Dear owners of Spyderco s90v knives

[Ramonade]

Hi. I've come to understand that in the "knife community", when it comes to stainless supersteels : s90v is the favorite of lots of people.

I mainly love spyderco for the fact that this brand allows me to test differents steels in the same package (N5 line up for exemple). This includes ballers steels like K390, Maxamet and such, wich are either hard or impossible to find anywhere else on production knives.

Lately, i'm really into stainmore knives, my most recent purchase being some ZDP-189. However, s90v has always interested me but I was a bit reticent to buy any model because the knives sporting this steel are really pricy.

The fluted native 5 would be my first choice, followed the Native Chief and Lil' Native. I know, I do like the Native line !
Or really, any s90v from Spyderco, it's just hard to find the sprints and exclusives at a good price.

But before I start keeping money for 2 months in order to buy one of these models, can somebody with some experience with this steel tell me what it's like ? I always thought of it as a less chip-prone and less corrosive resistant s110v.

How's the edge retention ? How does it like to take an edge ? Is it really that different from s110v ?

[Sharp Guy]

I'm not really much of an authority but I find it easier to sharpen than S110V. S90V is not as corrosion resistant as S110V but I've have an issue with it.

[VooDooChild]

Para 3 ltwt s90v is still available at national knives.

[SG89]

Para 3 ltwt s90v is still available at national knives.

OP, This model would be a good place to start... If you don't like the color you could dye it. Not going to find s90v this cheap easily unless you want used and even then they hold their value well (s90v sprints).
I like middle of the road steel like s30v but don't mind s90v.

[Matus]

Shouldn't the S90V Native 5 also be still rather easy to find (in the bay or such)?

[z1r]

Shouldn't the S90V Native 5 also be still rather easy to find (in the bay or such)?

National knives had them up until a few weeks ago. I got one and love it.

[Brown_Recluse]

I guess you could call me an S90V fanboy. I actually bought the above mentioned para 3 lightweight exclusive just so i could take the blade and throw some carbon fiber scales on it since i've missed all the sprints. never cared for that teal...

anyway, S90V is a great steel in every aspect EXCEPT when sharpening. if you just want to touch the blade up then some ceramic stones will do the trick (altho several more passes would be needed compared to say, S30V) but if u need to remove material you'll need some diamonds if you don't want to be scraping the stones all night long.

I've read, heard and found from my own experience that it keeps an edge like nobodies business and it can take a mirror edge but it doesn't last as long as a lower grit, "toothier" edge.

I like to get my S90V blades nice and sharp and then usually every other evening or so I'll put it through several passes on my sharpmaker with either the ceramic or medium rods, depending on the level of dullness the blade was exhibiting at the time and unless i had neglected it for a few days, that nice, hair poppingly good edge is back for more.

i should mention that i use a knife for work daily, cutting cardboard, twine, small diameter rope and zip ties. so that's the reason for the every other day touch up. if it were being used as just a light EDC knife that doesn't see much action you could go for weeks without needing to sharpen it.

but i could be slightly biased

[soc_monki]

I didn't like s90v at one time. Took me a while to fix the edge on my Benchmade 940-1, and never seemed to take a great edge. I was at fault. It just takes longer than other steels like s30 and 20cv. But man does it cut for a long time...

Now have a custom Griptilian in s90v and again, took a while to get the edge where I like it but, having a native chief in s90v, I knew I would get there. The Chief in s90 is so awesome... I liked the S30v chief, but the cf and s90v take it to another level.

Haven't had any problems chipping it on any of my knives with it, and that includes a Benchmade saddle mountain skinner that is pretty thin behind the edge, and sharpened at 28 degrees inclusive. And I messed around cutting and shaving sticks in the yard with it.

Get some, use it, sharpen on a coarse diamond stone and refine it a bit on a spyderco medium, and you'll be impressed I think! Great steel.

[z1r]

i should mention that i use a knife for work daily, cutting cardboard, twine, small diameter rope and zip ties. so that's the reason for the every other day touch up. if it were being used as just a light EDC knife that doesn't see much action you could go for weeks without needing to sharpen it.

but i could be slightly biased

I find that this is a prudent technique to employ for any of the "super" steels. I run my ZDP and K390 exactly this way. I can cut a ton of cardboard to the point where it won't cleanly slice paper, then hit the brown rods until it does slice. I learned the hard way on my ZDP that if I let the blade get DULL that I was looking at a long session on the stones to restore the edge. So, instead, I touch them up weekly with dozen or so passes on the white rods.

Maintenance is easy, reprofiling is not fun.

[TomAiello]

s90v is one of my favorite stainless steels. It's got great edge holding (on par with s110v in my use) with increased toughness (I've rolled my s90v blades in situation that have chipped my s110v blades). The trade off is decreased stain resistance. We have a lot of visitors in our home, and my kitchen Southfork has picked up rust spots several times (from non-knife people level of care--not neglect or abuse). I've never managed to get s110v to rust (or M390, which is pretty common in our kitchen).

Choose the steel (and blade) for the task. S90v is great stuff as long as you understand it's limitations (i.e. it's a mid grade in terms of stain resistance).

