New Natives are S30V instead of S35VN, bummer

knarfeng said:
True. There was a big stink instigated by some bogus reviewer who claimed that S35V was vastly inferior to S30V. No one could ever repeat his results, so the stink went away. So did he for that matter. Can no longer remember his user handle.

I have knives in both. And I've tested them side by side cutting manila rope in controlled testing. For edge retention, there is no difference. I've carried and used both, and I don't notice any difference in ease of sharpening or anything else. It's a non-issue to me.
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I actually S30V easy to sharpen with my DMT rod.
 
anthony cheeseboro said:
I actually S30V easy to sharpen with my DMT rod.
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While S30V isn't terrible with diamonds, it is harder to sharpen than many other steels in the same or higher classes, for seemingly no reason. Elmax is cake in comparison, M390 is a little easier, and S35VN is even easier than Elmax. Obviously something like S90V or S110V are a lot harder to sharpen.

To date, the only steel that made me think my belt sander was broken was S30V. Did a reprofile on a ZT factory edge to about 15° per side. Based on how long I was grinding with a moderately new 120 grit belt, I'd have expected a nub to be left. I think the belt was AlOx. Did an Elmax blade with the same setup and it took easily 1/5 or less time.
 
@ knarfeng: Good point.
OTOH I understand the consumer being somewhat disappointed, as S35VN was brought to us as an improvement.
 
dkb45 said:
While S30V isn't terrible with diamonds, it is harder to sharpen than many other steels in the same or higher classes, for seemingly no reason. Elmax is cake in comparison, M390 is a little easier, and S35VN is even easier than Elmax. Obviously something like S90V or S110V are a lot harder to sharpen.

To date, the only steel that made me think my belt sander was broken was S30V. Did a reprofile on a ZT factory edge to about 15° per side. Based on how long I was grinding with a moderately new 120 grit belt, I'd have expected a nub to be left. I think the belt was AlOx. Did an Elmax blade with the same setup and it took easily 1/5 or less time.
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I don’t know, maybe I had finally learned to sharpen by the time I got S30V, but it has always been easy for me to sharpen.
 
I have knives in both steels from the same companies and I can't see a difference in performance. I like them both very much.
 
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knarfeng - I have made knives in both. I agree with you. As long as the hardness is the same the two blades will perform the same. Much ado about nothing !!!
Tim
 
I have never had any problems sharpening S30V, and I got my first S30V knife back in 2002. The manufacturers have been CRK, ZT and Spyderco. Also never had any issues sharpening S35VN. TBH, I like S35VN a bit better, but that might an impression in my own mind about the two steels, as opposed to the reality of my experiences with them. I like both of them.

Jim
 
Honestly, I would never notice the difference with the change. I have two S35V Natives, so I doubt I will be buying another one considering all the knives I seldom use.
 
I prefer s35vn by a not insignificant margin. In fact it is probably my favorite? Kinda strikes the right balance of attributes for me. If I didn't have a Native already, though, I wouldn't let the S30V stop me from buying.
 
Do a blind cutting test with both steels. I highly doubt you would notice the difference.
 
Spyderco S30V has been great in my experience and I probably can’t tell the difference in use.

Nevertheless, S35VN was a little something different with the Native. I was sad to see it leave for that reason alone. My assumption is the shift in steel is for supply chain simplification.
 
If the alloy weren't marked on the blade no one would be able to tell the difference in use. S35VN is not an upgrade.
 
Had one of the S35VN Natives. There’s no way anyone could tell it apart from S30V if it were not marked on the blade.

Still not convinced either are preferable for me over old and boring VG-10.
 
The only real difference, if HT is the same, IME is stain resistance.

I have pushed S30V in a ZT300 on several occasions. It never failed and proved to sharpen quickly in the field.
 
HST said:
The only real difference, if HT is the same, IME is stain resistance.

I have pushed S30V in a ZT300 on several occasions. It never failed and proved to sharpen quickly in the field.
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I've carried both and used them to cut limes, etc. They behave the same as any other stainless I've used. I can't tell a difference in daily use.
 
I also agree with knarfeng on this one. Spyderco does s30v perfectly, imo, and if it saves them a few bucks and helps them stay ahead of the competition, I’m fine with it. Blade geometry is way more important than a few percentages of vanadium or niobium. If it’s good enough for the pm2 and the Millie, it’s good enough for the Native. They’ll have a sprint in s35vn soon enough.
 
I've found S35Vn a bit easier to sharpen than S30V (both require diamond hones), but little difference in real life use. Both are great steels.
 
Alberta Ed said:
I've found S35Vn a bit easier to sharpen than S30V (both require diamond hones), but little difference in real life use. Both are great steels.
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I've only ever sharpened S30V and S35VN on my Sharpmaker rods, and it's worked well for me. My first S30V knife, back in 2002, was my first CRK Sebenza, and I had to completely reprofile the edge on that one because it came way too obtuse out of the box. I never used diamond hones, because at the time, I was afraid of removing too much metal at a time; I wanted to go slow and easy. Well, it was slow :), but I was able to reprofile the edge nicely. Was it the best option for reprofiling? Absolutely not, but like I said, back then, it was the most expensive knife I had purchased, and I wanted to do it in a very controlled manner.

Jim
 
James Y said:
I've only ever sharpened S30V and S35VN on my Sharpmaker rods, and it's worked well for me. My first S30V knife, back in 2002, was my first CRK Sebenza, and I had to completely reprofile the edge on that one because it came way too obtuse out of the box. I never used diamond hones, because at the time, I was afraid of removing too much metal at a time; I wanted to go slow and easy. Well, it was slow :), but I was able to reprofile the edge nicely. Was it the best option for reprofiling? Absolutely not, but like I said, back then, it was the most expensive knife I had purchased, and I wanted to do it in a very controlled manner.

Jim
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The edge was greater than 90 degrees?(That’s the definition of obtuse) Sorry, I know what you meant, just couldn’t help being a nerd.
 
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