What's so special about S30V?

[Swoop03]

If 6ou don't know what is special about S30V then you clearly have never thought to yourself "You know, this reprofiling is going too quickly. Ho2 can I make this take EÑTRIELY TOO DAMN LONG?" As a man who has sharpened pretty severe chips out of S30V I can tell you that this steel is rubbish. It took me over an hour with an 80 grit belt to establish the edge on my late ZT 350, and recently took me over 5 hours with a stone to reprofile my ZT 550. I dislike the steel very much.

Wut...

Serisouly though, there isn't anything wrong with 8cr nor is there with s30.
The only difference is how often I sharpen. 8CR i'll strop every night and sharpen once a week with regular use.
S30V i'll strop here and there once it stops popping hairs, and I'll hone it about once a month of regular use or until I put a long flat spot or ding in the edge which is pretty often cause my work knives don't see regular use. PM2 is the best workaholic I have.

8CR, Aus 8, 440, they all take a few minutes to hone back an edge.
S30V and S35VN takes me about 20 minutes without a rough enough stone to start on.

 

[stabman]

I treat all steel the same.
I sharpen all my knives with silicon carbide paper.
I sharpen them until they are sharp.
Then I use them till they are not sharp.
Then, I make them sharp again.

 

[cncpro11]

I don't quite get it I guess. So many other knife guys constantly tell me "I can't use anything other than S30V, what are you doing with that piece of crap that has 8Cr13MoV? What are the pros and cons? I say if I can sharpen it to a razors edge and get a solid use out of it why bother paying an extra $45 for a magical steel? Also I heard it's prone to cracking so...allsimsayin'.

A good friend of mine has a mantra that applies here.
"Cut more, post less"
Lots of people make determinations based on what they hear vs. their own real world experience.
When you say that you heard s30v is prone to chipping, that doesn't mean anything without context. Just about any blade steel can chip out if it has been re profiled and not used in a manner appropriate for the angle.
That mantra holds true in so many cases...the best way to learn about something is to get out there and try it for yourself.

 

[CJZ]

S30V is cool and all, but S35VN is where it's at.

Add that, and brown G-10 on a Paramilitary 2 , and you got yourself an awesome knife. (I seriously love this knife, it's stupid sharp)

 

[worldwood]

I treat all steel the same.
I sharpen all my knives with silicon carbide paper.
I sharpen them until they are sharp.
Then I use them till they are not sharp.
Then, I make them sharp again.

This!!

 

[dkb45]

If it took you over an hour to sharpen an S30V blade with an 80 grit belt you're doing something wrong. It wouldn't take you over 5 hours with a stone either assuming you're using the right stone for the job. It takes me all of about 10 minutes to set a bevel on my S30v blades with a 120 grit silicon carbide stone. It's really not that hard to sharpen if you know what you're doing.

80 grit Gator AlOx belt, and a DMT XC stone. With the belt I took a little longer than I could have because I kept dipping the blade to prevent heating. On the stone I had to stop every 20-30 minutes to clean the stone off. Both times it did require somewhat extensive reprofiling, with the change being around 10° or more inclusive.

I do love how I talk poorly about a steel you guy like and you start trolling me immediately. Not my fault that I have found S30V to be quite bad.

 

[singularity35]

80 grit Gator AlOx belt, and a DMT XC stone. With the belt I took a little longer than I could have because I kept dipping the blade to prevent heating. On the stone I had to stop every 20-30 minutes to clean the stone off. Both times it did require somewhat extensive reprofiling, with the change being around 10° or more inclusive.

I do love how I talk poorly about a steel you guy like and you start trolling me immediately. Not my fault that I have found S30V to be quite bad.

They're npt trolling you, they just don't believe you.

 

[TriviaMonster]

80 grit Gator AlOx belt, and a DMT XC stone. With the belt I took a little longer than I could have because I kept dipping the blade to prevent heating. On the stone I had to stop every 20-30 minutes to clean the stone off. Both times it did require somewhat extensive reprofiling, with the change being around 10° or more inclusive.

I do love how I talk poorly about a steel you guy like and you start trolling me immediately. Not my fault that I have found S30V to be quite bad.

I'm not sure it taking a long time to sharpen is all that bad. Those knives must hold an edge forever. I've never seen a DMT keel over from anything, let alone plain ol' S30V. My DMT XC will reprofile my EDC Socom in 204P in about 15mins or so. And that 204P blade has way more wear resistance than I've encountered in S30V, even from Spyderco (they do S30V very well). Even ZDP takes less time than my 204P.

 

[dkb45]

I'm not sure it taking a long time to sharpen is all that bad. Those knives must hold an edge forever. I've never seen a DMT keel over from anything, let alone plain ol' S30V. My DMT XC will reprofile my EDC Socom in 204P in about 15mins or so. And that 204P blade has way more wear resistance than I've encountered in S30V, even from Spyderco (they do S30V very well). Even ZDP takes less time than my 204P.

I have found it to take a bloody long time to reprofile S30V and it loses the razor edge if you look at it funny. Kind of a shame because it is not a fun endeavor to undertake for all your effort to be lost in a few minutes. Last time I sharpened a S30V blade to use I was cutting g cardboard and it was pretty much dull in like 20 minutes. Considering the time needed to sharpen it, I will take a "worse" steel any day that sharpens up a lot quicker.

 

[Ankerson]

I can't remember spending more than 15 mins reprofiling and sharpening S30V.....

And that's without power equipment....

 

[stabman]

I have found it to take a bloody long time to reprofile S30V and it loses the razor edge if you look at it funny.

