The first batch is done! I thought I should show the process I use for you DIY'ers. The first knife I received is a Chris Reeves Mnandi S30V at 58-59 rc. It is an excellent cutter with thin 2.2 mm thickness and hollow grind, I didn't expect to get these since they already perform well stock. As a gentlemen's folder, let's aim for S30V 62-63 rc.
First, the steel must be annealed. The formula is to heat to 1650°F, hold 2 hours, slow cool 25°F per hour to 1100°F. This took the entire day. I did this together with a bunch of other knives, all in 309 stainless steel pouches. Now the steel has been "reset" and I can heat treat it as normal. The fun part.
I'm going to deviate from the Crucible S30V datasheet here, as their formulas are only suitable for hardnesses up to 61. Austenization was 2060°F held 30 minutes, then I removed the stainless steel foil quickly and quenched in oil. Checked for warp while it is still hot -> no warp. Then I immediately dunked it in liquid nitrogen for 2 hours cryo treatment, which must be done before tempering. Many people cryo after the first temper, which loses 2 rc points. You also shouldn't wait before cryoing, as the steel structure stabilizes at room temperature over time. Cryoing the way I do can crack blades, but it's yet to happen to me, and it's the only way for cryo to do its job 100% based on several research papers.
Tempering was 975°F three times 2 hours each, each time quenched in water to avoid carbide precipitation as it cools through certain undesirable temperatures. Tempering can also be done at 400°F. Certain in-between temperatures lead to brittleness, and is likely to be responsible for some of the early chippy S30V. The other issue being retained austenite from the heat treat over time converting to brittle untempered martensite. Both cryo treatment and using the high temper gets rid of any retained austenite.
This is how it looked like out of the heat treat. It was pretty clean after austenization but I didn't use any vacuum foil for the 6 hours of tempering so we get some black scale:
After buffing off scale and sharpening to 10° per side, as the owner hired me to do:
Couldn't get the scale off the nail-clip part. There was still some burr formation while sharpening which is a sign of ductility, which is good! Edges that don't burr much while sharpening tend to be chippy. I did my standard chipping test cutting solid copper wire, and method of edge deformation looked like rolling (0.1mm, sharpened out easily). At this extreme edge thinness, I consider this a good result. Well, when the owner gives the feedback in actual use we will know how it performs.
As a sidenote, my Fallkniven 3G/SGPS performed like AUS-8 @58rc despite being advertised as 62 rc. It lost a shaving edge after cutting only a handful of boxes. I rehardened mine yesterday to 62-63 rc, and performance thus far is WAY better. Somehow I don't think it was originally at 62 rc.
Might break. 
That said, I'm a big fan of low alloy steel at high hardnesses.
.\ Besides as that knife is, it might make an ok utility knife.
