and other steels failing. Remember that one guys custom shop SFNO's broken tip? Or the other guys broken tip on his Ratweiler?

One thing is for sure in what you said, this subject has been killed to death!
 
CPM 3V and INFI are both great. Eric Fehrman uses it for his blades and they can take a ton of abuse, as well as Jerrys INFI.
 
Cobalt said:
S30V in hard use knives is crap. Pretty much any stainless steel in hard use knives is crap. Stainless has it's place, but it's not on hard use knives. Folders yes.

CPM3V is a whole different story. Arguably the toughest of the CPM steels and one of the toughest steels made. This subject has been killed to death. There has been mixed results with CPM3V as far as how great it's toughness is. Cliff managed to induce failure in 3V where he had never been able to in INFI. Cliff also destroyed the basics M-INFI, but it took 2 years plus grinding it down until the knife did not look anything like the original Basic7. I have chipped 3V myself and broken the tip off of a custom 3V knife, where I had not done so with INFI doing the exact same thing. The knife I had, had been HT'd by Paul Bos, who is one of the top HT'ers in the country. I am sure that properly heat treated 3V can hold up to whatever abuse most people would pile on it. As long as you don't plan on batoning it with a hammer you should be ok, and really, you should not do that with any steel unless you have no choice. As it as tough as INFI, no and it has been proven. Is it as tough as S7(scrapyards derived steel called SR77), no on paper for sure. S7 has considerably more toughness but looses it's edge faster.

Just to give comparative date, not exact of course.

S7 = 92.2 ft-lbs Charpy toughness at an Rc of 60 (125ft-lbs at Rc of 57)
cpm3V = 70 ft-lbs at Rc of 60
A2 = 40 ft-lbs at Rc of 60
S30V = 10 transverse and 25 longitudinal ft-lbs at 60 Rc

as you can see S30V is far below A2 which is the weakest of these steels.
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Thanks Cobalt. That is kinda what I was looking for. Now, what is the ft-lbs Charpy toughness of Infi? As compared to S7 and sr101?

And what the hell is Charpy? Sounds like an evil mother in law.....oh wait, that is a Harpie!
 
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Cobalt said:
S7 = 92.2 ft-lbs Charpy toughness at an Rc of 60 (125ft-lbs at Rc of 57)
cpm3V = 70 ft-lbs at Rc of 60
A2 = 40 ft-lbs at Rc of 60
S30V = 10 transverse and 25 longitudinal ft-lbs at 60 Rc
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Anybody have any Charpy toughness data for INFI?
 
Personally, I can not STAND CPM S30V. It chips, it's bad for chopping, it stains... I hate it. INFI, in my not so humble opinion, is the best blade steel on earth.
 
I am looking for the perfect blend for a folder. What steel is the best for ease of sharpening, edge holding, durability, cost for a folding knife than?
 
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dbltap45acp said:
CPM 3V and INFI are both great. Eric Fehrman uses it for his blades and they can take a ton of abuse, as well as Jerrys INFI.
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No, it can't unfortunately. 3V is good, but it has alreay shown itself not to be as tough. It may hold an edge as well, since I never got to test that, but I can tell you with certainty that it is not as durable. Like I said above I gave 3V 1% of the abuse I heap on my SHBM and 3V failed. Cliff did the same and it failed with 1% of the abuse he heaped on his SHBM.

Mr. Clean said:
I'm sure everyone has a story of their favorite steel doing fantastic things and other steels failing. Remember that one guys custom shop SFNO's broken tip? Or the other guys broken tip on his Ratweiler?

One thing is for sure in what you said, this subject has been killed to death!
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True you can break the tip on anything, but I'd bet that whatever happened to INFI would have caused 3V to fail sooner. The big surprise is Reeves knives. They consistently fail early. You just have to know the limitations and work within them. Really, if you want to abuse a knife, then get a cheap axe or hatchet.
 
dodgeem33 said:
I am looking for the perfect blend for a folder. What steel is the best for ease of sharpening, edge holding, durability, cost for a folding knife than?
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I would rather have ATS34, VG10, BG42 for my folding knife blades than S30V. I have had more chipping with S30V than almost any other folding knife steel.

AUS8 and 440B are good as well. They don't hold an edge as long as the others but they are durable.

one thing you have to keep in mind is that it is hard to get into every nook and cranny of a folding knife blade, so a stainless or semi stainless steel is preferred to a carbon steel.

Kyle B. said:
Personally, I can not STAND CPM S30V. It chips, it's bad for chopping, it stains... I hate it. INFI, in my not so humble opinion, is the best blade steel on earth.
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agree 100% about S30V.
 
theonew said:
Anybody have any Charpy toughness data for INFI?
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no exact values but it is higher than S7.

Not sure if it is as high as S5, however. S5 is one of the toughest steels made, but production has either ceased or it is just really hard to get.
 
Cobalt, what would you describe as abuse for a knife? I by no means think cutting through metal or cinder blocks as something you would do with your knife, but chopping wood is in the realm of a knife.

Cliff said the Fehrman chipped when hitting it against the cinder block, but did not show pictures of the edge. I spoke to Eric Fehrman and he said that they were more like rolls on the edge, not chips. He said he sharpened it and sold it to a friend. Why do you think that Cliff shows pictures of all sorts of blade damage to knifes, but did not show a picture of this instance.

I am curious, not trying to pick a fight, just curious.
 
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