CPM S30V steel questions

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ksqrly

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Oct 12, 2013
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Hey all I got my hands on a piece of CPM S30V steel, and I am planning on making a knife out of it. I am completely new to the trade, and have little knowledge of knife making, aside from youtube videos.

I am pretty sure I have my process down. Please not if you see something wrong.

1) cut knife shape from steel piece
2)shape and clean with a bench grinder/dremel
3)make the bevel using a jig and belt sander. making sure not to sharpen all the way to a point so there is no warpage of the blade when quenching.

And now for a question.

Does this type of steel need to be heated and quenched? Or is it already a hardened steel ready to be shaped. I have read the CPM S30V steel is good for knife making, so Im not sure if I need to go through the work. Thanks for the help
 
ksqrly said:
Hey all I got my hands on a piece of CPM S30V steel, and I am planning on making a knife out of it. I am completely new to the trade, and have little knowledge of knife making, aside from youtube videos.

I am pretty sure I have my process down. Please not if you see something wrong.

1) cut knife shape from steel piece
2)shape and clean with a bench grinder/dremel
3)make the bevel using a jig and belt sander. making sure not to sharpen all the way to a point so there is no warpage of the blade when quenching.

And now for a question.

Does this type of steel need to be heated and quenched? Or is it already a hardened steel ready to be shaped. I have read the CPM S30V steel is good for knife making, so Im not sure if I need to go through the work. Thanks for the help
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My guess is that the steel is not tempered. Different makers have different process, so I doubt the steel is pre hardened, not to mention it will be much harder to work with if hardened.
 
It will deffinantly need to be heat treated even if you got an already hardened piece which I highly doubt you did. Also send it out for HT this steel needs alot of attention to detail, a lot more then even some good knife makers have. You need the right equipment to pull it off which can cost a pretty penny. Please do not try to heat treat this steel in a (BYF) back yard forge you will ruin the steel.
 
Well, at least your starting with known steel, instead of a lawnmower blade or piece of scrap you found in the garage. Unfortunately, you have one of the most difficult steels to work with. My first two knives were made from S30V and each one took longer to grind than the next three blades combined. Hand sanding was almost futile once it was hardened. Lastly, I'm not sure what type of sander you are planning to use, but be aware that sandpaper sheets/belts made for wood will be almost immediately dulled by the vanadium in S30V. Get proper metal grinding belts, or use a file.

Notice that I didn't try to discourage you. I just wanted to point out some difficulties you might encounter.
 
Thanks for all the great info zaph.
I will do as much finishing work as possible before I let it harden. Also I will get metal sand paper to do the job. :thumbup:
I highly doubt I will make a good knife this first go around, but hey if it turns out good, I will be glad to know that I used a decent metal.:D
 
I used all kinds of steel (even mild scraps) before ever touching store bought stuff. Obviously (or not) I made these as learning tools, not to be used as knives.

I don't think it's a bad idea to play around with lawnmower blades and what not while you learn some of the basics regarding the different types of steels, their applications and procedures for working them.

Until you learn a lot and get some decent equipment together it's probably a good idea to consider that you'll need to outsource the HT for ANY piece of steel that you want to function as a knife.
 
Well I have the basic shape mostly cut out on my knife. I worked it with a hand file and a ton of sanding, and now its time to heat treat. I cant seem to figure out how to attach a file to show a pic of my progress. Any help on that front would be much appreciated. Thanks
 
Ok here it is. I couldnt figure out the attachments so I uploaded a picture on photobucket. I am going to heat treat it myself. I know some of you will advise against this, but I want to play around with it. I dont care if it is a functioning knife, at this point I am doing it to amuse myself.

I will make some other blanks and have them sent out to be heat treated, unless by some miracle my methodes end up working.

So here is a picture of the knife

http://i1289.photobucket.com/albums/b511/ksqrly/firstblade_zpsd6314578.jpg

I dont want to spend a ton of money on heat treating, so I am either going to build a soup can forge or just use briquettes and a blow dryer. Next quench it in oil and temper at 400 in the oven.

