S30V: Throwing in the towel?

B

Buck268

Joined
Nov 5, 2006
Messages
1,864
Well, I'm finally getting sick and tired of dealing with the horrible edge on my S30V Native. Factory edge was nice and sharp, yeah, but it didn't last. Since about the 2nd week I've owned this knife I've had nothing but problems with edge chipping and excessively quick dulling (especially since it sees quite light use up here at school). I can get it to take a decently sharp, shaving edge if I go up to 1200 grit DMT, but that doesn't last. I've read a few places that S30V responds well to coarser edges, so today I've been trying to see what type of edge my 600 grit DMT will get me. Can't even get this thing to shave. No burr can be felt or seen under 10x, edge looks very good.

Is it just me or maybe the knife? I've had no problems getting my carbon steel blades much much sharper and my decent stainless at least decently sharper. Could it be a mirco burr? Or maybe S30V just takes a different technique? I dunno, but I'm tossing the spydie in the drawer and dropping my SAK in my pocket for now... At least until I can afford a replacement of some type in VG-10 or if I've real lucky a nice carbon folder...
 
Bad heat treats do happen; had a bad S30V Native myself, in fact. You could contact Spyderco to see if they'll cover it under warranty.
 
I'm a detractor of S30V, but can get it to shave with coarser than 600 grit. You might just need to use a thicker angle than you're using now. Try sharpening at 1200 grit, but just with the spine further away from the stone.

One of the guys I know who prefers S30V over VG-10 uses it thicker than I do (probably somewhere in the 30-40 included degrees range) and the edge lasts longer for cutting and scraping for him. One of the other guys I know who really like S30V grinds his blades really thin and then has good luck with both thick and thin edges (a 30 degree edge that's 0.01" thick at the shoulders is better than a 30 degree edge that's 0.02" thick at the shoulders). Maybe one of those fixes would work for you?
 
I suppose I could try raising it as its only a few degrees above the factory angle right now. I'd just hate to bring the angle up only to want to bring it down back later (with S30V's grindability)... I wonder why I always have such trouble getting a scarey sharp edge on anything with my 600 grit...
 
OK, now this is odd (though no suprising, same technique alway brings out the best of any egde I use it on).

So I took the largest piece of my busted washita pocket stone (posted a thread about it last week) and spent about 1 min, maybe 45 seconds, throwing a micro bevel on each side of it. Its a whole new beast! I here I've always avoided using natural stones with S30V... Well I'm curious too see if this holds up any better than the edge from the DMT's. If it does, expect to see a pair of DMT's up in the trades!
 
I only use spyderco sharpmaker and benchstones and alway get my manix hair popping sharp. My working edge stays for a long time.
So maybe you got a bad heat treat.
 
I initially had microchipping with my Native, but have had no problems since sharpening it several times. My Manix, which is running 10 per side with a 15 microbevel (the Native is even thinner, with a Krein regrind) has no problem shaving extremely smoothly with the DMT fine finish (and even shaving roughly with DMT X coarse), and easily tree tops arm hairs with a Spyderco ultrafine finish, along with push cutting newsprint well over 4" from the point of hold. I guess I got a good one, because the lord knows I have read plenty of horror stories, and with my initial microchipping on the Native, S30V and I got off on the wrong foot. I was really worried my Manix would be chippy, but like I mentioned, it has behaved itself very well. It still isn't my favorite steel by far, but I must say the results I've gotten have been pretty good, or at least above average.

Mike

Edit to add: I was far less impressed with S30V in the Sebenza passaround I used, as it just wouldn't take even close to the edge my Manix takes. Since I couldn't get it as sharp the edge retention seemed down also, but that could have been the more obtuse geometry coming into play also.
 
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