S110V / S90V difference

[gull wing]

Please tell me the differences of these fine steels.
Like :
Is one easier to sharpen.
I do know 110v holds an edge a long time.
Is one a BEAR to get sharp.

[barnaclesonaboat]

Both excellent, essentially stainless in my uses. As expected for such high hardness, I’ve found them both to be somewhat slow to sharpen, but reasonable with diamond abrasives. In use and resharpening though, S90V stands out as my preferred of the two. I use my knives and I have found S110V to have a little less edge stability (chipping) than S90V, and S90V also strops back far better than S110V in my experience. I have several Spyderco S110V blades, but will probably not pursue another, particularly when S90V is readily available.

[gull wing]

Oh, vital information. This is a brick in the wall of my next knife. THANKS

[jmj3esq]

The above info is good. Here's my personal experience. I once used an S110V Manix 2 to gut a deer and only touched a few bones in the process. After I was done the blade was chipped towards the tip of the knife in several spots. it was pretty bad chipping but I was able to sharpen it out. S90V is my favorite steel and it is surely different than S110V. The S90V will hold an edge forever and still has enough strength at the edge. I have used S90V quite a bit and never noticed the chipping I got from that S110V. I personally think the S90V's superiority over S110V is pretty measurable. I own probably 12 S90V Spydercos and 1 S110V. I will never be buying S110V Again. Thats just my two cents.

[Naperville]

Both excellent, essentially stainless in my uses. As expected for such high hardness, I’ve found them both to be somewhat slow to sharpen, but reasonable with diamond abrasives. In use and resharpening though, S90V stands out as my preferred of the two. I use my knives and I have found S110V to have a little less edge stability (chipping) than S90V, and S90V also strops back far better than S110V in my experience. I have several Spyderco S110V blades, but will probably not pursue another, particularly when S90V is readily available.

I have more knives in S90V than any other steel, but 15V is giving it a run for the money.

MagnaMax will apparently hold an edge as long as S110V and have twice the toughness. I am looking forward to it!

[barnaclesonaboat]

Oh, vital information. This is a brick in the wall of my next knife. THANKS

Happy to help.

I have more knives in S90V than any other steel, but 15V is giving it a run for the money.

MagnaMax will apparently hold an edge as long as S110V and have twice the toughness. I am looking forward to it!

Same-same on the 15V giving the S90V stable a run in my set, too! I only have two Military 2's, S90V and 15V, and this summer has seen the 15V chosen nearly every time. And goodness, if that claim about MagnaMax bears out in practical use it is going to be a VERY popular steel. Let's GO!

[Naperville]

Oh, vital information. This is a brick in the wall of my next knife. THANKS

Happy to help.

I have more knives in S90V than any other steel, but 15V is giving it a run for the money.

MagnaMax will apparently hold an edge as long as S110V and have twice the toughness. I am looking forward to it!

Same-same on the 15V giving the S90V stable a run in my set, too! I only have two Military 2's, S90V and 15V, and this summer has seen the 15V chosen nearly every time. And goodness, if that claim about MagnaMax bears out in practical use it is going to be a VERY popular steel. Let's GO!

MagnaMax could be the hot steel of 2026.

[zuludelta]

Please tell me the differences of these fine steels.
Like :
Is one easier to sharpen.
I do know 110v holds an edge a long time.
Is one a BEAR to get sharp.

I have a fair amount of experience using both steels in a work setting. As far as edge retention, they both stay sharp through use for a very long time, much longer than S30V or 20CV (Larrin's charts say that S90V has higher wear resistance than S110V, but in an uncontrolled setting, I can't tell). What I've found is that they both lose their top-end razor sharpness relatively quickly, but after that, they hold a very good working edge for a phenomenally long time.

A common complaint you will read or hear about S110V is that it is chippy. In my experience, once sharpened at an angle appropriate to its physical attributes & intended use, it is tough enough. I sharpen my S110V Native 5 LW and S110V Para Military 2 at 20° per side and at that angle, they hold up pretty well to warehouse work use. No chipping that I can recall.

