Did CruWear Make S35vn Obsolete?

[Foehammer]

CruWear is tougher and has better edge retention, as well as being fairly corrosion resistant. It’s also easy to sharpen. What does S35vn have going for it vs CruWear? Cheaper to machine and produce?

[phaust]

The corrosion resistance difference is significant in my experience, not that I pen in s35vn too high either on that front.

[vivi]

hmmm, stainless vs non stainless....what advantage could the former possibly have????

[Buddafucco]

I think the real question is... Is MagnaCut going to make them both obsolete?
That Cruwear sharpens up real nice though. And if you like patina, it will give you that.
I would say that if I'm going outside on a rainy day or on a boat. I would definitely reach for the S35vn before the Cruwear.

[MournfulCongregant]

Errrr, stainlessness? But, at least in my experience, with my Cruwear PM2, that steel is pretty close to "stainless", as in, I have never pushed the limits, but have never experienced any even minor, minor spotting like I have with Rex 45, M4, and K390 (all steels I will gladly pocket even if I am expecting to sweat and be out all day, living in CA). Cruwear doesn't even seem to patina much. I am sure it will given enough use (and I don't mind patina, if I did, what would I be doing with all those carbon steels?)

Price? I know those S35VN Tenacious models cost more than the standard ones, not sure by how much, could be just $100, could be $150, I don't know, but either price is cheaper than a Cruwear model of PM2 from America. Except maybe that new Cruwear Yo2, that might be a competitive Cruwear option for as long as it is up.

I don't know, I also prefer Cruwear. But, I guess if you really wanted a stainless model, and you wanted a cheaper model, you could get... let's say in the future they had a PM2 LW, with S35VN, for $135. That'd be a good deal. But, you know what would be better on that knife? Cruwear, haha. That is just you and I, though, let us allow S35VN fans to chime in.

I have unfortunately not got to use the steel much, as the only knives I have it in, are a Cold Steel Espada XL (the fancy version) and a Cold Steel Black Talon II (which is basically as if a Civilian was tough enough to use like an EDC knife... but Cold Steel serrations are just nothing compared to Spyderco serrations. The Black Talon II would be SO COOL if it had a serration pattern like Spyderco has... it would be like a huge Dodo, more or less!)

[Urkilnmesmalls]

I don’t know about obsolete. I like both steels very much. Here’s a little anecdote you can take for what it’s worth.
Last winter we had a pretty snowy season. I carried a benchmade in cruwear and a kizer in s35vn.
I spent a lot of time spreading salt and shoveling snow. I cut open a lot of salt bags and my clothes were wet for most of the day. I tried to keep the amount of bags cut open equal between the knives.
At the end of the day the cruwear was spotless and the s35vn had quite a few small rust spots developing. The cruwear was coated but the edge is laid back to expose a significant amount of bare steel. I was very impressed with the cruwear.

[vivi]

The cruwear was coated

this makes a dramatic difference.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=89798

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=87786&start=60

[nerdlock]

S45VN was deemed to be a "slightly" better Elmax, yet we're still having Elmax exclusives...on topic, I don't think it's a fair comparison at all when you compare stainless vs non stainless steels and state that one makes another obsolete. I think a better question would be did s45vn make s35vn obsolete or something like that.

[Vaugith]

At the end of the day the cruwear was spotless and the s35vn had quite a few small rust spots developing.

Heat treat and blade finish can make a huge difference, as well as any potential contaminants left behind during grinding. Making a comparison between brands or even models difficult in some situations.

I also don't think magnacut will replace cruwear - cruwears toughness is higher enough to make a difference. There are others that magnacut might obsolete though - like s35vn.

[crow2071]

S35vn has been almost obsolete as far as Spyderco goes for years now..
Its usage was stopped after the g10 natives were first released years ago. It's only recently come back in the value lines now.
viewtopic.php?t=78681#p1222065

[Brock O Lee]

From the charts they are close in performance, but it appears that Cruwear is balanced towards better toughness and Magnacut towards better corrosion resistance.

Cruwear resists corrosion well enough that it is for all practical purposes a stainless steel for me, if I am not at the beach.

My Cruwear is going nowhere!

Magnacut may eat LC200N’s lunch IMO…

I agree S35VN is kinda stuck in no man's land.

[Foehammer]

Thanks for all the answers, I realize it is kind of a dumb question because yes, they are two different types of steel. But still, some useful insight so thanks all!

[cjk]

Interesting read on the history of Cru-Wear:
https://knifesteelnerds.com/2019/06/03/ ... uff-steel/

Cru-Wear was introduced in 1994. It was based on (a copy of?) a steel introduced in the 1960s, Vasco Wear.

S35VN was released in 2009:
https://knifesteelnerds.com/2020/01/13/ ... eat-treat/

Given when they were both created or released, I found the idea that the older steel made the newer steel obsolete a little amusing.

[steelcity16]

From the charts they are close in performance, but it appears that Cruwear is balanced towards better toughness and Magnacut towards better corrosion resistance.

Cruwear resists corrosion well enough that it is for all practical purposes a stainless steel for me, if I am not at the beach.

My Cruwear is going nowhere!

Magnacut may eat LC200N’s lunch IMO…

I agree S35VN is kinda stuck in no man's land.

Yep, I agree. I bring my H1/LC200N Salts when I go to the beach, but for anything else Cruwear is very stainless and I have only ever had one Cruwear blade that even showed any patina. I have no real desire to add S35VN to my arsenal.

[aicolainen]

I never had a knife in cru-wear, but based on spec alone I would gladly have replaced my knives in S35VN with a version in cru-wear. Except my small Sebenza, for which I prefer a bit more corrosion resistance.

[Sharp Guy]

I like Cruwear but I also have several knives with S35VN and it's one of my favorite steels. So S35VN isn't obsolete as far as I'm concerned. I don't care if there's something new that's supposed to be "better".

A lot of these steels are so similar that the average users can't really tell the difference if there were no markings on them. I can often tell the difference when sharpening but not really in use. I find Cruwear and S35VN to be similar when sharpening. So for me one's really just more stainless than the other. All good to me

[wrdwrght]

To the question, steels don’t obsolete other steels. Marketing does.

[Matt Deaner]

It is interesting how similar the edge holding is between these two steels. S35vn sharpens a little harder but not much. Corrosion resistance is the main difference.... Have definitely had rust and spotting on Cruwear. Never any hint of rust on s35vn in my use.

[rooster81]

I'd agree with the following comments:

1) Cruwear doesn't make obsolete S35VN because the S35VN is a stainless steel and it becomes very apparent in a wet environment.

2) Magnacut WILL effectively make the S series obsolete (S30V, S35VN, S45VN, SPY27) IF the price point is the same and there is adequate supply.

[yowzer]

Spyderco still uses S30V as the baseline steel for most US and Taiwanese made models even though S35V and then S45V were supposed to replace it. I don't think they care about "obsolete" or not when it comes to a steel as long as it's "good enough".