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S30V Question
- Thread starter GotSteel
- Start date
Sonnydaze
Gold Member
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2009
- Messages
- 11,700
I carry a knife of 1/8" spine that puts all of my very expensive flat grinds to shame...and of course, that particular knife is my most excellent S30V large Classic Sebenza. The newer model 21 Sebbies use S35VN which seems to be known as the improved version of S30V...showing an increase in wear resistance with slightly higher heat treat numbers.
The "secret" of the Sebenza is the high hollow grind of the blade. That means that the blade is significantly thinner (~0.030") than a flat-ground blade of the same spine and edge thickness... as we "rise up" perhaps 3/8" from the blade edge toward the spine. And, THIN WINS. It's geometry, as folks like to say. And, I'm a believer since I've carved many apples in the comparison process.
It is so easy to check...just slice an apple...not thru the core, but along-side it so that your cuts meet the same density of medium (apple) on opposite sides of the core. The Sebbie slices SO nicely...whereas the flat ground blade start off nicely, but then you have to force it thru the last half of the cut...just like a wedge.
It is also significant to hope that your blade is no more than 0.030" behind the edge. This seems to be a rather common measurement that many of my production blades display. However, looking at some of our folks who perform custom blade-work... such as Phil Wilson or Josh (REK), will show that their custom blades will measure 0.006 - 0.010" behind the edge, which makes a WORLD of difference in slicing abillity.
The "secret" of the Sebenza is the high hollow grind of the blade. That means that the blade is significantly thinner (~0.030") than a flat-ground blade of the same spine and edge thickness... as we "rise up" perhaps 3/8" from the blade edge toward the spine. And, THIN WINS. It's geometry, as folks like to say. And, I'm a believer since I've carved many apples in the comparison process.
It is so easy to check...just slice an apple...not thru the core, but along-side it so that your cuts meet the same density of medium (apple) on opposite sides of the core. The Sebbie slices SO nicely...whereas the flat ground blade start off nicely, but then you have to force it thru the last half of the cut...just like a wedge.
It is also significant to hope that your blade is no more than 0.030" behind the edge. This seems to be a rather common measurement that many of my production blades display. However, looking at some of our folks who perform custom blade-work... such as Phil Wilson or Josh (REK), will show that their custom blades will measure 0.006 - 0.010" behind the edge, which makes a WORLD of difference in slicing abillity.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2016
- Messages
- 803
Really light duty stuff like cutting open packages and tape, letters so push cutting paper. I have a couple of hard use knives but I try to keep the light duty ones in good shape in case I decide I want to resell, currently no blades in s30v but I wanted to revisit it since a lot of people do like it and I thought maybe with modifications I could actually make it work for me and enjoy using it since it does have desirable qualities
