S30V: What are your experiences with this steel?

Are there diamonds in the Sharpmaker ceramic rods? If not, how come they sharpen my S30V blades so well??? I just use the method recommended in the instructions (20 strokes on the sticks' corner; 20 strokes on the sticks' flat; then repeat with the fine sticks). Maybe some kinds of S30V blades are much MUCH harder than others?

I was surprised to see someone has a problem with rust. My mini-Rittergrip goes everywhere with me and it doesn't get cleaned all that well or all that often, and there isn't a hint of rust or corrosion on it. I treat it just like I would a SAK blade.
 
kenk said:
Are there diamonds in the Sharpmaker ceramic rods? If not, how come they sharpen my S30V blades so well??? I just use the method recommended in the instructions (20 strokes on the sticks' corner; 20 strokes on the sticks' flat; then repeat with the fine sticks). Maybe some kinds of S30V blades are much MUCH harder than others?

I was surprised to see someone has a problem with rust. My mini-Rittergrip goes everywhere with me and it doesn't get cleaned all that well or all that often, and there isn't a hint of rust or corrosion on it. I treat it just like I would a SAK blade.
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no its aluminum oxide in some form. i dont think the sm rods are that good for s30v. i get a sharper edge from my diamondhone which is much coarser. usually if im going from diamond to sm the edge will somehow be worse, but thats just me, dont know how you other guys think it works with the sm
 
I sharpen my S30V with the sharpmaker and occasionally my edgepro when it needs more work. I have a small sebbie user, couple Benchmade users in S30V. I like it, takes nice edge, holds it, and I have never seen rust. I usually just wipe any blade off after use, usually my t shirt is all. No chipping under moderate use. I will keep my eye out and let you guys know.
 
I've never had any trouble sharpening my S30V knives with the standard Spyderco Sharpmaker.

And I've never had S30V rust either.

Maybe I've just been lucky.
 
allenC said:
I've never had any trouble sharpening my S30V knives with the standard Spyderco Sharpmaker.

And I've never had S30V rust either.

Maybe I've just been lucky.
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I've never had trouble with sharpening S30V either, I use the little eze-lap diamond stones on the plastic stick. A few strokes and some stropping and they're good to go.

I have had a Spyderco Manix get stains on the blade from cutting up a deer. They polished out, though.
 
Gentlemen,
We hear you. Thanks for the feedback and thanks for the support. CPMS30V has its good points and some bad. We will not be complacent.

T.S.Devanna
Crucible
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T.S. Devanna,

Thank you very much for your reply. It's good to know that a manufacturer cares enough to let their customers know they have been heard.
 
Cliff Stamp said:
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
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I've been running it from 12 - 20 deg. The polish runs from stopping at 600 DMT, Spyderco Fine ceramic, and Edgepro up to the 3000 grit tapes. The edgepro and dmt give the best results, ceramic leaves a burr (for me). In cutting cardboard, rope, and wood, I lose the edge after probably 10 cuts into 3/8 sisal rope, or 12 inches of cardboard. By lose it, I mean going from shaving ability to having to scrape *really* hard to remove arm hair. This is on all the S30V except the re-hardened. That will go for about 30 cuts in the rope or about 10 ft in cardboard before losing shaving, but will hold a lesser edge for a while longer. The harder knife is also the thinnest edge, which, I suspect is helping the retention quite a bit.

If you like CPM steels, try S3V. I've found it to be better at edge holding in abrasive materials. Whether it should be or not is another question. Properly hardened D2 is better yet, and I'm still working on my HSS M2 blade. That should be better yet.

Not repeating what others have said, this is what I've found with my S30V knives. I'm glad that others have had better luck, as much as this steel costs, I'm not going to be buying any more just to play roulette. I've got a knife on order in CPM10V, and am really looking forward to that.
 
sodak said:
Properly hardened D2 is better yet....
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That is a puzzler. I can see long term edge retention favoring D2 but it is hard to see why it would outperform S30V in the short term with a low angle polished edge. I have a couple of similar S30V and D2 blades, I'll see if I can't get some time with them to do a push cutting comparison this week. I am going to see if I can't convince Cashen to take some micro-graphs of some S30V blades I have as it isn't like I have a shortage of pieces. With some direct visual results of the grain/carbide structure it would eliminate some guesswork.