Are you sure it was actually S30V?
When your experience runs counter to practically every single other person, it's time to examine things more closely.

 

[Oakengroves]

A post I read a long while back sums up modern steels well, including S30V. It went something like this:

"I do not understand the fuss over the relatively minor performance differences found in modern steels, especially particle metal steels. A man would have been burned for witchcraft if he had used any modern steel centuries ago."

So long as there is some evidence that a modern steel performs well, it's usually good enough for my uses. S30V is one of the best proven and balanced steels on the market.

 

[Lennyo3034]

I'm not a fan. I find it quite chippy. I have not had an issue sharpening though, seems to get sharp just as quickly as other high end steels.

Even though my sharpening experiences with it did not match his, I find it incredibly childish to go after the other guy because it took him so long to sharpen it. Telling him to stop using stones on keyboard? Really?

 

[stabman]

Even though my sharpening experiences with it did not match his, I find it incredibly childish to go after the other guy because it took him so long to sharpen it. Telling him to stop using stones on keyboard? Really?

Well, get it right; it was an 80 grit belt, not stones.
And this is the internet...silliness is to be expected.
If you want seriousness, go to work; work is usually full of seriousness, short on silliness, and entirely devoid of fun.

 

[o4tg]

It's a good steel, but I don't think it's the end all be all. Both my Buck Vantage Pro and ZT 0350 chipped on me. The ZT was from a drop, but I chipped off the serrations on my Buck Vantage Force Pro on live wood.

I'll get flack for this, but I really don't think S30V is worth the maintenance for a hard use knife. That's just for my intentions with a blade though. S30V doesn't clean up very well compared to other steels when abused. People on here tell me I need to pick my tools better, but at stuff like chipping away adhesive concrete, cutting copper tubing, and notching door frames, S30V just doesn't like coming back for more day in and day out. Again, I have to state that I don't use knives like most people though. I just find myself having to invest a LOT more time and having to remove a LOT more material to get S30V functional again.

Cutting boxes day to day, it's unbeatable. If I were going out into the wild or to war without a high end sharpening kit, I wouldn't even look at S30V. It's tough, but I actually think something a little more manageable makes for a better work/duty knife.

 

[Kwon Kwang]

It's a good steel, but I don't think it's the end all be all. Both my Buck Vantage Pro and ZT 0350 chipped on me. The ZT was from a drop, but I chipped off the serrations on my Buck Vantage Force Pro on live wood.

I'll get flack for this, but I really don't think S30V is worth the maintenance for a hard use knife. That's just for my intentions with a blade though. S30V doesn't clean up very well compared to other steels when abused. People on here tell me I need to pick my tools better, but at stuff like chipping away adhesive concrete, cutting copper tubing, and notching door frames, S30V just doesn't like coming back for more day in and day out. Again, I have to state that I don't use knives like most people though. I just find myself having to invest a LOT more time and having to remove a LOT more material to get S30V functional again.

Cutting boxes day to day, it's unbeatable. If I were going out into the wild or to war without a high end sharpening kit, I wouldn't even look at S30V. It's tough, but I actually think something a little more manageable makes for a better work/duty knife.

A very interesting opinion; thank you for your input. I just got my first S30V blade, and I like, but I don't think it'd be my first choice for something I want to use hard.

 

[stabman]

I've had dings and nicks in AUS-8, 154CM, S30V, VG-10, 5160, and 1095.

 

[Bugout Bill]

I'll get flack for this, but I really don't think S30V is worth the maintenance for a hard use knife. That's just for my intentions with a blade though. S30V doesn't clean up very well compared to other steels when abused. People on here tell me I need to pick my tools better, but at stuff like chipping away adhesive concrete, cutting copper tubing, and notching door frames, S30V just doesn't like coming back for more day in and day out. Again, I have to state that I don't use knives like most people though. I just find myself having to invest a LOT more time and having to remove a LOT more material to get S30V functional again.

Same could be said for any of the high vanadium steels. I don't understand why such steels are being used on supposedly hard use knives. I love my Spyderco Military, but for what I use it for (landscaping, light brush clearance, basic utility) I'd be afraid to use the S90V version. I have enough problems with chipping in S30V. It's a good steel for purely cutting, but there are better steels for my uses.

I think S30V also gets misused a great deal, too; the Spyderco Nilakka being the textbook example of this.

 

[sodak]

Cutting boxes day to day, it's unbeatable. If I were going out into the wild or to war without a high end sharpening kit, I wouldn't even look at S30V. It's tough, but I actually think something a little more manageable makes for a better work/duty knife.

I know that you're trying to be kind here, but there are plenty of steels that blow it out of the water. From my cutting, CPM 3V and CPM M4 will beat it easily on cardboard and rope; S110, S90V, CPM 10V are in a different league altogether - no comparison.

Personally, if I were looking for a steel around the performance of S30V, I'd take VG10. For me, it works MUCH better.

 

[dkb45]

Are you sure it was actually S30V?
When your experience runs counter to practically every single other person, it's time to examine things more closely.

Spyderco Manix XL, ZT 350, Buck Hartsook, Buck Vantage Pro. My belts would grind anything but S30V in no time, including Elmax on my Speedform 2. Maybe I just got really hard ones, because the blades did chip pretty easily.

Hell, I even did a S60V blade that didn't take as long (but it didn't have chips and the edge was only changed by a few degrees). All I know is that I strongly dislike S30V. S35VN is a bit better, but nowhere as well rounded as 154cm.