I haven't had the opportunity to push either steel to the limits of their corrosion resistance but Larrin's tests show that S110V is nearly as corrosion-resistant as Salt-worthy steels like MagnaCut, LC200N, and H1 while S90V has decent, but not outstanding, stainless properties, in the same neighbourhood as steels like VG10 and S30V.

In terms of sharpening, they don't require any sort of special techniques or knowledge. Just a bit of patience and a range of diamond and/or CBN abrasives. I get good results finishing both my S90V & S110V edges with a 3000 grit resin-bonded diamond abrasive before hitting them with a strop.

[barnaclesonaboat]

A common complaint you will read or hear about S110V is that it is chippy. In my experience, once sharpened at an angle appropriate to its physical attributes & intended use, it is tough enough. I sharpen my S110V Native 5 LW and S110V Para Military 2 at 20° per side and at that angle, they hold up pretty well to warehouse work use. No chipping that I can recall.

Excellent points on geometry; much of the chipping in my personal case is quite likely the result of sharpening too thin for my knife use habits and skills. The siren of thin edges gets me with most of the higher hardness steels.

[Synov]

[Brock O Lee]

I like the stainlessness of S110V on the UKPK. I often carry in waistband, or use it on the go for cutting food and fruit, with no corrosion. I've seen light corrosion on S90V on a camping trip after I washed it and left it to air dry.

I prefer S90V by large margin, like most of the commenters. It just stays sharp longer, and I haven't chipped it (yet).

Edit: spelling

[bearfacedkiller]

I think S110V is surprisingly stainless. It also seems to cut forever even though it is pretty much the only steel I consider stubborn to sharpen. You don’t see as many folks using S110V anymore and I assume that is partly because it has been out for so long and partly because it is challenging. I still carry both a Para2 and a Military in S110V pretty often. My mule also sees some use hunting and fishing. Due to the extremely high amount of both edge retention and corrosion resistance they continue to be steady users.

That said, I prefer S90V for its sharpening response and still very respectable corrosion resistance and edge retention. I have butchered many deer with my Southfork and every fall when it comes back out I am amazed by its performance.

[Larrin]

S110V was designed to have improved corrosion resistance over S90V.

[Fastidiotus]

For me I include s110v as a salt steel even if the knives aren't made as such. I think the steel peaks with the UKPK. The UKPK design doesn't encourage any hard use and s110v combined with the blade shape and geometry of the UKPK leaf is a monster. Ive never had any issues with chipping. Even though I love s110v and I think it represents the most super of supersteels given it's mix of edge retention and corrosion resistance, if I was looking to buy something big like a Millie I'd pick something like CruWear instead. I'd absolutely love to see it make an appearance in the Lil Native LW, and MicroJimbo though.

As far as sharpening goes with s110v, with basic diamond stone like DMT or others I find it fairly easy to sharpen the once or twice a year I do it. However if you're trying to strop it with normal cheap green chromium oxide, which does still work well with S30v, s35vn, s45vn, and Spy27, there's no point. s110v will laugh it off and requires a diamond stropping compound in my experience.

[Brock O Lee]

For me I include s110v as a salt steel even if the knives aren't made as such. I think the steel peaks with the UKPK. The UKPK design doesn't encourage any hard use and s110v combined with the blade shape and geometry of the UKPK leaf is a monster. Ive never had any issues with chipping.

Even though I prefer S90V, I share your sentiments about S110V on the UKPK. It's a banger!

I run mine at 13 dps with a 15 dps micro bevel. No chipping or corrosion at all, and with light duty tasks it continues to cut and cut.

[skeeg11]

LUV S90V. Got a Scot Cook in S90V when they first came out. It's been around a long time. Predates S30V. S90V seems to take and hold a finer edge longer than S110V; however, absent extremely rough abuse, a low grit S110V edge is a real workhorse. Let the carbides do the work.

[vvs]

S110V Native5 was my main swimming/freedive knife in Mediterranean with zero corrosion. While S30V/S90V corroded just from being carried: From an air-conditioned area into the warm, humid outside air → moisture in the air condenses on the metal surface → corrosion begins to form on the surface.