154cm, S30v, and D2

BMCGear

BMCGear

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What are your thoughts on these three steels? I really like 154cm so far. It holds an edge long enough for me and is easy to restore it. I have no long term use with S30v or D2 and have read that the S30v is prone to chipping and is harder to sharpen while the D2 is pretty hard stuff as well.
 
On a folder, any of the 3 work for me.

I have folders and fixed blades in 154CM and it holds an edge, doesn't rust, and sharpens easily.

I have had a really thin S30V edge chip, but it was the factory edge and was too thin I think. The edge retention seems better than 154CM, but I'm not sure by how much. I would stay away from a fixed blade in S30V, but if I really really liked the design I'd get over it enough to try it out.

D2 has held its edge better, for me, than either, but my example rusted.

154CM is, in my opinion, the best all around steel if I had to pick one.
 
I've used all three extensively, however 154CM more so then the others and S30V the least. During actual use I honestly wouldn't be able to tell you one from the other their so close.

If I "had" to choose only one I'd go with BM's D2 but would be completely happy with any of the three. Especially 154CM. I think it's one of the best "all around" premium steels you can buy.

Best of luck.
 
I like 154CM for most use. I have the others and what I find is that 154CM is easy to sharpen in the field, the other two can be a real bear. I know how to sharpen knives and I know a diamond sharpener will take care of any of them. But, what if I do not have it for some reason? D2 is what my hard use knife is made from and my custom skinner. S30V is also hard to sharpen on my PM2. 154CM holds an edge, does not chip, and can be resharpened without much trouble.
A few years ago a friend who owned a clothing store lent his alarm tag remover to another store and then needed it. I pulled out a Benchmade with 154CM and thought, "If Buck can cut a nail, this stuff should" and began to try and cut that hardened steel pin. All I did was ruin my knife. I had to get a knife with harder steel to cut it. The D2 would have. So, this shows the different characteristics. It depends on what you are using it for and what you are willing to put up with.
 
All are good but like D2 the best. Superstrong,stays sharp forever,semi-stainless. 154cm am also a big fan of haven't used it long but stays sharp and without rust. S30v is also go but i've had s30v edges roll when just cutting cardboard which bugs me but it seems like it slices better or just takes a better edge than the other two so. It would be a tough call which i like better.Like them all for different situations. Can't really go wrong with any of them i think. I personally like D2 the best for strength and edge holding.
 
Here's a delimma; I really like the 940 and would EDC it but I wish it came with a 154cm blade.
 
bluemetalchurch said:
Here's a delimma; I really like the 940 and would EDC it but I wish it came with a 154cm blade.
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Sharpened properly, S30V will out preform 154cm in terms of edge holding capability. In my experience of hard use with S30V, the edge will not roll at 40° inclusive. However, 154cm has been slightly more resistant to corrosion.

I own a 940 and several BM's with 154cm, all are great.
 
+1 ^^

I believe if anyone likes variety of stainless steel and blade enthusiasts, one should purchase diamond sharper. At least corse, med, fine and ultrafine.

You would be surprised how quickly you can sharpen something like that of S90V, S110V. Not to mention sharpening M390, D2 would be far easy to accomplish than with stones.

I like 154cm, but I wouldn't sky away from S30V. D2 is a workhorse, but it is best to keep the edge with stropping / touch up, so one doesn't have to resort to re sharpen with stones. (It would take a while to do so, comparatively speaking)
 
Benchmade's D2 is good stuff. None of those steels are slouches, and I'd be happy with any of the choices, but the D2 is my preference. It is not overly hard to sharpen, and once sharp it will stay that way a long time. As long as you touch it up after use, there's no real need to sharpen it often.

I've had no issues with rust, and I stripped my Benchmade D2 blade of it's coating a while ago.
 
bluemetalchurch said:
What are your thoughts on these three steels? I really like 154cm so far. It holds an edge long enough for me and is easy to restore it. I have no long term use with S30v or D2 and have read that the S30v is prone to chipping and is harder to sharpen while the D2 is pretty hard stuff as well.
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S30V isn't prone to chipping, more like some people don't know how to sharpen, using the factory edges etc..... Never had S30V chip on me in a variety of different knives, would roll rather than chip even hitting metal...

In terms of edge retention S30V will hold an edge the longest with D2 and 154cm about the same...
 
I own and like all three steels. Here's my experience with each :

154CM : a good all-around steel that is easy to sharpen and is very affordable. I find it a little soft for my use and needs touching farely often.

D2 : this steel holds a fine edge for a long time. It's a little more tricky to sharpen but after a few tries it's simple. Technically it's only a "semi-stainless" steel but I have had no rust or discoloration issues whatsoever and I live a half mile from the beach.

S30V : awesome blade steel ! It takes a wicked edge and keeps it for a long while. It's very corrosion resistant. I have never had it chip. It's a fantastic performer. Super steels may be taking over but S30V remains my favorite thus far.
 
Wolverine666 said:
I own and like all three steels. Here's my experience with each :

154CM : a good all-around steel that is easy to sharpen and is very affordable. I find it a little soft for my use and needs touching farely often.

D2 : this steel holds a fine edge for a long time. It's a little more tricky to sharpen but after a few tries it's simple. Technically it's only a "semi-stainless" steel but I have had no rust or discoloration issues whatsoever and I live a half mile from the beach.

