Sebenza S30V question

D

dwenslen

Joined
Oct 5, 2000
Messages
430
I am a long time seb carrier but in the last several years have had to sell them for other reasons...anyway, now i'm back-just scored a large classic in S30V. i remember when CRK first started using it some said that it was not hardened enough...how has the real world usage of CRK's S30V been?

cheers,
Derek
 
S30V is great stuff. I highly doubt you will be disappointed. I don't recall anyone be disappointed with CRK's S30V in fact. All the controversy is theoretical.
 
Well, my sebbie is an S30V and I have no complaints. I USE it but do not abuse it. By use it, I mean I cut things in a normal manner, not trying to be an a-hole, just clarifiying. Now I do have some other folders I use for tasks that I know are going to end up getting really rough but if I know abuse is coming I just get one of my Busse's. They seem to thrive on abuse and get upset if not mistreated but i'm getting off track. Sorry. I have had my sebbie for over a year and it is still super sharp, and it has cut everything from cardboard to that crappy yellow cord that I seem to use as tie downs for everything I put in the truck(hey, it's cheap) ;) INHO, S30V, at least in a sebbie will give you no worries at all. Enjoy and post a pic, we like pics, here is one now of my little sebbie :)

sebopen.jpg
 
Many of us consider S30V the best stainless knife steel and for good reason.You could argue the merits of hardening to a couple of points higher or lower but for the great majority of users it's hardened just right. There are those whose goal is to have the blade as hard as possible 'the harder the better' but in real world usage it's not a big deal.
 
gotcha-
thanks for the info guys.

I've used S30V on my striders before, just wondering if a slightly different heat treat makes a difference.
I know CRK wouldn't be using crap.
I figure it had to be an improvement if CRK moved to it...they do know what they are doing, afterall!
it great to be back!
cheers,
Derek
 
Derek,

There are few posts around the forums about the RC that CRK is running the S30V, vs. the RC on the BG-42 used in the past. I have had Sebbies with both knife steels, and the S30V seems to me to take a better edge and hold it for at least as long. It is a good steel.

My understanding is that the type of heat treat interacts with the RC hardness to influence the qualities in blade steel - hardness, toughness, wear-resistance, stain-resistance, etc. I am going to trust Chris on his choice of steel and heat treat, based on my satisfaction from using CRK folders.
 
And the real-world report is that it's a cutting-man's steel. Every bit as good, in my opinion, as the BG42 that preceeded it in my pocket. If anything, one noticeable improvement to me is that the S30V tends to develop no spot rust over the course of the month as opposed to the BG42, which I was having to frequently attack with Flitz.

I too went with blind faith that Chris was making the right decision in regard to the hardness of the S30V Seb blades. I made the switch, and have proved him right as far as I'm concerned. No babied Seb's in this household!

Professor.
 
I'm kind of surprised that you have had oxidation on your BG-42 blade Prof. I have never heard of this on any BG-42 steel knives, including the Sebenza. In fact, when S30v first came out, I read the opposite on the forums; that the newer steel was seen developing rust on semi-custom and production knives using it. People were kind of being scared away from the S30v because of this and supposed light/easy chipping of the blade.

I've owned over a dozen Sebenza's with BG-42 and never experienced oxidation. I love the way it holds an edge a lot longer than other SS on the market, and because of the higher chromium content(14.50%; S30 has 14.00%), rust is moot.

S30v seems to be for the most part a good steel. But personally I'll stick with the BG-42.
 
And the oxidation developed on the BG42 blade in the general proximity of the thumb stud, especially in the southern quadrant if looking at the non-locking slab side with blade edge down (where the meat of your thumb ends up when the blade clicks into the open position).

I'm not saying that oxidation is a characteristic common to BG42, just that under the same conditions, S30V has not behaved the same way. I like both steels just fine, just my observations... :)

Professor.
 
Speaking of S30V...

