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K.T.N
1264
Aug 23, 2015
I did a little reading on S35VN and ran across a few discussions from 2011-12 about how the steel blunted and flattened easily in a rope cutting test. This was when S35VN was relatively new. So there was some controversy about the steel, and speculation that companies weren't heat treating the steel to a high enough hardness.
Some folks speculated that in time, knife makers would hammer out the problems,dial in the heat treat, and make S35VN work.
That was three years ago. Does anyone know if these concerns have been put to bed?
To be fair, I read that the Native 5 tested well, even back then.
JakeRoberts
240
Aug 25, 2015
K.T.NYou're probably referring to the testing done by youtuber jdavis882 back in 2011 (a retest of the original test he did). According to Zknives, CPM S35VN was developed in 2009 as an evolution of CPM S30V.
As a general practice, Spyderco (for some reason or other) does not publish Rockwell Hardness (HRC) results for their knives. Still, I own several Spyderco models (Manix 2 XL-S30V, Endura, Delica-both VG-10) and their heat treatment is really good and pretty consistent.
In S35VN steel I own a Zero Tolerance 0550, a Reate Horizon B and a Kizer (model is a number), and in all of them the steel has performed great. In practice, it holds an edge just as well or just a bit worse than S30V, but not by much. The good thing about S35VN though, is that it is somewhat easier to sharpen than S30V.
So, if you are concerned about edge retention, Spyderco does know how to heat-treat their blades. Buy with confidence... : )