S30V vs. BG-42

E

ErikD

Joined
Dec 5, 2000
Messages
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I recently got a Large Plain Sebenza, and love it. I got it just a month or so before CRK switched to using S30V, and I find this to be a problem with only one solution, buy another one! What I want to know is if their is any way to tell the two apart. When I open the knife I can see a stamp on the inside scale that says 01 A or 01 B. Does the 01 stand for the year of manufacture, so if I buy an S30V it will have 02? Just want to know how to tell the two apart when I order the new one, so I can compare. Thanks in advance.


Erik
 
It's my understanding that those numbers inside the scales are batch numbers and don't have a meaning concerning the blade steel.

If you buy a new one the birth ceritficate will say SV30. One you get new one, you probably will be able to tell them apart. (just guessing)
 
I recently purchased one of the NICA Tanto larges that came with the S30V Steel. Visually I can't tell the difference between it and my BG42 Steel Plains and Classics. IF you order a second Plain Sebenza for comparative purposes I would recommend you have some distinctive characteristic like a gold thumblug vs. the blue or better still double thumblugs. I just got a Classic that had the $10.50 polished blade option, and personally I think that would be a great low cost distinctive "mod" to tell them apart.
 
(at least on my new S30V small Seb.) the new S30V blades are stamped with an "S" close to the pivot hole. It can only be seen when the knife is disassembled.

Professor.
 
Professor,

Thanks for that hint! I hadn't gotten the courage up to disassemble the NICA yet to see the "S" I would probably opt to still get some defining mod to preclude the need to disassemble;)
 
From my point of view, I think BG-42 polishes to a higher degree than S30V. I took a S30V and a Bg-42 Sebenza in hand down in my basement and turned off all the lights except lone 100 watt light bulb in the middle of my shop. I stood underneath the bulb with both blades in hand and compared the reflected image of the bulb in the side of the blade. The BG-42 image was noticeably crisper than the S30V. That tells me, all things being equal, that with the same amount of time in the stone wash tumbler, the BG=42 finishes finer than the S30V. I have also heard from David Broadwell that Crucible's steels tends not to finish as well as other steels--they require more finish time to achieve a polished effect.
Hope that helps,
Barry H
 
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