-Cliff
 
When I push cut the rope, it's more of a rocking cut or a "short slice" over about 2 inches of blade. Don't know if that makes a difference. I'd be very interested in what you find out, though.
 
afultz075 said:
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.
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yes i have noticed this with my brand new native...still sharper than my Aus8 blade after they same amount of time but I have been doing more extreme crap with my native (cutting tie-line (which sounds pretty easy but is a much much tougher material than you think) which is rated at 1000 pound tension) whereas i was mainly doing boxes and crap with the AUs8...
 
I have S30V blades from Buck, Spyderco, and Benchmade. No chipping issues, very good edgeholding. I would not hesitate to buy more knives with S30V blades.
 
Yes, a short slice makes a lot of difference and D2 in general does really good for slicing. But based on what I have seen recently (months) there is a lot of variance in a steel from a given manufacturer so it would not surprise me in the least if someone found S30V having better or worse slicing edge retention than VG-10.

-Cliff
 
Cliff,
Are you talking about variation in all steels (from the same mfg), or just variation in S30V. In your experience, is there as much batch to batch variation in say 440C from say Benchmade, as there appears to be in S30V from BM? (I use BM because they have a pretty good rep for consistency.)

second question:
I've seen your threads on S30V chipping. Have you seen other steels chip under similar levels of stress?
Thanks
 
I'd also like to know more about the chipping problem. I have one S30V fixed blade that I've really beat on, chopping at a hard oak pallet. I couldn't get it to chip, and I think that's about as extreme as I will ever get with a knife. There must be some unknown variation in the steel or heat treat if chipping is happening with normal use.
 
My second new BM Ruckus (returned the first one, blade edge was VERY rough and had several chips) acquired a chip in the blade after it's first sharpening. I hadn't used it yet, I was just putting a sharper edge on it. Sharpmaker, 40 degree edge. I was able to "sharpen" it out but it leave me concerned.

My question is: does the chipping that occurs in some S30V blades become any less after several uses (dulling of the edge) and re-sharpenings? Does that seem to help the chipping problem any?

Regards
 
The Mastiff said:
I tend to shy away from it now because there are some very good to better steels for my purposes like ZDP 189, 3G laminate, D2, M2, BG42, and several carbon steels like Super Blue. ... Joe
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I personally found ZDP189 (WHK) much harder to sharpen than S30V (CRK).
I like the razor sharpness of ZDP but that steel is a pain to sharpen.

That's my story and I am sticking with it.
 
Had chipping problems with my S30V Dominator. Haven't had any problems with M2, D2, or similar steels. Can't help but believe this must be a heat treating problem because S30V is so highly rated by Crucible. Even Cliff had a problem with his RSK chipping and had to send it back. (By the way Cliff, how was the replacement?)

Correct me if I am wrong but proper heat treating is probably the best determinator of a steel's relative performance.
 
I often wonder if S30V would have had a better introduction if Crucible had done something similar to Hitachi with ZDP 189 ( a fine steel, but of course nothing is perfect). Hitachi was attempting to control as much as possible who was allowed to use and heat treat their steel. I have no idea if they are still doing this as I've heard some american knifemakers talk about using the steel here). Cruicible IMO was affected by the learning curve and QC standards of every knifemaker that wanted the newest and best steel in their line as fast as possible.

I'm also aware that one of the selling points was lower temps and more small heat treaters able ( or just willing to treat the steel due to element life etc.) Of course some of the worst reports have come from large companies with good reps. It puzzles me.

I do know I have seen some no excuse for chipping from it, as well as some extremely excellent performance. Real good, or real bad. Not as much middle ground.

Mr.Devanna, thank you for your presence here and for listening to us. I for one am looking foreward to your next knife/cutlery steel. You ( the company) certainly can produce as good a steel as any made on earth and have already given us several that have upped our expectations in steels to the point that were spoiled compared to what we could buy in the 70's and early 80's. I'll always remember my jaw dropping opening when I first read the ingrediants chart for 440V/S60V. Joe
 
I wouldn't be surprised if S30V's high wear resistance causes an 'overcooking' of the edge with power sharpening. Very fine edges can get hot quick!
This might also explain why the edge improves after several sharpenings and the ruined steel has been sharpened away.
The edge on my small Sebenza was awful to begin with, and had a variety of bevel angles. A complete re-profile and it now takes a very sharp durable edge.
Greg
 
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