S30V or D2?

C

ChuckBuck

Joined
Oct 19, 2004
Messages
218
I've recently purchased an Al Mar SERE 2000 with an S30V blade and a KA-Bar USMC D2 Extrme Fighting Knife with D2 steel. I'm wondering if I got ripped off, or if the S30V and/or D2 steel really do hold edges better. What is THE BEST steel used in blades today? Can anyone comment on the quality of Al Mar's products?

P.S. I'm new to this forum, and I posted a similar thread on the passaround portion of this site. Sorry. What is "passaround" anyway?
 
Welcome to Bladeforums! :)

"Pass-around" is a knife passed from one member to another for evaluation and experience. Many people can't get to a knife store or show to handle knives they might want to buy, so we pick an item of interest, sign up for the pass-around on it, keep it a week and try it out, play with it, see how it holds up, and send it on the to the next in line.

It's a great way to see what's good. Go to the forum when you get a chance and ask them about the details of their procedure.

As far as the "best" steel available, there is no one best. Insofar as different steels have different characteristics, the use a blade will be put to may suggest one steel over another.

The steel that's corrosion-resistant enough to work in a wet environment may not be tough enough for chopping or hold an edge long enough for hunting or ... any number of other specialized tasks.

S30V and D2 are two of the most highly-regarded cutlery steels around today. But no steel is perfect for every use. By the way, the knives you bought are pretty highly-regarded themselves, not just for the steel used -- but that's part of the equation.

Read through the BladeForums.com Knife FAQs to see some of the factors that determine how well a blade will perform.
 
I have a Benchmade Mini-Griptilian in each. I have used them both heavily and sharpened both, in my mind they are pretty much equal. The S30V is slightly easier to sharpen, but is also a slimmer profile at the edge. Both hold up excellent, both are top of the line steels. If I had to chose between the two... I'd be screwed!
 
imho S30V and D2 are pretty even as far a ease of sharpening (not TOO bad) and holding an edge, i see no diff in them myself.

best steel imho is talonite,
 
SIFU1A said:
best steel imho is talonite,
Click to expand...
No, it's Stellite ;) - except it's not steel, neither it nor Talonite :P
OTOH, I think S30V may have a better corrosion resistance than D2.
 
Just a quick note. The AlMar Sere 2000 (folder) used to use VG10 as the blade steel and it is still listed as the same on the website. The fixed blade Sere operator used S30V. They may have changed the blade steel and not updated the website but I thought I would point on this fact. Did they do a run of Sere 2000 folders in S30V?
 
SIFU1A said:
best steel imho is talonite,
Click to expand...

Which isn't really a steel anyway :D .

You got hardly ripped of. From my own experience I can say that S30V is a great steel. And from what I have read here I want a D2 blade really bad (haven't found one that I like yet. I could kick myself in the head that I didn't buy the BM Bigspender in D2 when I had the chance...oh well).

More specifically: D2 is not considered a stainless steel. It is also very highly hardenenable and very wear resistent. The most wear resistant of all the common bladesteels I believe. To the manufacturer, D2 is probably not very expensive, as it is a steel that has been around for a while. S30V is currently the "supersteel" of the month, as such probably a bit more expensive to the manufacturer. It is a stainless steel with qualities that approach those of non stainless (wear resistance near D2, and high toughness, even though not quite like A2) and represents supposedly the best trade off between sharpenability, edgeholding, corrosion resistance and toughness. S60V (or CPM440V as it used to be called), has an even better edgeholding, but was said to be so difficult to sharpen that a lot of people didn't really care for it, I guess.

In the end I guess, whether you like D2 or S30V better is probably mostly a question of personal preference.
 
I prefer M2 (Brnchmade 710HS, 140HS), A2 (BarkRiver) and CPM S60V(Kershaw Avalanche, Boa). D2 and CPM S30V also good.

Thanks, Vassili.
 
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