S30V: What are your experiences with this steel?

misque

misque

Joined
Jul 9, 1999
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I recenty read a thread where the poster was opining on his reluctance to make a purchase of a knife with an S30V blade because of the things he'd been reading about it lately. Well, I tried a search, but, typing S30V into the search engine here makes it balk.
I have several knives with S30V, but, in all honesty I haven't used them very hard. This is partly due to the fact that I'm currently unemployed and don't do much in the way of hard knife work anymore.:yawn: :o

Anyway, please feel free to sound off on your experiences with S30V be it good, bad or fugly.

Thank you for your answers/opinions.

Mike U.

Okay, Please disregard the comment on my lack of search function success. I've got it now. I am still interested in people's experiences so, if you haven't shared your experience please do if you are so inclined!

Thanks!
 
There's a number of reports of it chipping.

I have had some tiny chips in one blade and none in 3 others.

There's a relationship with sharpening angle of course.

I've gradually convexed all these edges and haven't had chipping in that one blade since.
 
phatch said:
There's a number of reports of it chipping.

I have had some tiny chips in one blade and none in 3 others.

There's a relationship with sharpening angle of course.

I've gradually convexed all these edges and haven't had chipping in that one blade since.
Click to expand...

What sharpening system do you use so that you can do that. I use the Spyderco Sharpmaker and it only has 30 and 40 degrees. If I need other angles, I need to use a flat stone. Is that how you do it?

Regards
 
I haven't had any problems with chipping but I haven't been particularly impressed with it's edge holding ability. Personally, I haven't found that S30V seems to hold it's edge any better than VG-10. Just my 2 cents.
 
So far so good - good edge holding, I have not had problems sharpening. I have samples from Buck, Benchmade, Spyderco, and Chris Reeve. One of mine had some very minor chipping on the factory edge after carving dry Hickory, but it was so small you could just barely see it at 20X magnification.

Overall, I am pleased with S30V. There may be better steels at certain types of work, but S30V seems to have a good compromise of properties.
 
I think it's a great steel, however, my Native is my only knife with it and in my experience it's a bit more difficult to sharpen and loses it's scary sharpness very quickly but keeps a working edge for quite awhile.
 
I used a S30V bladed Buck 110 this past hunting season to field dress and quarter 4 or 5 deer, maybe 6, because I was doing my Dads also. . It never went completely dull on me. It was brand new at that time and I just a week or so back sharpened it to "my edge" using the clamp type lansky @ 25 degree slot. . Worked it with a Diamond coarse, then a medium and then a fine diamond. Then I worked it with a regular lansky mediun and a 600 Lansky fine.

A few strops and it is shaving. I don't figure it taking all that much effort next time since I now have my edge on it.

That will be my primary deer dressing knife till something else comes along. Previously, a 110 would start going dull after two.
 
I really like the knife as a whole. But I think I would rather have a more forgiving steel. It does hold a keen edge for a long time but I've been really careful not to let it get too dull. I had some tiny chips toward the tip, more my fault than the knife's. But that's why I said I'd rather have a more forgiving steel.

Frank
 
I've had a few knives with S30V (Spyderco Military, Buck 110, Spyderco Native, Microtech UMS, and probably a few that I can't remember right now) and I have never had any problems with the steel.
I can get a very keen edge and it seems to hold the edge very well.

Maybe I've been lucky, who knows?

Good luck,
Allen.
 
I own a few knives in CMP S30V, mostly folders that I have owned for a while now. I really like the steel, it preforms very well and holds a good edge, I have had no issues with it really.
 
SilverFoxKnows said:
I really like the knife as a whole. But I think I would rather have a more forgiving steel. It does hold a keen edge for a long time but I've been really careful not to let it get too dull. I had some tiny chips toward the tip, more my fault than the knife's. But that's why I said I'd rather have a more forgiving steel.

Frank
Click to expand...

Me too.
I like the CRK S30V on my Mnandi and Sebenza. Sharpening is not too hard as compared to ZDP189 which is a pain for my WHK.