Any advice on either of these methods would be great. Thanks
 
The best result you will get from that is an effed up blade. Get professional heat treat, this isn't your papas O1, this is a high vanadium powder steel, you need to be super precise with temperatures
 
I hate to say it since you said you want to heat treat on your own, but it simply won't work. This steel takes very high temps, with precision soak times at those high temps, while in a completely oxygen free atmosphere. At best you will have a blade that doesn't harden and may sustain some damage. At worst you will end up with a burnt up chunk of useless steel. These high end stainless steels just can not be backyard heat treated in a soup can forge, BBQ, torch, the mouth of a magical dragon etc. The precision temps and hold times as well as cryo treatments simply are not possible with basic equipment.
 
Ok...I can see that everyone has the same opinion about the heat treat, so how much does it cost to have done, and does anyone recomend a particular member on the site that has a good reputation.

Thanks for trying to stop me from making a mistake, but I just kind of want to try it out. I will make more blanks and have them sent out to get the propper heat treat. I realize I might ruin it, but I got a pretty good chunk of steel for $10. A local knife maker just had it "laying around", so i bought it off of him. Seems like a good deal considering an equal size piece seems to sell for $50
 
In my youth(a couple years ago) I stuck a piece of S30v in the HT oven without foil while heat treating a knife. What went in as a .063" thick bar came out as a .25" thick hunk of scale. The piece of S30v once I ground off the scale was .040" thick. Just thought you might find it interesting. I'd finish sanding it to at least 400 grit before heat treating.

Since Stacy didn't jump in and say it, I'll say it. If you fill out your profile and tell us where you are, a nearby maker may be willing to help out.

You embed a jpg by adding [ing] and [/ing] to either end of the image link. Replace ING with IMG (N-M) to make it work.
[ing]http://i1289.photobucket.com/albums/b511/ksqrly/firstblade_zpsd6314578.jpg[/ing]
firstblade_zpsd6314578.jpg
 
ksqrly said:
... I realize I might ruin it, but I got a pretty good chunk of steel for $10. A local knife maker just had it "laying around", so i bought it off of him. Seems like a good deal considering an equal size piece seems to sell for $50
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So a local knifemaker gave you a piece of steel for significantly less then it should have cost (meaning he ate the cost to try to encourage you) and your response is "well if I waste it who cares cause it didn't cost me much?" Way to show respect to some one whose trying to help you out. It cost him something. Do your best, which includes doing things right, out of respect for his generosity if nothing else. I'd kill for a local maker who could help me out and give me some guidance. Sorry, I really struggle with this attitude.
 
ksqrly -

You really should just pick some O1 or 1095 and practice a bit of simple heat treating on your own. Its far cheaper and they make plenty good blade materials. If nothing else, you will gain a profound appreciation of just how important the proper heat treatment is for S30V.
 
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TLR said:
So a local knifemaker gave you a piece of steel for significantly less then it should have cost (meaning he ate the cost to try to encourage you) and your response is "well if I waste it who cares cause it didn't cost me much?" Way to show respect to some one whose trying to help you out. It cost him something. Do your best, which includes doing things right, out of respect for his generosity if nothing else. I'd kill for a local maker who could help me out and give me some guidance. Sorry, I really struggle with this attitude.
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I have to agree.
 
If the maker you got the steel from is local I would just ask him if he heat treats it or where he gets it done. He may be able to put it in a batch that he does. I agree with the others that if he was generous on the steel price you should probably make the effort to get a proper HT. If you do want to make some knives and play with your own heat treating I would suggest getting some 1084. O1 would work as well but I feel 1095 is a bit trickier than 1084 for a home job. None of us can stop you from trying a backyard HT on that S30v. What we can guarantee is that it won't work, or you will ruin a perfectly good blade ( also your first knife ) trying it out.
 
:eek: I didnt realize everyone was going to have such a strong opinion about it, but thanks for all of the info everyone. Zaph I will do my profile after this post and thanks for posting a pic of my blade :D. I live in Salt Lake City, Ut.

I guess I wont be heat treating this blade on my own, and unfortunately the gentleman I got the steel from is getting out of the hobby, so he wont be able to help me. Ill check those links you posted leifjl.
 
SO after talking with the two companies that leifjl recomended for heat treating I have decided to have texas knife supply do the heat treating. Unless someone decides to change my mind.

Thanks all for stopping me from ruining my blade. Hopefully Texas knife will do a good job.
 
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