Questions about VG10 Steel

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xcel730

Joined
Jul 16, 2006
Messages
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I'm new to the Spydie family, and I noticed that a handful of Spyderco's blades are made with VG10 steel. I know that it is a tough, but not brittle steel with excellent corrossion resistance. However, I haven't used any of my Spydies yet for hard use. From your experience, can anyone share with me the time when you used your VG10 steel blade and it made you go "WOW THIS BLADE IS TOUGH"?
 
I've used VG-10 knives as icepicks to chip off ice in commercial freezers(so it inevitably hit the steel of the wall or door), and I have never had a tip breakage.

I wouldn't dare try that with most other steels.

VG-10 is by far my favorite steel. :thumbup:
 
VG-10 is what I call a good "workhorse Steel" I use VG-10 Spyders on occasion and have excellent luck with them. I agree with Scott about them being extremely tough. The Harpy & Spyderhawk with VG-10 are both classics in my book. As much as I like S30V I tend to like VG-10 a little better.

VG-10 was originally designated as an "agricultural steel" in Japan. In other words they designed it for very rough use in agricultural tools. I have used VG-10 Hawkbills extensively and I have had excellent luck with it.

If you ever get a Spyderco Civilian model make absolute sure you get the VG-10 version. I think the tip of the Civilian is not near as apt to break off with VG-10 whereas I have heard reports of the other steels they made the Civilian with breaking off during hard use. It's one of the best hard use blade steels Spyderco has ever used. It's not a coincidence that they first used it on a "hard use fixed blade" ( The MORAN model). But all steels have their weaknesses in some area. Good Luck
 
I owned a VG10 bladed Police model while in the Marines. I bought it while in SOI (School Of Infantry). I put that knife through the worst weather conditions in the field. I opened countless MREs with it, cut rope, paracord, wood, boxes, etc. There were times where we were in the field for a couple weeks or longer. Once it rained for most of the two weeks, and the knife stayed wet, and covered in sweat, and in muggy, humid air. No rust. I never had any chipping, or other blade problems, and the knife was always plenty sharp.
 
enduraguy said:
I owned a VG10 bladed Police model while in the Marines. I bought it while in SOI (School Of Infantry). I put that knife through the worst weather conditions in the field. I opened countless MREs with it, cut rope, paracord, wood, boxes, etc. There were times where we were in the field for a couple weeks or longer. Once it rained for most of the two weeks, and the knife stayed wet, and covered in sweat, and in muggy, humid air. No rust. I never had any chipping, or other blade problems, and the knife was always plenty sharp.
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That's impressive. I was very happy to see that my new Waved Endura 4 was VG-10.

I couldn't help but notice your post was written in the past tense, what ever happened to that Police model?
 
wow. good to hear from everyone's experiences. i've been using 154CM and CPM-S30V and I love them. But now that I'm a spydie fan, I have to put my VG10 blades to hard use.
 
Not only is VG10 tough, it's excellent at fine cutting. My Calypso Jr (VG10) is a folding scalpel. It zips through paper, cardboard, wood.
 
My experience is that VG-10 is far easier to sharpen that the CPM-30 (? not sure I have the lettering exactly right) that they use on the Manix, etc. Loved the Manix (and, I think I had another in that same steel), but couldn't
sharpen those things in any reasonable amount of time (i.e. less than 10 mins).

And, the VG-10 seems to hold an edge really well. I kinda don't buy any
Spydies now unless they have VG-10.

Can you tell I'm a fan of the stuff? :)
 
xcel730 said:
I'm new to the Spydie family, and I noticed that a handful of Spyderco's blades are made with VG10 steel. I know that it is a tough, but not brittle steel with excellent corrossion resistance. However, I haven't used any of my Spydies yet for hard use. From your experience, can anyone share with me the time when you used your VG10 steel blade and it made you go "WOW THIS BLADE IS TOUGH"?
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Keep in mind that there's tough, and then there's tough. If you're comparing to ATS-34, VG-10's toughness is in the ballpark. If you're comparing to L6, or any number of non-stainless tool and carbon steels, VG-10 (and ATS-34, and S30V) is brittle. VG-10 is a great folder steel, IMO, stainless and takes a really nice edge.
 
Joe Talmadge said:
Keep in mind that there's tough, and then there's tough. If you're comparing to ATS-34, VG-10's toughness is in the ballpark. If you're comparing to L6, or any number of non-stainless tool and carbon steels, VG-10 (and ATS-34, and S30V) is brittle. VG-10 is a great folder steel, IMO, stainless and takes a really nice edge.
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MR. Talmadge how would you compare VG-10 to some of the other carbon steels such as CPM 10V, 1095 or D-2. And what is the main alloying element that you deem as vitally important for the toughness of a good steel?
 
may i point out that the civillian was never designed for hard use? it was actually designed an a self defense knife.
 
I've had a Spydie Endura in VG-10 for what, 10 years or more. I edc'd it for about 6 or 7 years (it's kind of sentimentally semi-retired now, sitting on the computer table next to me - I just touched up the blade again.). No extremely hard use, but use every day. What I like is it sharpens very easily, stays sharp for a reasonable length of time, - longer than my SAKs (which I really like too), doesn't stain or rust and has never chipped or bent and no tip failure.

So, not classed a "super steel," but pretty much a flawless steel for a moderate use edc, IMHO.
 
Originally posted by JD Spydo
…what is the main alloying element that you deem as vitally important for the toughness of a good steel?
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I’m not Joe, but I think I can help. It’s more the lack of alloying that makes carbon steel though. In order to make steel stainless you have to cram it full of chromium, which is good in low quantities (1% to 4%, I’ve read that just 0.5% will make a big difference) but when you have 13%+, that’s not going to help.

(Note: I’m not a metallurgist, so keep in mind my figures are just for example, And are not necessarily very accurate.)

And here’s a URL to A.G. Russell’s steel guide. http://www.agrussell.com/knife_information/steel_guide/index.html
 
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