S30v empressions

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S30V was originally supposed to be a fully stainless version of CPM 3V. They would sacrifice a small amount of toughness for this purpose, while keeping wear resistance equal to 3V, and it would still be as tough as A2.

However, in my usage S30V is not as tough as A2. It is not even close. Crucible failed in making S30V meet the original vision. I hope that they learn from their mistakes in creating S35VN. I know it will have 3% vanadium and 5% niobium, but I hope they use less carbon this time around.
 
cotdt said:
S30V was originally supposed to be a fully stainless version of CPM 3V. They would sacrifice a small amount of toughness for this purpose, while keeping wear resistance equal to 3V, and it would still be as tough as A2.

However, in my usage S30V is not as tough as A2. It is not even close. Crucible failed in making S30V meet the original vision. I hope that they learn from their mistakes in creating S35VN. I know it will have 3% vanadium and 5% niobium, but I hope they use less carbon this time around.
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It is unfair to compare stainless to carbon steel, AFAIK S30V was designed as a stainless cutlery steel that had edge retention of a carbon steel. I don't think it was ever made to compete with 3V.
 
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GregY said:
That's 7 years, 9 months.

<Vader>Impressive</Vader>

Those other 4 and 5 year old threads he keeps digging up are nothing.
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Indeed, particularly since basic members have no forum search. And I would think these old threads would be long since dropped even from Google's impressive repository.
 
After all this time the thread lives on. :) Thanks for finding it Cotdt. Kit also made a folder with two blades for me, one was A2 and the other was S30V. That thread may be interesting to you if you can find it also. I still have the fixed blade that this thread is about and stand by all my comments about it 7 years ago. S30V has been writen about alot since this thread and I think it remains a very good steel for general use knives. I sharpen and use my knives alot different now than I did back then, I mainly carry and use a slipjoint with a convexed blade and edge I put on myself. Personally I wouldn't compare S30V to either 3V or A2. If I was forced to choose a steel it compares to I'd say D2. Kit and I have been out of touch for a heck of alot longer than I'd like, but I'm very happy to see that his posting in this thread didn't kill the thread. :).
 
In a non-technical way, I love my S30V. Takes a great edge and holds it a long time.
 
db said:
After all this time the thread lives on. :) Thanks for finding it Cotdt. Kit also made a folder with two blades for me, one was A2 and the other was S30V. That thread may be interesting to you if you can find it also. I still have the fixed blade that this thread is about and stand by all my comments about it 7 years ago. S30V has been writen about alot since this thread and I think it remains a very good steel for general use knives. I sharpen and use my knives alot different now than I did back then, I mainly carry and use a slipjoint with a convexed blade and edge I put on myself. Personally I wouldn't compare S30V to either 3V or A2. If I was forced to choose a steel it compares to I'd say D2. Kit and I have been out of touch for a heck of alot longer than I'd like, but I'm very happy to see that his posting in this thread didn't kill the thread. :).
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It's nice to see this old one, db. I'm glad you are still using and enjoying your knives!
 
I bought a Lone Wolf T2 and was so excited, I thought it would be the last knife I ever had to buy, but I used it once in the rain and it started spotting within an hour. Got it all cleaned it up and few weeks later I went on a hike in the rain, didn't even take it out of my pocket, and when I got home it was rusted, I was shocked. Everything I had read about this steel was that it was the ultimate pocket knife steel, and that is true as long as make sure to keep it dry, cleaned, polished, and in its sheath or box at night. It's true that you can hack and hack and hack and still easily slice afterwards, the edge holds amazingly well, but its only just barely stainless enough to be classified as a stainless steel. So it's an amazing steel for dry conditions or if youre diligent enough to keep it cleaned and dry, but I think there are others steels that have slightly less edge retention than S30V but not much and have a higher corrosion resistence, so overall would be a better choice. But it all depends on the situtation and the individual.
 
I've never had any rusting issues with S30V. I took this Carson SD1 out to play. Personally I think because this is such a great designed knife it makes any steel seem like a good one. :) truthfully a well designed knife makes a big difference. Good steel + good design = great knife witch this knife is.
 
cotdt said:
S30V was originally supposed to be a fully stainless version of CPM 3V.
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Are you sure about that? They both have roughly 3-4% vanadium and are both made with Crucible's process of powdered metallurgy. So far as I can tell, that's it.
 
thombrogan said:
Are you sure about that? They both have roughly 3-4% vanadium and are both made with Crucible's process of powdered metallurgy. So far as I can tell, that's it.
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According to Jerry Hossom, Crucible called it S30V because it was supposed to be a super-tough stainless steel based on 3V. 3V was already semi-stainless, and people wanted a full-stainless version. Unfortunately, S30V got 4% vanadium instead of the 3% it was originally supposed to get, and it got more carbon than it originally was supposed to get. So you end up with something that is not really any tougher than what's already out there, like VG-10/D2/154CM. It would have been nice to get a stainless version of 3V like what we were supposed to.
 
S30v is a great steel! It's probably my favorite "all-around" steel. There are steels that do some things better, but this one does everything very well.
 
So many big names in this post! I just had to be apart of it. I can't find any fault with S30V but as I age carbon steel seems so much more appealing!
T
 
cotdt said:
According to Jerry Hossom, Crucible called it S30V because it was supposed to be a super-tough stainless steel based on 3V. 3V was already semi-stainless, and people wanted a full-stainless version. Unfortunately, S30V got 4% vanadium instead of the 3% it was originally supposed to get, and it got more carbon than it originally was supposed to get. So you end up with something that is not really any tougher than what's already out there, like VG-10/D2/154CM. It would have been nice to get a stainless version of 3V like what we were supposed to.
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That I knew. However, IIRC although that may have initially been the intent Chris Reeves worked closely with Crucible to develop S30V and the mods they wanted took presidence which makes sense considering the numbers in terms of consumption needs of a large production knife company versus that of individual knifemakers.
 
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