Spyderco s30v Question/Story/Rant

The CPM-S30V that both companies use is made in the same factory with the same specs. Both companies get their heat treating information from the same source, the foundry. Both companies must use good heat treaters or they wouldn't be successful. I would guess that there is little difference in the heat treat results.

sal
 
Man, it's funny how many knife salespeople dont know what the heck they're talking about. When I sold knives at an Outdoor store, I worked with someone like that. She talked herself out of sales a lot because of that.
 
A while back I did a marathon edgeholding comparison of a number of my knives, cutting cardboard and sisal. Among others, two of the knives were an S30V Para and a Ritter mini-Grip. In my test, the Para's edge held up better. I made sure that the final bevel angles and edge polish were the same at the beginning of the test to try to eliminate those factors from having much influence on the outcome.
 
I cant speak for BM's S30, but Ive owned and used a S30 Native for just a tick over 2 yrs now. I positively could not ask for a steel to hold an edge better that Spyderco's.. I was installing a sprinkler system last spring.. It was 40 and raining and the poly pipe was stiff as could be and tough as nails to cut.. I cut every single bit of it with that Native and I cant count how many times I cut through the pipe and hit the muddy, mucky, ground underneath. It held great edge the whole time and with just a few passes on the Sharpmaker it was dead nuts on... If BM's S30 is 90% better than Spyderco's, Id have to see it in an actual objective test to believe it, cause I highly doubt it.. I'm sure its good stuff, as I really dig my BM, but I think that number is HIGHLY inflated.
 
I used to be big Benchmade fan , but quality went downhill fast in past few years , I had a knife from benchmade with blade not heated properly , soft liner lock , and almost every knife loosing screws because of lack of threadlock.
now I never had this problems with any Spyderco knife and I have alot of them .
just ignore this fool, and tell him to put threadlock on pivot .
 
Sal Glesser said:
Hi Zippo,

It is really sad when such absurb lies are told, especially by the owner of a company. If one of our salespeople lied to a customer, that would be their last day.

With that attitude, I doubt that they sell much Spyderco, but I would like to know the name of the dealer. Now that you know to what extent they will lie, you might consider that when visiting their store.

As far as heat treat goes, it is a critical area for Spyderco. We have a special heat treater that is a graduate of the Colorado School of mines. I will personally stack them against any in the world. We work with more different types of steels than most knife companies.

Our "Mule Team" project alone puts us in a better position to understand heat treat than most. I have personally heat treated knives.

You should not have been offended, you should have been laughing to youself at this "salesman". He must be really desperate.

Spyderco is very good at what we do. We have a world-wide reputation for excellent quality. We earned that reputation and we continue to strive for excellence.

sal
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I appreciate you stepping in Sal. I have no doubts about your products quality, and if any issues, I have seen more than enough evidence for your customer service and warranty. The store indeed does not sell many Spyderco's limited to a couple H1 knives and the Endura/Delica 4 models. The place is called "Knife Gallery" at Orange Mall of Orange, CA. It is a family owned store, I can't recall his name, but he was a fairly young guy maybe 30 a bit younger/older. What started as "what's your favorite brand and blade steel" is what acted as a catalyst for his extreme bias. I knew that his words couldn't be believed, but such talk from an employee frustrated me.

One opinion to another, felt I had to share this.
Thanks again Sal and to everyone who posted here. Sad how there can still be such ignorance towards such esteemed companies. Being one of the few knife shops left in CA I still can't believe an employee would degrade any product they sell!
 
ZippoThisKnifeThat said:
I appreciate you stepping in Sal. I have no doubts about your products quality, and if any issues, I have seen more than enough evidence for your customer service and warranty. The store indeed does not sell many Spyderco's limited to a couple H1 knives and the Endura/Delica 4 models. The place is called "Knife Gallery" at Orange Mall of Orange, CA. It is a family owned store, I can't recall his name, but he was a fairly young guy maybe 30 a bit younger/older. What started as "what's your favorite brand and blade steel" is what acted as a catalyst for his extreme bias. I knew that his words couldn't be believed, but such talk from an employee frustrated me.

