S30V-good-not so?

Lycosa

Lycosa

Joined
Aug 24, 2007
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At first, there were raves about S30V. Now I hear complaints, like chipping. Are the complaints legit or is this just knife abuse?
Lycosa
 
I have three blades in S30V. All are Benchmade. One, my new Rukus, I haven;t got to use yet. I have experienced no chipping or other edge issues. They take slightly longer to sharpen, but the Sharpmaker's ceramic works fine. The attainable edge is as sharp as I need....razor shaving and, in some cases on a good day for me, hair-popping.....and that's without stropping!

I've been fortunate I guess. I have nothing but good to say about S30V. Next to 154CM, it's my favorite semi-stainless.
 
I've had both good and bad experiences with S30V. Near as I can tell, S30V requires special care in heat treating and sharpening. Not every maker got those things right in the beginning, and there were some problems. But those problems seem to have disappeared as makers learned how to work with this really good steel.
 
I have S30V blades from Spyderco and Benchmade... no problems with either company's S30V. I've used my Para-Millie and Manix in the woods shaving wood and I've used the RSKs around the campsite and in the warehouse where I work cutting cardboard, zip ties, and thin computer wiring. All of them have been used for house and yard chores also.

S30V and VG10 are my favorite stainless steels for folders. I've had good luck getting them sharp and they've never given me any problems.
 
I have a healthy number of knives with S30V blades and have never had a problem. They take a nice edge and sharpen up nicely on Arkansas stones.
 
S30V and VG10 are about as good as it gets when it comes to stainless steel. But keep in mind a steel is only as good as its HT.
 
I like S30V, had it in a variety of blade styles and like was said above, that and VG-10 make great blade steels, especially in folders.
 
Lycosa said:
At first, there were raves about S30V. Now I hear complaints, like chipping. Are the complaints legit or is this just knife abuse?
Lycosa
Click to expand...

The answer to your question is "BG42"! I've owned several knives in S30V but my "go to" knife steel is BG42. I have a custom Matt Harildstadt hunter and a CRK in BG42 and would not trade them for all the S30V in the world!
 
I have used a Buck 110 with the S30V steel.It is the Alaskan guide series from Cabelas.Used it the last 2 years .Pushed it thru the chest bone(sternum) of the deer just to test out the steel.Went thru without a chip.Still kept a wonderful sharp edge.Paul Bos does a wonderful job of heat treating the S30V.Used it to gut,skin and butcher the animals last 2 years.Would highly recommend it.
 
No steel is perfect for every application. S30V is great at edge holding. I think there are "tougher" steels out there, but S30V is the premium steel to have for folders. Improper heat treat is probably more likely to result in a brittle blade than one not able to hold an edge. I've gotta get a knife with this miracle steel. I've been leaning toward a Native, but am tempted to get a Buck 110.
 
I EDC the mini-Rittergrip using it every day for all sorts of things, and the fullsize and fixed Rittergrips come camping with me and are mostly used with food and wood. I've not seen any chipping problems.

Ken K.
 
neeman said:
Interesting.

A hard Arkansas?

Better than diamond?
Click to expand...

Arkansas' will work great on this steel for basic edge maintenance but not for general sharpening unless you have alot of time on your hands. They have the advantage of polishing as they sharpen but are not known for their cutting action, especially on premium steels like S30V. Diamonds are the cat's meow for this steel if you let your knife get blunt or need to regrind to change the edge profile.

NJ
 
NJ

Polishing is the final honing or touch up? I don't strop (yet!)
So an Arkansas instead of an extra-fine diamond for polishing?
 
I've been thinking about this very subject lately, by sheer coincidence.

I've got a Strider SNG and a small Sebbie, I've had both for about 3 years so it's been a good comparison of two different knives with S30V.

I've been fairly happy with both of them, as far as the steel goes, but the SNG has suffered a few small chips in the blade and the point broke off. The Sebbie has not suffered any blade damage, at least not obvious visible damage.

I do tend to use the SNG slightly harder though so this might account for the extra damage. Let me say here that I don't abuse my knives but sometimes I need to use them hard.

I do have knives with other steels, and I use my Calypso Burgundy daily, but for the serious cutting jobs on the weekends especially, I seem to almost exclusively use the SNG or Sebbie.

On the whole, I'd have to say I like S30V, although I think it would chip where my BM in D2 might not.

I also prefer the Sebbie to the Strider, although that's a whole other story.
 
There did indeed seem to be some 'edge chipping' a while ago. There hasn't been much talk lately.
Most of the chipping also seemed to be on new knives and seemed to go away after a bit of hand-sharpening. My take on the whole thing was that S30V is slow enough to sharpen that some edges were being 'burned' in the original sharpening.
Certainly most makers had no complaints about the steel.
Greg
 
All S30V is rubbish. Send all your S30V blades to me for disposal, I'll even pay the postage costs :P
 
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