What's good about S30V

[Doeswhateveraspidercan]

I saw a post by Vivi asking what is wrong with S30V and the first thing that came to mind was why start with the negative?

How about what is good about it instead?

It is fairly easy to predict the replies to the negative in a way it is like a group opinion has formed with a few that just do not fall in with a persuasive argument or the crowd readily or easily.

So for fun and feedback to Spyderco I started this poll please do feel free to tell all what is good about S30V and what is bad.

In the spirit of fairness and not locking anyone into just one answer you can choose as many of the pole questions as you like all of them or none of them and even change your vote later.

[SG89]

I like how it's easy to touch up on the sharpmaker

[Sharp Guy]

Hard to answer some of the questions. What are we comparing it to?

In general I like it just fine. I have a lot of it along with a lot of S35VN. If I had to pick one over the other I'd probably choose S35VN only because it seems to sharpen up a tiny bit easier. They both work great for my needs. I see a lot people say they'd like Spyderco to go with another base steel and I can understand that. I like variety and get tired of the same ol' thing too. Problem is, if they do go to something else it's only a matter of time before people get tired of that.

[Doeswhateveraspidercan]

Hard to answer some of the questions. What are we comparing it to?

In general I like it just fine. I have a lot of it along with a lot of S35VN. If I had to pick one over the other I'd probably choose S35VN only because it seems to sharpen up a tiny bit easier. They both work great for my needs. I see a lot people say they'd like Spyderco to go with another base steel and I can understand that. I like variety and get tired of the same ol' thing too. Problem is, if they do go to something else it's only a matter of time before people get tired of that.

I thought it best to let people make their own comparisons.

Can't say I agree with the matter of time before people get tired of a new thing idea. For example since I was introduced to Cruwear I have no need to go further. But that does not mean I am not going to experiment and get the best out of my S30V, S35VN, CTS-XHP, and other Spydie steels by improving my sharpening skills.

One thing is for certain Spyderco has allowed me to experiment on a wide variety of steels and the more I do and the better I learn to sharpen the more appreciation I have for S30V.

[spoonrobot]

S30V is one of my favorite steels, although that's in large part to it being one of the main super steels around during my formative entry into high end knives (~2004/5).

Quantitatively I find it easy to sharpen for the high degree of sharpness and very good edge retention exhibited. I've also found it to be fine with respect to corrosion resistance. When I worked in food service I often carried S30V folders and rarely had any issues with the amount of moisture encountered affecting the finish.

[Wartstein]

Holds an edge long enough, pretty easy to sharpen on the sharpmaker, corrosion resistant enough for me, and I personally could NOT perceive any difference to the S35VN I had on my Native LW...

[knivesandbooks]

It's the steel I learned how to sharpen with. It gets very very sharp and holds a working edge for a good while. Corrosion resistant enough. No issues. I do not care about the differences between s30v and s35vn, I really really really don't. I didn't vote for Spyderco to change their blade steel, because I also really don't care if they do, but I think CPM 154 would be a better base steel.

[vivi]

- It gets incredibly sharp without much work

- It's pretty tough for stainless with carbides

- Very corrosion resistant

- Not very expensive

- Heat treat is well established

There isn't a single thing S30V is bad at besides being trendy.

[Sharp Guy]

Can't say I agree with the matter of time before people get tired of a new thing idea. For example since I was introduced to Cruwear I have no need to go further. But that does not mean I am not going to experiment and get the best out of my S30V, S35VN, CTS-XHP, and other Spydie steels by improving my sharpening skills.

Look up some old threads from when Spyderco first started using S30V. You'll see what I mean. I've seen some and got a kick out of reading how excited people were about it. It was like the greatest steel ever.

One thing is for certain Spyderco has allowed me to experiment on a wide variety of steels and the more I do and the better I learn to sharpen the more appreciation I have for S30V.

When I got back into knives a few years ago I hadn't used my Sharpmaker for several years. My friend sold me a couple Sages and a Manix 2 (all with S30V). The Sages needed a touch up and I struggled to get them sharp. I also got a new Dragonfly and Persistence about the same time. Those needed a touch up after a couple weeks and I had no issue with those. For whatever reason I just couldn't get that sticky edge on the S30V knives at first. But after awhile I finally got the hang of it. Still not sure what I did differently. Fast forward a few years and a lot of sharpening later and I have no issues keeping my S30V knives sharp. I've reprofiled a few to a mirror finish too. S30V takes a nice polish. Now that it's finally cooling down here and I can work in the garage again I have a few new S30V knives and some others that will get reprofiled pretty soon.

We've been spoiled by Spyderco using a wide variety of steels. I love the edge that steels like Cruwear, HAP40, M4, and 4V get. Maxamet's pretty cool too. It seems to cut forever and is still fairly easy to touch up.

