Does anyone use a S90V blade?

[VashHash]

I always enjoy how S90V just shrugs off rust. Scraped it with my fingernail and applied some oil after.

[VandymanG]

This is a steel I still haven’t acquired yet. With Crucible gone now this steel is closer to the top of my list to get.

[zuludelta]

if you were going to pick one s90v model, in production or not, what would it be? would enjoy arguments/cases made about why this or that one

obviously this is asking for subjective answers - i recognize uses and preferences vary. but like I wrote earlier in this thread, I still don't have an s90v knife and really want one. so far, none of the existing models scream at me. i like the n5 with forest green scales that came out like 7 years ago now, but those are long gone. i've tried to survey everything spyderco's put out in s90v, and this thread's been helpful to that end, but am sure i've missed a few.

not crazy about carbon fiber, but the fluted cf on the n5 is really cool and probably the strongest contender currently. already have the m4 n5 though, don't really want more than one knife per kind, so that's a tick against it. what would you argue for?

I have the S90V N5 in fluted carbon fiber (Spyderco's only regular production S90V knife, if I'm not mistaken) and I love it, just a showcase of knife design and manufacturing prowess. It's pricey (all S90V Spydercos are) but it's not exceedingly difficult to find or replace since it is a regular production model and not a Sprint. It's classy but not gaudy, and just feels really good in the hand because of the contoured scales—it's smooth like a river rock, but isn't slippery & has enough texture to provide functional grip.

I like S90V (and its cousin, S110V) in smaller, sub-3" folders such as the N5, as a very high wear-resistance steel paired with a shorter blade makes sense to me, both from a use & sharpening perspective—think of it as the concept of "min-maxing" as applied to knives.

If you can still find it at a decent price, the Lil' Native (Compression Lock) in S90V & carbon fiber is also a model I would recommend, though the non-fluted scales are not nearly as comfortable as the N5's. There's also the upcoming MicroJimbo Sprint in S90V that I'm hoping to nab, but the MicroJimbo seems to be a polarizing design for many users.

[zuludelta]

This is a steel I still haven’t acquired yet. With Crucible gone now this steel is closer to the top of my list to get.

I recall reading Larrin's interview with Niagara Specialty Metals CEO Bob Shabala where the latter said that Erasteel (the company that acquired Crucible's assets) will keep making S90V, but that it will be marketed under a different name (maybe just "S90V", without the "CPM"). It's probably a safe bet that Spyderco will switch over to this steel once the existing stock of CPM S90V is depleted.

Carpenter Technology (the company that makes CTS BD1N, CTS XHP, and Maxamet) also makes a steel—CTS Micro-Melt 420CW MOD—that is chemically identical to CPM S90V, and according to Shabala, Niagara Specialty Metals has a lot of it ready to go for rolling into knife stock thicknesses. They will probably rebrand it, though (Niagara seems to have settled on the name "NSM90"), since "CTS Micro-Melt 420CW MOD" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue (imagine trying to fit all that where Spyderco normally puts the blade steel information on the knife!).

Anyway, just be careful that you don't pay outrageous prices on the secondary market for an S90V Spyderco thinking that the steel will be going away with Crucible. Unless, of course, you are looking specifically for a knife with the "CPM S90V" mark on the blade, in which case, yeah, it will probably cost less to get one sooner rather than later.

[bleasure]

There's also the upcoming MicroJimbo Sprint in S90V that I'm hoping to nab, but the MicroJimbo seems to be a polarizing design for many users.

the fluted carbon n5 is probably the top candidate for me currently, and i agree with your assessment; relatively smaller blades for steel with these properties seems ideal. i'm just not crazy about that particular model, the amount of lost blade really bugs me.

i love the microjimbo design, it screams function and form. it's also aestheticaly great, i like the lines on it more than its cousins. i'm surprised it's polarizing, i don't see much not to like. would be the easy choice if not for being a sprint run; can't justify retail price for this one.