S35VN vs S30V

[skillgannon]

I'm making my first S35VN knife tonight. I was just comparing the chemistry to S30v. I was surprised to see that it has less vanadium. I'm just curious as to the difference between the two. Also what's the preferred hardness for a chef knife.

 

[Willie71]

The S35VN has a small amount of niobium and less vanadium (as you noted.) Ive used it at Rc61 in the kitchen. Others go Rc62. It’s oretty wear resistant, so it works quite well even at Rc60.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

I use a lot of S35VN at Rc 61-62. It is very wear resistant and takes a great edge. Make S35VN kitchen knives in .060" or .090".

 

[MotorCityMike]

Practically speaking S35vn has all the benefits of S30v but is easier to sharpen.

 

[DevinT]

S35VN was developed because S30V was too diffucult to polish. Companies like Chris Reeve Knives had a big influence on Crucible for this change. Both alloys were designed for cutlery/knives, which is rare. Most new alloys are centered around bigger industries.

Hoss

 

[Mo2]

Some recent yt testing Done on the two.

An old thread about the development of s30v and s35vn. https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/the-true-history-of-s30v-development.1015831/

 

[Nathan the Machinist]

S30V was a turd. The high wear resistance didn't translate into good edge retention because of a mushy crumbly edge. It didn't help that some of the early batches and early heat treats weren't the best. Older alternatives ran circles around it in real use. S35VN doesn't appear to have some of those short comings and in my opinion is a pretty good steel.

 

[JJ_Colt45]

I can't quote you materials etc ... but I can say I never cared for S30V but for some strange reason as similiar as you would think they would be ... S35VN is one of my favorite EDC folder steels.