[James Y]

It's been pretty easy to sharpen for me on a Sharpmaker. In fact, the first knife I ever had to reprofile was an S30V knife many years ago. As far as corrosion resistance, I find it's pretty good. I have on rare occasions gotten tiny specks of rust on the finish, but I've been able to either scratch them off with my fingernail, or rub them off with an eraser. Nothing that bad.

I don't really get bored with steels, as long as the knife works like I want it to. Some steels get me pretty excited, though, like LC200N, because of its mix of good qualities.

Jim

[Baron Mind]

None of the poll options really work for me.

S30V does everything better than all of the budget steels.

There are so many specialized high end steels these days, that s30v isn't the best at any one thing

It's a balanced steel.

For your base steel you want something that will appeal to as many people as possible. Maxamizing ease of sharpening means minimizing edge retention, and vice versa. Everything is a trade off.

For those reasons, I think s30v makes perfect sense, and do not hesitate to buy a knife in it.

[Mattysc42]

Everything about s30v is good. The only flaw with it is that m390 class steels are better in every way without being too much more expensive. I’d take 20cv over s30v every time.

[zippifish]

I only have one knife in S30V (Para 3), also have the XHP Chaparral and the Para 3 holds an edge just as well if not better, I actually think better even though the internet tells me XHP is a better steel, it also is easier to put an edge on and I can get it razor sharp.

Have a couple of other blades in M390, 20CV and getting ready to order a couple knives in S35VN but I'm not buying them because of the steal, I'm buying them because of the knife, would I spend $200+ on a knife in S30V probably not.

The only steel I won't ever buy a Spyderco again in is VG10, got a DF2 and it gets dull just by looking at it. It's happy though, sits comfortably on the kitchen countertop as an overpriced letter/package opener.

[A.S.O.K.A]

For us experienced sharpeners, s30v is easy to sharpen. But the fact of the matter is, s30v is not really a forgiving steel for sharpeners less experienced. There are ways to sharpen it where it has long working edge potential and lesser sharpening levels that get people saying they would rather stick with vg10 with a little less sharpness but much higher ease of sharpening. In terms of a previous comment about not believing production steels losing momentum, just count how many retailers still have multiple models in s110v still in stock as well as a few models with maxamet still in stock. Back when those two steels were limited, you wouldnt find those in stock at a retailer if you sold your sold to the devil for one

[Evil D]

Working edge is definitely it's stronger quality over keeping peak sharpness. I wouldn't mind seeing a different base models steel if it were something that offered a specific and significant advantage without any major compromise. I'm sure eventually that steel will surface.

[TkoK83Spy]

My buddy here at work that's a diehard Benchmade guy has like 20 different models of Benchmades and he absolutely loves S30V. Now, that could be because they only use like 3 different kinds of steels. We over here, have become EXTREMELY spoiled.

[Evil D]

My buddy here at work that's a diehard Benchmade guy has like 20 different models of Benchmades and he absolutely loves S30V. Now, that could be because they only use like 3 different kinds of steels. We over here, have become EXTREMELY spoiled.

It says a lot when one company's standard production steel is another company's premium option.

[TkoK83Spy]

My buddy here at work that's a diehard Benchmade guy has like 20 different models of Benchmades and he absolutely loves S30V. Now, that could be because they only use like 3 different kinds of steels. We over here, have become EXTREMELY spoiled.

It says a lot when one company's standard production steel is another company's premium option.

Very true David. He has some top end 940 in S90V that he likes, but finds it much more difficult to sharpen. He also has a WE Knives Deacon in M390 that he's been into lately. So he's starting to venture out to other steels a bit, but really enjoys the ease of S30V since it's what he's been used to for so many years. But it's funny to see him realizing there are other options and how they react differently to sharpening and edge retention, etc. He's getting there, slowly but surely. But still sees S30V as a premium steel, and I think that's a good thing...for his wallet haha.

[Evil D]

My buddy here at work that's a diehard Benchmade guy has like 20 different models of Benchmades and he absolutely loves S30V. Now, that could be because they only use like 3 different kinds of steels. We over here, have become EXTREMELY spoiled.

It says a lot when one company's standard production steel is another company's premium option.

Very true David. He has some top end 940 in S90V that he likes, but finds it much more difficult to sharpen. He also has a WE Knives Deacon in M390 that he's been into lately. So he's starting to venture out to other steels a bit, but really enjoys the ease of S30V since it's what he's been used to for so many years. But it's funny to see him realizing there are other options and how they react differently to sharpening and edge retention, etc. He's getting there, slowly but surely. But still sees S30V as a premium steel, and I think that's a good thing...for his wallet haha.

It wasn't so long ago (well like 10 years) since I was absolutely blown away by S30V, because prior to that I only ever had steels like 1095 and 440. In most knives I've owned over my lifetime it was just "steel" and there wasn't much thought given to there actually being different grades of steel, and for a while if your knife even said anything it was "surgical steel" whatever the heck that mystery metal was.

[ferider]

You forgot one bullet: Spyderco should never have switched from S60V to S30V :)