Trying to decide vg10, D2, or s30v

B

Bob6794

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Apr 21, 2013
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I narrowed down my next knife down to a buck s30v ranger, ag Russell vg10 featherlite or a Zancudo in D2.

Now my issue is I abuse my knives at work, it's a tool I use it as such. I cut against rocks every now and than it's unavoidable and I just touch up the blade after no big deal. 440a, D2 Aus8, and 8cr13mov are the blade steels I've used in this line of work and I've had no chipping i just roll the edge a bit. I am curious if anyone has experience with bucks s30v and if it has a tendency to chip and to a lesser extent vg10.

Ability to resharpen is no big deal I have dmt cards in course, fine and extra fine and I carry one on the job. As well as a 70 grit diamond benchstone and various other stones at home.
 
I have a Buck Custom Shop ranger in S30V (+ oak grips, pins) and have had no issues with chipping. It takes a scary sharp edge with little effort (Paul Bos heat treat), probably a combination of heat treat and that superb blade geometry. Won't be as easy to touch up as the steels you have mentioned but it will hold an edge significantly longer... though maybe not against rocks:D.
 
I’d probably go S30V in this scenario. From research, I would trust the heat treat in the buck. Though I like the look of the Zancudo, just hesitant trying out new D2.
 
All of those alloys are decent performers. If you use the blade that hard any of them will dull and you don't have an issue sharpening.

Those are very different knives you are considering. The Ranger is a traditional two hand opening lockback. The others are one-handers. I'd be much more interested in the rest of the design for making my choice between those knives.
 
Happy to hear that about that with your experience with s30v, I was looking into the buck custom shop as well.

That's 2 people saying that s30v will handle the job that's comforting. When I looked into s30v I saw some reports of chipping issues but no one with Bucks Bo's heat treat. And reports were sporadic some had issues and some didn't.

And yeah nothing survives rocks with an edge. Only thing you can do is minimize the area that touches the rocks a d the rest of the blade to cut with
 
knarfeng said:
All of those alloys are decent performers. If you use the blade that hard any of them will dull and you don't have an issue sharpening.

Those are very different knives you are considering. The Ranger is a traditional two hand opening lockback. The others are one-handers. I'd be much more interested in the rest of the design for making my choice between those knives.
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Yeah I agree the other aspects other than steel are more important with my use. It's actually how I narrowed it down to this after all the knives I looked at. So now it's me questioning the steel in them to narrow it down more. The Zancudo is close to my ka-bar Dozier which I'm currently using as my beater for work but it has a thinner blade and slight changes I wanted in the dozier blade design. The Ranger and featherlite have a nice clip point blade I have had good experience with for my uses as I put a rough rider lock back through the ringer for awhile too and learned I like clip points as well.

The two one handers with the FRN handles I know I can use and abuse. For some reason my ka-bar Dozier gets the most abuse because of the handle it feels so cheap and nothing about it is pretty. I can't help but love it for that. The Ranger comes into play as I've been eyeing one for years from bucks custom shop but it will hurt abusing it so I just want to guage what I may end up doing to their s30v.
 
No quality steel is going to put up with rocks.
Buy a gas station/Walmart knife and a carbide pull through sharpener.

Better yet, a box knife with replaceable blades.
 
Box cutters are a bit dangerous in my experience with everything I'm doing as well as poor performers. No need for a gas station knife I have a cheap Cold Steel Kudo in my vest as a backup and loaner at work but I honestly prefer just grabbing my EDC blade for the day usually.

After beating up a knife for awhile you get used to using it as a tool to get the job done and not babying it like I used to do.
 