S30V : awesome blade steel ! It takes a wicked edge and keeps it for a long while. It's very corrosion resistant. I have never had it chip. It's a fantastic performer. Super steels may be taking over but S30V remains my favorite thus far.
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I find D2 to lose its fine edge faily instantly but holds a "kinda shaves ok" edge longer, where as 154cm and S30V hold a fin edge longer. ive had my 740 chip on me once but that was due to a piece of meat i swing through that had a small bone in it. didnt slow it down any. 154cm is in my experience the best kitchen steel ive ever used, i used to work at a small business cutting veggies and meat and as long as it was sanitary i could use whatever knife i had. all of the other carbon and stainlesses i had dulled much quicker and to a further extent than my 42 bali did and after the 3 busiest days in a row it still shaved whereas i usually stropped my knifes throughout my shift and sometimes sharpened on break. i didnt have D2 at that time but S30V in my 740 was ok, not really noticeably good or bad. lately ive been using a buck vantage pro and other than rusting if i dont clean it off it has done fairly well for occasional kitchen use.
also, D2 doesnt bend, it breaks.
 
I kind of secretly hope that soon Benchmade will start offering more other steel options!

There is a lot of subjectivity. I strongly dislike D2, personally, and I tend to avoid knives made in it. Part of this is because these knives are generally priced the same as knives in ELMAX or S35VN.

154CM is great for an entry level steel to the world of higher performance steels, but CPM-154 craps all over 154CM and I wish makers using 154CM would take advantage of the considerable performance gains of CPM-154.

S30V is an excellent steel and generally is significantly tougher than D2 or 154CM. Of the three, I think S30V is by far the best steel because it has very good wear resistance, excellent toughness, and excellent corrosion resistance.

However, the newer S35VN makes some great improvements over S30V, and I'm hoping sometime soon we see Benchmade start using it, as well as ELMAX. As time has shown, ELMAX is really a dream steel and most users love it and want more. I also hope they start offering more CPM-M4 and M390 options as they are fantastic steels and BM hardens both of them very well.
 
154cm for me my favorite steel of all time. A dream to sharpen and hold long enough for me.
 
In testing 154CM holds a fine edge longer then S30V and we'll not chip or roll as easy "it is very tough steel" but it we'll dull faster then S30V.
S30V holds a toothy edge forever but does not hold a fine edge very long S30V is tough but not as tough 154CM.

Over all if your cutting using it for EDC I would go with S30V if you going to "hard use" something I would go with 154CM not that S30V can't take hard use but 154CM is just better for it.
 
ZeroTurnDude said:
In testing 154CM holds a fine edge longer then S30V and we'll not chip or roll as easy "it is very tough steel" but it we'll dull faster then S30V.
S30V holds a toothy edge forever but does not hold a fine edge very long S30V is tough but not as tough 154CM.

Over all if your cutting using it for EDC I would go with S30V if you going to "hard use" something I would go with 154CM not that S30V can't take hard use but 154CM is just better for it.
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Are you sure? Are they in similar hardness and geometry? S30V is powder forged and has vanadium, hard and small grained carbide makes it more wear resistant than non-CPM 154 (154cm) in my experience.

May be Jim Ankerson, who has been testing various steels a lot can speak for this. But my personal experience in comparing steel (154cm vs S30V) in blade in same geometry and close in hardness usually favor S30V.

If you use regular non-diamond sharpening stone, 154cm can be sharpened faster and easily. With diamond sharpener, noticeable but not much difference.

MFL
 
ZeroTurnDude said:
In testing 154CM holds a fine edge longer then S30V and we'll not chip or roll as easy "it is very tough steel" but it we'll dull faster then S30V.
S30V holds a toothy edge forever but does not hold a fine edge very long S30V is tough but not as tough 154CM.

Over all if your cutting using it for EDC I would go with S30V if you going to "hard use" something I would go with 154CM not that S30V can't take hard use but 154CM is just better for it.
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While I agree S30V does tend to lose the scary sharp pretty quickly and hold a sharp utility edge for a very long time, I don't think 154CM is really any better in most cases other than S30V that is left very soft (like 58 HRC). I think Benchmade's S30V improves upon 154CM in every category, more or less. I have a 707 in 154CM, S30V, D2, and M390 and I think the S30V 707 holds its edge better than 154CM (with 154CM not being a slouch). However, I think that the differences in edge-holding between 154CM, S30V, and D2 are all pretty minimal when compared to M390, which puts all of them to major shame.

As for toughness, when S30V has a competent heat treatment, I don't think 154CM is anywhere near as tough as S30V and I have always found S30V to have excellent toughness, and I find S35VN is even tougher. While some earlier S30V had some chippy issues, most of the S30V knives I own I find to have some of the best resistance to chipping.

Although the longitudinal toughness for all three of these grades
is about 25-28 ft. lbs., the transverse toughness of CPM S30V is
four times greater than that of 440C or 154CM. These higher
transverse toughness results indicate that CPM S30V is much
more resistant to chipping and breaking in applications which
may encounter side loading. In knifemaking, its higher transverse
toughness makes CPM S30V especially good for bigger blades.
Click to expand...
https://www.crucible.com/PDFs/\DataSheets2010\dsS30Vv1 2010.pdf



However, the CPM-154 knives I have are completely different animals from my 154CM ones. I find them to hold an edge much longer and be tougher than most S30V, and find that even at higher hardness (61+) they maintain impressive toughness. I find CPM-154 to have super-great resistance to chipping.
 
The knives that I tested were in the form of a
buck vantage force pro S30V RC-59.5 to 61, buck CSAR-T 154CM RC-60 to 61, Benchmade griptilian 154CM RC-58 to 61 and a Benchmade osborne S30V RC-58 to 60.

ZTD
 
S30V is actually a great all-round cutlery steel. Bottom line, it's not too difficult to sharpen, holds an edge for longer and is very rust resistant. What more do you want from a pocket knife? That said, I don't think you lose a huge amount with D2 or 154CM. You will just need to touch them up a little more often is all. D2 is bit more prone to stain/rust though if left dirty after use.
 
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