CRK S35vn or S45vn, worth the wait?

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mvm217

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Feb 14, 2018
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I haven't posted before but this question keeps gnawing at me so I thought maybe some of you with more experience might be able to guide me.

My grail knife is a chris reeve sebenza and I've finally saved up enough to get it, but then I heard through these forums that CRK are updating to a new steel at the end of the year - S45vn. I've read all the reviews on this steel that I could find, apparently S45vn has added edge retention and corrosion resistance with decreased toughness over S35vn.

My question is why is everybody so excited for S45vn over S35vn and is it worth waiting half a year to a year for CRK to release it? Why do knife people prefer edge retention over toughness? Won't the S45vn steel be harder to sharpen at 61 vs the 59 hardness of the S35vn? Is it my imagination or do supersteels feel more brittle compared to the more forgiving "give" of a normal steel? I admit I'm relatively new to this hobby but that's a feeling I get when handling them.

Half of my small collection are supersteels like S110v and M390 and the other half are "normal" steels like VG10 and N690 steel. I have had lots of edge problems with the supersteels, but never any problems with the "normal" steels. The tip of my s110v broke off with light usage (my fault) and is super hard to sharpen, but my n690 steel is a joy to sharpen (I love sharpening on my spyderco tri-angle sharpener) and I've batoned my VG10 blade through frozen logs with no edge problems. I don't plan on batoning with a Chris Reeve (some youtuber already did that) but I will be hard using it while camping.

Based on all this, is there a real reason to wait for S45vn over S35vn? If there is, I will wait. I'm just a little confused over the amount of excitement for S45vn even though it doesn't seem like much of an upgrade.
 
You can be sure CRK does a great job on s35vn
We don’t know how will be the s45vn

S35vn is almost twice as though as s45vn whereas s45vn will have an increase edge holding

so it really depends on what will be your use of your knife

for what I am concern I had CRKs for many years now and I never had to complain about s35vn for the use I have of my knives
 
If you really need a sebenza right now, go get it, worst case you can sell it later for 75% the cost if you keep it in good condition. Think of it like rental cost to experience something you didn’t have.
If you want to try something new, you can wait.
 
If you are a steel nut, it may be worth the wait. I bought my Small 21 a few weeks ago because I liked the CGG. I am happy with the S35vn . Based on my experience with BG42 at 60-61 it just takes a little bit longer to sharpen than 59.
 
Thee new steel will be on the Sebenza 31. My vote would be to get a 21 now, while you can still find them. They will probably increase in value over time.
s35vn is an awesome steel. I think you will like it.
 
Agree. 21 in S35vn while they last. Just to get the 21 before they are gone. I think it will be a while before S45 hits the market.

S45 will have some improvements over S30. Namely smaller particle size. Only the best sharpeners may notice the difference but it is there.
 
I'm not sure most people would be able to tell the difference between S35Vn and S45Vn in the real world. I've been delighted with my Sebbie 21 in S35Vn, so I'd say go for that one.
 
I have a Sebenza in S30V that I’ve used for years and the blade is still in top shape. The CRK quality and fit are what makes the knife great in my opinion. Go ahead and get a 21 in S35V on the exchange. By the way, you’ll end up with more than one.
 
Get the 21, once they’re gone the only way to get one will be the secondary market. Currently, CRK is running the S35VN in the 59/60 hardness range. For years they ran 58/59, they finally upped it around mid 2013 or early 2014. Don’t really know how much of a difference that really makes, but most folks don’t have any complaints.
 
This thread makes me swinging from wanting to sell my large CF inlay Sebenza 21 to desiring to buy a large wood inlay sebenza 21 :eek: Now the question is which wood inlay to go with? (I confess I derail the thread).
 
mvm217 said:
... I don't plan on batoning with a Chris Reeve (some youtuber already did that) but I will be hard using it while camping.

Based on all this, is there a real reason to wait for S45vn over S35vn? If there is, I will wait. I'm just a little confused over the amount of excitement for S45vn even though it doesn't seem like much of an upgrade.
Click to expand...

why are you hard using a CRK camping? honestly, you should pick up a mora companion for that, and use the CRK for food type things while camping (of course, this is imho)
 
mvm217 said:
My question is why is everybody so excited for S45vn over S35vn and is it worth waiting half a year to a year for CRK to release it? Why do knife people prefer edge retention over toughness? Won't the S45vn steel be harder to sharpen at 61 vs the 59 hardness of the S35vn? Is it my imagination or do supersteels feel more brittle compared to the more forgiving "give" of a normal steel? I admit I'm relatively new to this hobby but that's a feeling I get when handling them.
Click to expand...
I would guess most CRK users don't use their knives as pry bars and log splitters but instead use them as intended—for slicing. That's why edge retention is usually of higher interest. If someone wants to carve out a 2x4, yes something like M4 or K390 is going to be a better choice.
 
I prefer the toughness of S35VN. Toughness often gets overlooked imo. That said, I doubt most of us could tell much difference between the two steels In actual use.
 
insta9ves said:
If you really need a sebenza right now, go get it, worst case you can sell it later for 75% the cost if you keep it in good condition. Think of it like rental cost to experience something you didn’t have.
If you want to try something new, you can wait.
Click to expand...
That’s what I say about most of my knives haha.
 
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