S35VN vs S110V

L

Lo/Rez

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Feb 10, 2013
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I've been working with S35VN for a short time and am liking it so far. Is there any reason to look at using S110V for knives from hunters to folders to small kitchen knives?
 
2 of the more desirable elements in the Crucibile Particle Metallurgy S (Stainless) series are Vanadium and Niobium. Vanadium forms hard carbides (82 HRC) which contribute to wear resistance. You cannot pack much more than 2 percent Vanadium into steel unless you use the powder process. Niobium forms even harder carbides than Vanadium, and it stabilizes grain boundaries.
The more of these 2 elements you add to the steel, the greater the wear resistance. As you increase the additives, the cost goes up for both the materials and fabrication costs. Here is a comparison chart for CPM S series steels:
STEEL- VANADIUM- NIOBIUM
CPM S-30-V- 4%- 0%
CPM S-35-VN- 3%- .5%
CPM S-60-V- 5.5%- 0%
CPM S-90-V- 9%- 0%
CPM S-110-V- 9%- 3.5%
CPM S-125-V- 12%- 0%
So I would say, "Go for the VNb".
 
It sounds like you're looking for a good all-rounder in stainless. I don't have any personal experience working with or using S110v but here's my suggestion, make some prototypes in any steel that you're interested in and test them thoroughly. Make sure that you set some baseline parameters for the prototypes and testing so that you're comparing apples to apples. It's really the only way to see if a particular steel is going to meet your needs.
I was also looking for a good all-rounder in stainless to replace the 52100 I was using on my fixed blade EDCs. I made and tested prototypes in 3 different steals that I was interested in (S35vn, cts-xhp, and aeb-l). I ended up settling on XHP for my needs, but I wouldn't have ever known for certain without testing them myself.
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I've read a lot of makers on here curse S110V, for what that's worth. Supposed to be a real pain to work with.
 
It is the “No Free Lunch” concept. If a steel is hard to sharpen, it is hard to dull. Wear resistance in is wear resistance out. The sharpening equipment is improving fast (think diamonds), while the stuff you are cutting is not improving its resistance to being cut.
I agree it is a pain to make high spec blades. They do not have diamond belts yet. But once you have a working high spec knife, it is not that hard to maintain the edge.
 
For a very specific knife needing high wear resistance, S110V might be the better choice. As an in-general steel to make stainless knives out of, I find S35VN delivers all I want.

I experimented with the high vanadium and high alloy stainless steels - 30,60,90,120, etc. and found that the extra wear and hardness was minimal enough to not be of much matter. As you go up in the alloying, cost goes up, finishing time goes up, and finish quality ( looks) usually goes down.
 
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