One step up from S30V blade steel.

S

SmallBlock327

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Aug 10, 2013
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Now that I have my new Buck with S30V steel blade im ready to step it up. What blade steel in a step up from S30V steel? Thanks.:cool:
 
Depends on which direction, Corriosion resistance? toughness? Edge retention? Edge stability? ease of sharpening? I'll assume you mean edge retention since its the most common. You have a couple different options you could go CPM-M4 which will also have increased toughness but reduced corrosion resistance, you could also go with M390 which is a step up in almost every category except cost and ease of sharpening. I'd go with either of those 2.
 
According to Crucible and Zknives S35 was made to be a step up from s30. Practically I can't tell a difference. I would go with M4, M390 or S90. A Contego.
 
Maddogg774 said:
According to Crucible and Zknives S35 was made to be a step up from s30. Practically I can't tell a difference. I would go with M4, M390 or S90. A Contego.
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zknives calls it an evolution, not necessarily a step up -
CPM S35VN(Crucible) - Crucible CPM steel. As I understand it is an evolution of CPM S30V steel. Has Niobium and Nitrogen in it, unlike S30V. Currently it is quite popular with custom makers and several high end production knife companies use it including Spyderco, Rick Hinderer, Spartan Blades, Chris Reeve and many others. Overall, it's a bit tougher alloy compared with CPM S30V, more resistant to chipping as well. However, for the knives optimized purely for edge holding, S30V is still a better choice.
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It loses some Vanadium and doesn't put nearly as much Niobium back in - you've lost carbide formers however you look at it.

Practically, I agree that I don't really tell a difference in use, and definite +1 on M390 if you're looking for a stainless upgrade from S30V.
 
Maddogg774 said:
According to Crucible and Zknives S35 was made to be a step up from s30. Practically I can't tell a difference. I would go with M4, M390 or S90. A Contego.
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It's been my experience that S35 is a little tougher than S30 as far as edge chipping goes. I agree with Maddogg on the M4 Contego. I can beat the hell out of that thing, and it keeps a great edge. As far as corrosion goes, I just keep it reasonably clean and have never seen a speck of rust. Of course I'm not in a high humidity or marine environment.
 
S30V -> CPM-S30V
If I recall, Buck doesn't bother with all the powder metallurgy stuff and people in this thread seem to have forgotten that a non-CPM S30V exists.
 
Styg said:
I thought all S30v was made using powder metallurgy.
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I guess they are. I probably just saw them listed as two different steels on sites like zknives and assumed they were different, especially since CPM likes to make powdered versions of non powdered steel (eg: D2->CPM-D2, 154cm->CPM-154).
 
I find S35Vn to be a little easier to sharpen than S30V, and it seems to take a somewhat finer edge. It is similar in those aspects to CPM154.
 
I like m390 a lot, and m4 is a nice steel too. However, I think those are several step up:)
One step up might be ELMAX. I only have one knife with it, but it is a good steel.
 
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