I'd stay away from D2 if you beat your blades since it's not a true stainless steel. Of the three steels, D2 will rust the most. It can rust and pit with pickle juice :) The VG10 and S30V are probably a little harder than the D2 and will hold an edge longer but D2 will probably sharpen up easier. I have Buck S30V and it takes a lot of abuse and does not chip. The ranger is a heavy knife, I'd wait for the Ranger lightweight versions (plastic handles) to come out in premium steels, this should happen soon. In general, I don't recommend AGR designed and branded products. If you want a good VG-10 blade, made in Japan with a FRN handle, look to Spyderco's Delica or Endura. More money, but it's for a reason :)
 
Many knife reviewers and "experts" will probably say D2 or S30V are better without a doubt. While I agree that those steels will probably have a bit of an edge over VG10 in edge retention, I would go with VG10. If fact, VG10 is probably my favorite overall steel for a folding knife. It keeps its edge long enough, and it is insanely easy to sharpen as well. It is also quite stainless. I have some knives in "better" steels, but there is a reason I keep using my VG10 blades more. Easy to maintain, easy to sharpen, and still pretty good with edge retention.
 
brownshoe said:
I'd stay away from D2 if you beat your blades since it's not a true stainless steel. Of the three steels, D2 will rust the most. It can rust and pit with pickle juice :) The VG10 and S30V are probably a little harder than the D2 and will hold an edge longer but D2 will probably sharpen up easier. I have Buck S30V and it takes a lot of abuse and does not chip. The ranger is a heavy knife, I'd wait for the Ranger lightweight versions (plastic handles) to come out in premium steels, this should happen soon. In general, I don't recommend AGR designed and branded products. If you want a good VG-10 blade, made in Japan with a FRN handle, look to Spyderco's Delica or Endura. More money, but it's for a reason :)
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D2 should not sharpen up easier than vg10.
 
brownshoe said:
The VG10 and S30V are probably a little harder than the D2 and will hold an edge longer but D2 will probably sharpen up easier.
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In my experience, it's the opposite : VG10 is a really easy steel for the user, still reliable and makes for a reasonably lasting edge. Mind you, it can be hardened to 62 HRC (KAI kitchen knives) and then it gets sensitive to impacts. D2 can be a bear to sharpen but it's also tough as nails... You like it or not. The fact is, D2 is among the trickier to heat treat steels, like 440C. So, experiences can wildly vary.
 
JMO.. VG-10 or D2 are my choices..:thumbsup: I have had S30V chip from 2 different companies... BUT.. It could have been what I was or wasn't doing.. :rolleyes: Sooo.. That's my story...:D John
 
craytab said:
D2 should not sharpen up easier than vg10.
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Well when it's run at 58 Rc it sharpens OK. That's what Ontario runs their Taiwanese D2 knives and I believe this knife is similar, but didn't find a hardness for ESE D2. VG10 is 60/61 at AGR and many other makers. In my experience, Ontario D2 vs Spyderco VG10, VG10 is the best and you best not let it get too dull :)
 
brownshoe said:
Well when it's run at 58 Rc it sharpens OK. That's what Ontario runs their Taiwanese D2 knives and I believe this knife is similar, but didn't find a hardness for ESE D2. VG10 is 60/61 at AGR and many other makers. In my experience, Ontario D2 vs Spyderco VG10, VG10 is the best and you best not let it get too dull :)
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When dull I'd much rather sharpen vg10 than d2.
 
Vg10 will be very chippy in my experience. But all my vg10 is thin stock and very slicey.. D2 from China is generally chippy but it depends on the MFG and the ht they use.

Dont have any buck s30v but s30v is not going to be very forgiving with rocks.

Try cruwear or M4 for the jobs your probably doing. These steels will roll rather than chip in my experience and have good edge stability.

Vg10 is easy to sharpen.. S30v is generally not easy but diamonds will make it faster. D2... Varies. I have some d2 that's difficult to sharpen unless using diamond but SiC stones work fine too.
 
VG10 is what I would go with. It's never let me down in my Sere 2K. It sharpens to a razor edge pretty easily, but it's hell for stout.
 
I can't really find fault with any of the advice in the thread. It pretty much agrees with my experiences. If you won't include other steels like 3V, 4V, Cruwear, M4, etc. and only want the above I'd go with VG10. They can all be made to do the things you ask but we are talking about standard heat treats and geometries from whatever companies you have narrowed the search down to. For me, VG 10 does have the best balance. S30V is the most wear resistant. D2 is more wear resistant than Vg 10 usually ( see Dozier heat treat at rc 60.5) but has lower corrosion resistance. VG10 leads in nothing really but scores pretty high in all. Hopefully you can eventually try them all. :)

Joe
 
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