However, I have come to appreciate the softer steel like ATS34 on my Mike Irie custom fixed and just plain 420 from my Case. An occassional swipe on my ceremic rods keep the blades razor sharp like S30V.

Also getting smitten by vintage, modern and custom slipjoints (stockman) big time.
 
:thumbup: I own a several knives with S30V. I have never had a problem with it. The knives that I have in S30V are, my Sebbies,Mnandi, and Umfaan, my RRF, Solar Arc, and Matt Cucchiara "Gecko". I feel that stays sharp for a long time. I have been very happy with it.:thumbup:
 
The reports of chipping are usually from the factory edges. A sharpening or two usually will fix any issues.

Phatch,
You probably did not have to convex the edge in order to stop the chipping, it was probably due to the factory edge. If S30v needed to be convexed or have its angle increased from the factory angle just to prevent chipping then it would be a very crappy steel indeed.
 
Does anyone else notice S30V loses razor sharpness very quickly? After that the working edge sharpness doesn't seem to degrade a lot, but the razor sharpness just doesn't stay long in my experience.
 
I've never liked it. I find it almost impossible to get a good edge, and when I do, it loses it very quickly. I find that almost all of my S30V knives lose their edges as fast as Cold Steel's AUS 8A in light work, e.g., cardboard, wood, etc. I've never had a problem with edge chipping, that would mean that my knives hold an edge long enough to chip...

I have one S30V that I had re-hardened to around 60 HRC. It does much better than the rest, although it is still behind most of my high carbon blades in edge holding. I have 3 or 4 knives in S30V. I will not have 5.

Others have had much better luck, mine has not been good. I think VG 10 is better in every way I can think of. It sharpens up nicely to a good edge, and holds it an acceptable length of time.
 
JoHnYKwSt

The reports of chipping are usually from the factory edges. A sharpening or two usually will fix any issues.

Phatch,
You probably did not have to convex the edge in order to stop the chipping, it was probably due to the factory edge. If S30v needed to be convexed or have its angle increased from the factory angle just to prevent chipping then it would be a very crappy steel indeed.
Click to expand...


This definately appears to be the case. Especially after reading Cliff's thread from about February of this year. It looks like many of those guys got good edges after sharpening out that factory edge.

I did not know about the chipping issue and the thread referenced above by phatch and Padawan was quite the eye opener. I'm thinking since that thread was from earlier in the year, that at least some of the big name companies have taken measures to correct that problem. This is just my opinion, of course, but it seems that Spyderco(especially) listens to their customers and acts fairly quickly if an issue comes up with their product. The other companies may very well have followed suit. The current replies thus far seem to be pointing in that direction.
 
sodak said:
I've never liked it. I find it almost impossible to get a good edge, and when I do, it loses it very quickly.
Click to expand...

What angle/polish and for what cutting. The behavior you describe is unfortunate, I wish makers/manufacturers would be far more aggressive in dealing with these issues unless they are willing to accept they are actually the expected behavior. They certainly had no problems promoting the steel initially.

-Cliff
 
I got a new Ruckus a week ago in S30V. Horrible is the only way to describe the edge. I wonder if it had a preliminary sharpening and missed the final step. The bevel was as rough as a cob. The edge also rough, plus as dull as a butter knife. I could also feel several chips in the edge with my finger nail and even see them under low magnification. It was more like a saw than a knife. I started to try and sharpen it and after about 20 minutes of getting almost no where, I asked myself "what am I doing?" This knife retails for $250 !! I returned it and got the replacement just today. I looks perfect. Smooth bevel and edge, and quite sharp.

Every major knife manufacturer has a lifetime warranty on their product. If the blade starts to chip or you can't get a good edge, I say return it. I've also often wondered if S30V is more sensitive to proper heat treatment than other steels. I don't know, just a guess.

One last bit. It seems that S30V from Spyderco is some of the best around. I have never had any problems with their S30V.

Thanks
 
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