[Ramonade]

Para 3 ltwt s90v is still available at national knives.

$140 is actually very good, I'll need to check if it's possible to ship to Europe. That would be a two pointer, testing s90v and the LW version of the Para 3 !

Thanks everyone who replied for your thoughts and experience on S90v, it's similar to the idea i made myself of it but it's always good to have actual experiences feedback.

I do not really fear for the stain resistance, I've got a Maxamet Para3 for 5 months now that has yet to patina . S90v seems to really be a good candidate for my favorite stainless steel (until Magnacut gets it's own Native5, I'm sure). For sharpening, I have plenty of diamond abrasives so carbide tear-out won't be an issue :)

I didn't really think about some sprints and all exclusives since it's always with US dealers, and shipping alone can cost a lot (or even be impossible in some cases).

I hope the Para 3 LW will be available next 1 or 2 months, cause it's a good deal. Would've love for it to be a Native 5 LW, the idea that it was still possible to purchase it never crossed my mind !

[Evil D]

I've used both quite a bit and I'm not sure I could tell them apart in a blind test. My brain tells me 90 is a bit easier to sharpen and 110 holds an edge a bit better and I feel like I've had more issues with persistent burrs with 90 but for my uses they're both similar enough. I will say I've had S90V spot rust in my pocket on a humid day but never S110V. I carried my S90V Yojimbo 2 for a long time and then my S110V Manix 2 for equally long. I think for most people in most environments these steels are nearly rust proof until you start neglecting them (obviously not if you play in salt water, hence the "most" part).

[ZrowsN1s]

S90V is my favorite stainless. I've got the fluted CF Native 5, the hands down nicest knife Spyderco makes in my opinion. I've also got the S90V Chief and Shaman. High edge retention means it takes longer to sharpen too, but well worth the extra time. Diamond/CBN stones are a must for anything but touch ups. Stropping is good for light use maintenance. Make sure to use your sharpie and jewelers loupe when sharpening to make sure you are actually hitting the apex of the edge. You can get very close and think your done, but the edge wont be very sharp, keep going. S90V is shaving sharp when it's fully sharpened.

[p_atrick]

I've read, heard and found from my own experience that it keeps an edge like nobodies business and it can take a mirror edge but it doesn't last as long as a lower grit, "toothier" edge.

Is there a steel that does better with a polished edge? All of the anecdotal stories here seem to suggest that a toothy edge is the way to go when getting the most longevity out of a steel.

[Ramonade]

S90V is my favorite stainless. I've got the fluted CF Native 5, the hands down nicest knife Spyderco makes in my opinion.

...

This is THE knife IMHO... Or the fluted titanium. The Native 5 is my favorite design, and all of them are good but man that fluted CF N5 is so good looking.
Found one for 220 on the used market, it was a safe queen so it's mint condition. In France, can't find it for lower than 280€ ($300+).

Since there is options for around $140 + shipping (might be up to $30), I might try a s90v Para 3 or N5 LW (dunno if any will resurface) and then buy a N5 LW Maxamet for Christmas

[ZrowsN1s]

S90V is my favorite stainless. I've got the fluted CF Native 5, the hands down nicest knife Spyderco makes in my opinion.

...

This is THE knife IMHO... Or the fluted titanium. The Native 5 is my favorite design, and all of them are good but man that fluted CF N5 is so good looking.
Found one for 220 on the used market, it was a safe queen so it's mint condition. In France, can't find it for lower than 280€ ($300+).

Since there is options for around $140 + shipping (might be up to $30), I might try a s90v Para 3 or N5 LW (dunno if any will resurface) and then buy a N5 LW Maxamet for Christmas

The Maxamet Native LW is also a great 'user' knife. All business.

[metaphoricalsimile]

This thread made me order the P3LW

[JMM]

Generally speaking I am a tool steel fan through & through, but when it comes to stainless steels (given the option) I will always opt for S90V over any other stainless steel, even over some tool steels in certain cases, it has great edge retention, is reasonably stainless, it's tougher than S110V, and isn't a PITA to sharpen like S110V can be. While it is more expensive I think the added cost is completely worthwhile in any knife I plan to actually use.

[Ramonade]

This thread made me order the P3LW

Please dear forumites, restrain yourself, at least to leave 1 of these to me until the 28th !

[Ramonade]

Generally speaking I am a tool steel fan through & through, but when it comes to stainless steels (given the option) I will always opt for S90V over any other stainless steel, even over some tool steels in certain cases, it has great edge retention, is reasonably stainless, it's tougher than S110V, and isn't a PITA to sharpen like S110V can be. While it is more expensive I think the added cost is completely worthwhile in any knife I plan to actually use.

That's something I would be after. I love to sharpen, and i mean, I love it. I'm not a professionnal, far from it, but I tend to want to sharpen more than I want to cut ! And s110v is the only steel so far that was kicked me around the living room. I've had trouble having a perfect edge heel to tip without using a microbevel.
If i can do a full 14-17°/side edge on s90v without having to microbevel, that would be sweeet.