SuperSteelSoundoff

Apebrains

Apebrains

Joined
Dec 15, 2009
Messages
412
Alright, I'm only very loosely familiar with the existence of the Crucible steels s90v and s60v (and their prior designations), though I possess an intimate familiarity with their more popular sibling, s30v. Having said familiarity, I'd like to know how the revered "O, Wise Ones of Blade Forums" (and anyone else who wants to chime in) would compare these steels? I'm most interested in a comparison of s90v to s30v, but if you guys wanna let 60 play too, I'm always thirsty for info.

COMMENCE!
 
Nothing? Nobody has any advice on this? I've searched the forum and usually only found it mentioned. Nobody seems to have a lot of info on them. I've searched the net and don't come up with a whole lot. Nobody here has anything? Sigh.
 
Theres a lot of info on s90v. Check the maintenance sub-forum, the spyderco sub-forum here and the Spyderco Forum. Spyderco has put out most of the s90v so thats where you'll find the most info. I've never used it myself but I use a lot of s30v and have knives in both s60v and s110v, both of which perform amazingly for my useage. The s60v I have has amazing wear resistance but is run pretty soft because s60v is not the toughest steel out there. As a result it loses its hair poppin edge fairly quickly but will hold a sharp work edge forever. I have not used the s110v a whole lot but from the light use its seen and what I have read it should have incredible wear resistance yet take a bit longer to sharpen.

The S**v crucible steels are very good american steels that work extremely well on working knives where a super fine crisp hair poppin edge isn't very important, but rather a good cutting edge that you don't have to sharpen often. If you need something that holds a hair poppin edge for as long as possibly you might look elsewhere, I've got knives in ZDP-189 and CPM-M4 that are better in that aspect. It really all depends on what you want in a blade. There has been a lot of excellent discussion lately in the maintenace sub forum here.
 
Wow, that's an instant bookmark. Not entirely sure how I flew past that one.

So I'm gathering that we're holding s30v in higher regard than 90? Is that the case, or is it simply that (from a metallurgical point of view) s90v is more difficult to work with? In reading I gather that 30 is a newer steel than 90. Why then is 90 so scarce? Other than Spyders and a the occasional other brand/model here and there, I practically never see the stuff.
 
That's great info Nevermind. The kind of stuff I was looking for. Anybody with extensive experience working with 90?
 
Am I missing the explanation for why you ranked them the way you did? Also, no disparagement, but these rankings seem only to apply to specific company applications, rather than a general expounding on the qualities of the steel itself. I do appreciate the information! It just seems like you only used the steel in a specific knife's format. I would think in the sort of test you used, it would be more effective to test the different companies' applications of one type of steel to see who's processes apply it most effectively. Does any of that make sense? No disrespect intended of course. You've obviously been here WAY longer than I have! Or perhaps I just misunderstand your test completely.....
 
nevermind35 said:
Theres a lot of info on s90v. Check the maintenance sub-forum, the spyderco sub-forum here and the Spyderco Forum. Spyderco has put out most of the s90v so thats where you'll find the most info. I've never used it myself but I use a lot of s30v and have knives in both s60v and s110v, both of which perform amazingly for my useage. The s60v I have has amazing wear resistance but is run pretty soft because s60v is not the toughest steel out there. As a result it loses its hair poppin edge fairly quickly but will hold a sharp work edge forever. I have not used the s110v a whole lot but from the light use its seen and what I have read it should have incredible wear resistance yet take a bit longer to sharpen.

The S**v crucible steels are very good american steels that work extremely well on working knives where a super fine crisp hair poppin edge isn't very important, but rather a good cutting edge that you don't have to sharpen often. If you need something that holds a hair poppin edge for as long as possibly you might look elsewhere, I've got knives in ZDP-189 and CPM-M4 that are better in that aspect. It really all depends on what you want in a blade. There has been a lot of excellent discussion lately in the maintenace sub forum here.
Click to expand...

Nevermind's experience pretty much mirrors my own. Where S90V is concerned, some people swear by it, others swear at it. For me, the amount of time it takes to get a decent edge is just not worth it. Of the lot, I would have to say that S30V is the most practical for most people.
 
i'm a big fan of s90v. i don't go for a polished edge but fine diamond works wonders on it.
 
S90V has some of the absolute best edge retention around, as tested by Phil Wilson & Wayne Goddard (I am pretty sure that's over 50 yrs of testing there), using knives of equal or near equal geometry (to ensure the test is between steels, not blade geometries or bevel thicknesses).

CATRA tests also put S90V up there with any other steels (except maybe S125V and ?). One of the ways to evaluate test method and results is to check results against other testing - all the above mentioned tests confirm each others results.

S30V is much easier to sharpen.
 
Give me S90V any day over S30V. The way it holds an edge is awesome. If you have diamonds it is not hard to sharpen and keep sharp. Reprofiling on the other hand is a bear even with coarse diamond sharpeners.
 
That's all the kinda stuff I was looking for. Thanks guys for the information.

If Spyderco doesn't own the steel (they don't right?) then why is it that they seem to be the only ones really using it?
 
Apebrains said:
That's all the kinda stuff I was looking for. Thanks guys for the information.

If Spyderco doesn't own the steel (they don't right?) then why is it that they seem to be the only ones really using it?
Click to expand...

No, It is a Crucible steel. CPM S90V is a very tough steel to work with; The Grinding process eats abbrasives which makes it more expensive to work with.
 
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