"Personal" - my first in S30V

J

Jason Cutter

Joined
Oct 9, 2002
Messages
1,419
Thought I'd try out some S30V. This is a small knife, 6.75inches OAL with a 2.75inch blade. Its machine finished S30V with a tapered tang. and textured satin finished black G10. I made this to cater to the guys who like S30V but I wanted to keep the price low with a Dozier-type approach - basic finish, clean grinds, simple hard-core user design with a focus on starting with good materials and a good heat treatment. The HT was done by Hills Heat Treatment with a cryo and triple temper with a hardness of 59Rockwell.

(I hope I am not insulting Bob Dozier by making comparisons to him...)

Opinions sought... Thanks in advance. Jason.

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:) Jason,

nice sleek lines, textured g10 looks good.

In regards to machine finish, didn't you find with the spderco Native after field testing that finish was a bit harder to clean? I thought you'd prefer satin finish
Cheers
Mitch
 
I have to take it easy or else people are going to think you're paying me for my positive comments, but I love that. Everything about it works. Super clean, beautiful grinds, thin, nothing wasted. Stop raising the bar, please. Can we figure out a way to have you reinjure those ribs or something? :D
 
Jason, great looking design. I love that style of working knife. The only thing I would like better would be fatter handle scales but that's just me. I keep thinking of doing some with that steel. How tough was it to grind? What grit belts do you prefer for grinding S30V?
Scott
 
Thanks for the replies, guys.

Mitch, you're correct. I prefer a finer finish, even if it is machine finished. On this sorta prototype, I thought I'd cut my losses at the time and get it heat treated first so I could do some basic testing. The finish is actually less coarse than it looks - 240grit finish burnished then a medium Scotchbrite. The finish on the Spydie Native I got from you has something like a raw 80 or 120grit finish. I've already been cutting up fruits and vegies with it and so far its holding up OK. No staining.

I guess I still have to figure out the "difficulty" factor and time efficient methods of working S30V. When I think about it, it actually isn't that hard.

I would liken grinding S30V as being very similar to grinding D2, or only slightly more difficult. I am using 3M 967F Cubitron "Gold" belts which are impressively aggressive yet cut so evenly. I use 50 and 80grit belts before switching to 120grit and 240grit 3M 707E Regalite Polycut at low speed for the final (grinder) finish, then a coarse Scotchbrite, and medium Scothbrite belts. I do this for all my blades. I don't use the Scothbrite belts if I am going to hand rub the blade.

The Cubitron Gold belts really make any increase in difficulty, negligible. They are really worth the extra money compared to regular blue Zirconia belts, and heads and shoulders beyond what Al-Ox belts offer.

I'll figure out more as I make more S30V knives. Thanks again, guys. A man's gotta have fun. Jason.
 
I'm sure Bob Dozier would understand full well what you meant, and not take offense at it.

That knife is pure utilitarian, and I love it. Now, all we gotta do is get you to Atlanta in three weeks, so that more of us can see this work up close and personal. :)
 
Jason, I WILL TAKE IT!

I will pick it up next week when we meet, exactly what I was after..

Beautiful work.
 
That looks great. The simple, clean and useful designs are the ones that always get my attention. Very nice work!
 
As always, a pleasure to look at your work. I wouldn't mind carying a knife like this myself (and this tells a lot, believe me, as I'm very picky - at least when it comes to knives) ;)
 
Very elegant blade shape indeed.

You gotta hold & cut with a knife to know its worth but, from the pictures I'd say that comes pretty close to to my idea of of the perfect design for a everyday useable knife-robust without being chunky, simple but still refined.

Impressive work.
 
Beautiful little user Jason. That looks almost exactly like a neck knife I was designing in my head over the weekend, only a little bigger. I just wish I had the skill to execute my design so well!
 
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