One opinion to another, felt I had to share this.
Thanks again Sal and to everyone who posted here. Sad how there can still be such ignorance towards such esteemed companies. Being one of the few knife shops left in CA I still can't believe an employee would degrade any product they sell!
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As you know, opinions and prejudices abound. Whatever else is true, it is my opinion that we are truly lucky today. If you had grown up with knives in the 1960s, you would think that the debates about whether S30V is better than D2 is better than VG10 are at some level sort of hard to take seriously. ;)
 
Sal Glesser said:
The CPM-S30V that both companies use is made in the same factory with the same specs. Both companies get their heat treating information from the same source, the foundry. Both companies must use good heat treaters or they wouldn't be successful. I would guess that there is little difference in the heat treat results.

sal
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I have seen No difference between BMs s30v on a Dejavoo and Spyderco's on a Full Size Manix. Both have handled the same type of chores, both have resharpened like a dream.
 
There will Nerver Be a shortage of large ego's and those that think they know what they are talking about.

BM vs spidie S30V would come down to luck of the draw with its finished RC. You could have two spyderco military's made at different times of the year one with a RC on the low end of the scale (58) and one at the high end (60). Now if you really know your steel and use and sharpen S30v a lot then you could probably see the difference but its not going to be much. Your average non-steel junky I doubt could ever tell the difference. There is also other factors like the temper process that each company could do a little different effecting the overall performance of the steel.

Personally I like spyderco S30V and just happen to carry a LH millie daily. I also have a mini-rukus that has seen it fair share of use, the S30V on the BM is a bit easier to grind and polish but it does also feel like a softer steel. There seems to be more time spent chasing the burr with the BM too. Edge performance with the BM is about equal to spydercos but I have noticed slightly more edge deformations with the BM S30V. The only S30V i an see a big difference with is kershaws but their S30V also seems to be a real PITA to sharpen.

There are so many factors when talking about steel and HT you would need a room full of very expensive testing equipment to get any real answers.
 
knifenut1013 said:
.........There are so many factors when talking about steel and HT you would need a room full of very expensive testing equipment to get any real answers.........
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I think that's the answer sir.. Unless there is a huge QC problem, I dont think there would be any way for even an experienced knife guy to really tell anything.. There are so many factors involved with sharpening that its almost impossible to remove all the variables to truly be able to notice the difference between 2 or 3 RC points at home.

*wishes Sal would drop the hammer on the Knife Gallery and politely remove them from the Spyderco authorized dealer list*
 
bodydamage said:
I think that's the answer sir.. Unless there is a huge QC problem, I dont think there would be any way for even an experienced knife guy to really tell anything.. There are so many factors involved with sharpening that its almost impossible to remove all the variables to truly be able to notice the difference between 2 or 3 RC points at home.

*wishes Sal would drop the hammer on the Knife Gallery and politely remove them from the Spyderco authorized dealer list*[/QUOTE]

That wouldn't make good business sense. Then they wouldn't sell anything from them. I bet if Sal called the shop and spoke to the cleark in person and schooled him on the nuances of heat treat it may change his mind.;) Fanboys of any kind get on my nerves. Spyderco and Benchmade both make very high quality knives.
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bodydamage said:
*wishes Sal would drop the hammer on the Knife Gallery and politely remove them from the Spyderco authorized dealer list*
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I would guess that this discusion will more than likely trickle down to them. They can then decide their options. Just knowing who they are helps. If they happen to show up at the SHOT show, I guess we can mention the thread.

The last thing I would want to do is get in an argument over heat treat with a Benchmade fan tht is not educated in heat treat.

My father taught me, "Never argue with a fool, onlookers can't tell which one is the fool".

sal
 
I have several S30V Spydies but only one from BM, a Mini Rukus. The MR was less sharp that the Spydies, I think that the bevel angle is different, less acute. It loses its sharpness faster than the Spydies, but I'm talking hair-poping sharpness. It just maybe that I've been more successful at keeping the Sydies' edges sharpness, I think due to my unskilled sharpening technique. All I use is a strop with green compound. Other than that, I can't see difference between the steel in both brands.

But I have another brand with S30V blades that seems inferior. It's a popular brand and I don't want to engage in any sort of bashing, but those knives loose their sharpness significantly faster. I always thought it was due to HT, but I don't really know...

I know, this post is not a great addition to this thread...:o
 
ZippoThisKnifeThat said:
........He went as far as to say BM's s30v was 90% better. .......
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Numbers are important. When one makes a statement like this, there should be something to back it up. How was this 90% determined? Using which measurements? Etc, etc.

If the person cannot back this up, then he or she is not worth listening to in the first place.

As far as the subject of the thread, I have numerous Benchmades, Spydercos, and other knives in S30V. I have used many of them very hard. I have never had a problem with any of them. I find that the differences between Benchmade and Spyderco S30V are so minute that they are unmeasurable.
 
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