Have any of you experienced dinged and dulled edges after cutting something simple like a cardboard box? I used my Sebenza to cut apart a box (only 4 cuts, one on each corner) and afterwards, the edge was dulled significantly and there were some dings. I looked very closely for staples or anything that might've caused the damage and found nothing at all.
 
Sarco, did this only happen once? Perhaps the particular box had a lot of impurities such as sand etc? Maybe try a different box and see if it happens again..?
 
Yeah, it only happened that one time to that particular Sebenza. I used to have another one that dulled after cutting a box as well so I don't know what's up.:confused:

I guess I'll try cutting other stuff when I get it back from the shop and see how it turns out.
 
I guess any steel can rust with time and negitive maintanance. Salt and other corroding elements don't help much. I tend to wipe my Sebbie's with a diaper. My actual carry piece is a custom large classic with stainles Damascus blade, with the original S30v waiting in the wings if need be. I have a flat ground BG-42 bladed Sebenza on the way to me as we speak. I'm going to have to find a way to rotate it into my EDC.

Shouldn't be difficult. :)
 
Sarco,

I have a small Sebenza that I got a couple of months ago in S30V that I'm also having problems with. It seems to go dull fairly quickly, having cut only a couple of cardboard boxes. I don't know if I have done something wrong or whatever, but these boxes were clean.

I'm going to give it a good sharpening on my Edgepro to have a baseline to work from before I come to any conclusions. So far I have been disappointed in the edge holding, but it's too early to tell yet.
 
SarcoBlaster said:
Speaking of S30V...

Have any of you experienced dinged and dulled edges after cutting something simple like a cardboard box? I used my Sebenza to cut apart a box (only 4 cuts, one on each corner) and afterwards, the edge was dulled significantly and there were some dings. I looked very closely for staples or anything that might've caused the damage and found nothing at all.
Click to expand...


I've encountered this in other S30V knives, from Benchmade, Microtech, and even the Strider SNG I picked up 5 days ago. I just got my first S30V Sebbie yesterday so I haven't used it to cut anything yet. Anyway... I asked about the chipping after experiencing it on 3 different brands of knives and got several responses saying that they've noticed it in S30V too, but it goes away after a couple sharpenings and doesn't come back. One guy said he'd even seen in in A2 once... and it went away after being sharpened.

My theory is S30V may be real sensitive to cooling rates during heat treat so the very upper layer of steel, especially at the thin edge that cools fast get brittle. Once that brittle layer is sharpened away the steel will be Ok. Haven't sharpened any of my S30V knives yet, but everyone that has says it permanently takes care of the chipping.
 
Cargun said:
My theory is S30V may be real sensitive to cooling rates during heat treat so the very upper layer of steel, especially at the thin edge that cools fast get brittle. Once that brittle layer is sharpened away the steel will be Ok. Haven't sharpened any of my S30V knives yet, but everyone that has says it permanently takes care of the chipping.
Click to expand...

That's a very interesting hypothesis. On what do you base it?
 
I have heard that S30V is brittle if hardened too much, and that's why Chris brought it down to around the 58 Rc level. maybe the edges are higher hardness, and once worn (cutting then sharpening) the hardest outside layer is gone...???
Where's our metallurgist Mr. Stamp when we want him... ;)
 
trane fan said:
That's a very interesting hypothesis. On what do you base it?
Click to expand...

Behavior that I've seen in various S30V knives (seems like the edge is very brittle), plus the fact that the brittleness seems to go away after sharpening and knowledge of heat treatment and what causes brittleness. Basically what I said in my post :p

Not sure of anyway to test for it though, since the brittle layer seems to be very thin... so it wouldn't be a candidate for a standard rockwell test. Somone who's good with an electron microscope could probably pic it up, I think, never used one myself.
 
I have seen similar explanations for some "high carbon" knives, that basically the outer layer had been baked enough that it was brittle and a lot of the carbon had "burned off", and that after a couple of sharpenings, the knife would hold a good edge. I don't know if this is the same thing, but I am planning on a lot of testing and sharpening...
 
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