S30v RANT!

C

Cravin01

Joined
Feb 23, 2015
Messages
91
OK, I'm Just putting this out to see if those "in the know" feel the same?

I love fine knives. My Sage 1 embodies what I consider a classy high end knife.

I'm invested as many of you are, I have two s30v and one s35vn Spydies and of course other Spyies in other steels plus a sharpening system to aid in the maintenance of these sweet little treasures.

I know the difference in a sharp knife and a scary sharp knife. My fathers knives and carpentry tools were levels above anything I every found anyone with around him in the same profession ( all carbon of course ). If you bumped his knife you were cut!

In the process of learning to sharpen high end stainless steel I have found s30v to be short of the cats meow. It likes a rough toothy edge to cut, almost like a Ginsue knife at a microscopic level. Thou it possesses a edge retention far exceeding most in this category it lacks the razor sharp sabre edge of a samurai sword one one expect. I have yet to hold one that has the edge of a vg10 fresh from the box, That was impressive!

I'm not saying that it doesn't get that sharp, I'm saying in my short wisdom of the metal I have yet to see it and am not interested in spending 2+ hours to achieve it.

I think at this point Id rather enjoy the lazer cutting abilities of lesser steels with little to no edge retention as to wrestling with this metal to achieve a rougher edge. I hope to find that sweet spot between the two or learn to lower my expectations.
 
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I have zero problem putting a scalpel-sharp edge on my Spydercos in S30V. It's a great steel. The only knife steel that I can easily make obviously sharper is M4.
 
I would love to see some super close ups of various steel blades before and after. Anyone have a link??????
 
It's not any secret really. After studying sharpening techniques I settled on an Edge Pro sharpener. Yes, it's mechanical; and no, there's no art to it. You can precisely set the angle of the bevel. Most knives respond very well with the Edge Pro. It seems like on this forum that more people like the Wicked Edge sharpener, but I prefer the Edge Pro mechanics.

S30V is no slouch at all. Spyderco knives in S30V steel (like the Paramilitary 2 and Manix 2) are an incredible value at their retail price.
 
Cravin01 said:
I would love the secret...I'm just not getting it:confused:
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No secret. Clean apex then microbevel at whatever your desired level of refinement is. I can get s30v to break hanging hairs on contact. Once you have a clean apex it takes about 2 minutes to achieve this level of sharpness. I'm not being condescending at all!! I get what you are saying! I used to really struggle to get a good edge on s30v when I first started using it. I realized eventually I just wasn't getting a good clean apex. Get that part right and you can put any kind of edge you want on this steel. Thats been my experience anyway.
 
Well that gives me some hope because I've been banging against this one, I will try to have patience with it later, I'm short with it tonight. Thank you.
 
I get my s30v very sharp using a sharp maker field sharpener, then I use my home made strop for approximately 10 mins. it cone out sharp enough to make my arm hair jump off my arm in fear!
 
+1 on the sharpmaker, i have no problem getting or keeping a vary sharp edge on my S30V knifes,and the strop keeps them the way.
 
Surfingringo said:
No secret. Clean apex then microbevel at whatever your desired level of refinement is. I can get s30v to break hanging hairs on contact. Once you have a clean apex it takes about 2 minutes to achieve this level of sharpness. I'm not being condescending at all!! I get what you are saying! I used to really struggle to get a good edge on s30v when I first started using it. I realized eventually I just wasn't getting a good clean apex. Get that part right and you can put any kind of edge you want on this steel. Thats been my experience anyway.
Click to expand...

This^^
 
Surfingringo said:
Hah, well it should make sense to you Chuck since I got a good chunk of that sharpening knowledge from you. :thumbup::D
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And I got a good chunk from you, Lance.

Color the very apex with a sharpie and run the edge on the diamond Sharpmaker rods a few times.... unless the sharpie is fully removed from the very edge, a good apex has not been attained (the two bevels are NOT the same). As Lance said, once you hit that apex future sharpening is simply an easy touchup.

It *may* take quite some time, unless the factory bevels were close to identical.
 
The first couple of times I sharpened my PM2 on the Edgepro, I was not wowed with the results. I also had some minor chipping. I reset the angle very slightly, cleaned it up and went over it multiple times to establish the edge. Since then, it's performed very well, but I understand your concerns. I was wondering what the hell was going on the first couple times. I've sharpened S30V before and didn't have those issues.
 
I have blades of S30V but prefer steels that are easier to sharpen, and hold a crazy sharp edge a reasonable amount of time(unlike S30V). I like CTS-XHP, VG10, 204P. S30V just doesn't keep that crazy sharp edge very long.
 
I use the sharpmaker and my s30v blades tend to take a rather toothy edge as well...

However I can be an impatient man so it could very well be that I'm just not spending enough time on them. :)
 
I can get an S30V blade very sharp, they just don't stay that way very long for me.
 
Crucible's CPM-S30V is a beautiful steel made for blades. In addition to what's been suggested, I have to go with Cliff and just make it thinner and more acute.

sal
 
SurfingGringo got it right!:thumbup: I guess I lucked out when I started on S30V ,,Had just got several DMT diamond plates and others,,, re profiled my Blur and PM2 right off the bat to 30 inclusive and then micro beveled them!!! Then don't let them get dull ,,,, keep them stropped and touched up on a sharp maker etc. and you'll be happy!!!;)
 
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