For Microtech UTX-70, which steel has best edge retention? D2 or S35VN?

C

Charger71

Joined
Jan 15, 2012
Messages
4
I'm going to get a Microtech UTX-70 and bladehq has both a S35VN and a D2 version. The D2 description says 59-60 RC, no RC listed for the S35VN.

I'm mainly concerned with edge retention for basic tasks, from letters, tape, occasional box, etc, and keeping a razor sharp edge as long as possible.

I do have a spyerco sharpmaker with ultrafine stones and diamond, (also a spyderco caly w/ zdp blade that I can get close to razor sharp), so I'm not really worried about sharpening difficulty.

Any suggestion on the better steel for this use to go longest between sharpening and still keep that sharp edge? It seems D2 is a good choice, with S35VN being either ok, horrible, or good depending on the thread/review.

As an alternative, I could get the slightly larger UTX-85 and get plain jane S30V?

Thoughts?

(oh and this is my first post, just got my caly 3 zdp a few weeks ago and already have a few more knives in the wishlist after the microtech, including a caly 3.5 super blue, benchmade shoki 480-1 w/ M390, and maybe a kershaw leek w s30v)
 
I believe S35VN would keep a sharp edge longer given that it has harder vanadium carbides. D2 shouldn't be able to outperform it unless it goes up to Rc 60-62. The problem is, neither of these steels are well known for keeping a razor edge. Both will lose that razor sharpness quickly and gain a toothy working edge that will last a long while.

For a razor edge, I'd stick with ZDP-189 or look into Elmax and M390 instead.
 
Charger71 said:
I'm mainly concerned with edge retention for basic tasks, from letters, tape, occasional box, etc, and keeping a razor sharp edge as long as possible.
Click to expand...

If that's what you're going to use it for, you should probably look at a different knife. The design and steel of that one isn't nearly as practical for everyday things as a lot of other options. Plus, when the mechanism malfunctions and Microtech customer service refuses to do anything about it, you'll be lucky if you can use it as a letter opener.
 
Tsujigiri said:
If that's what you're going to use it for, you should probably look at a different knife. The design and steel of that one isn't nearly as practical for everyday things as a lot of other options. Plus, when the mechanism malfunctions and Microtech customer service refuses to do anything about it, you'll be lucky if you can use it as a letter opener.
Click to expand...

I'll keep the ZDP Caly for anything real, I guess the MT will be more of a .. hmm.. novelty addition to my collection, but I'd still like it to be functional. I thought the S30V and S35VN were good for EDC knives, like the Spyderco Native 5 is S35VN, and many Benchmades use either the s30v or D2?

I heard that some of the microtech vendors/resellers are actually really helpful, there are two I've seen on the forum who seem to stand by what they sell. Would buying from a good vendor help in case I did have a problem with it?
 
Noctis3880 said:
I believe S35VN would keep a sharp edge longer given that it has harder vanadium carbides. D2 shouldn't be able to outperform it unless it goes up to Rc 60-62. The problem is, neither of these steels are well known for keeping a razor edge. Both will lose that razor sharpness quickly and gain a toothy working edge that will last a long while.

For a razor edge, I'd stick with ZDP-189 or look into Elmax and M390 instead.
Click to expand...

Ah ok, so the S35VN should keep a decent edge, but just not the razor edge then? Since the D2 says its only 59-60 RC, I guess the s35VN would be the most useful for me. Thanks for the info. :-)
 
Charger71 said:
I'll keep the ZDP Caly for anything real, I guess the MT will be more of a .. hmm.. novelty addition to my collection, but I'd still like it to be functional. I thought the S30V and S35VN were good for EDC knives, like the Spyderco Native 5 is S35VN, and many Benchmades use either the s30v or D2?

I heard that some of the microtech vendors/resellers are actually really helpful, there are two I've seen on the forum who seem to stand by what they sell. Would buying from a good vendor help in case I did have a problem with it?
Click to expand...

S30V and S35VN are good steels, but at the price of a Microtech you could do a lot better. If you're only looking at OTF knives, you'll be more limited with steel, but you can still get a better quality knife. A good vendor will take care of you if your knife is defective out of the box, but if it breaks shortly after it's the manufacturer's responsibility. The problem there is that Microtech won't help you, even if it's obviously a problem caused by their sloppy manufacturing. They used to be a great company for autos, but the Marfione junior has run the company into the ground lately, dropping quality and customer service, and even producing knockoff knives. There are other companies that make OTF knives and are more reputable now.
 
Benchmade and Protech have a couple smaller autos, but try asking in the automatic forums or doing a search. They'll know more about them than I do, since I focus more on manual folders. The horror stories about Microtech, however, have spread far outside the auto community.
 
I agree with the advice several have given: Microtech has issues, and I'd steer clear of them. Benchmade makes great OTF autos, ask in the respective forums about specific models.

Also as to steel: nothing against S35v, but here's my personal approach to it. I don't like being an "early adopter" for unproven technology (and that includes bleeding edge knife steels--pun intended, har har!). It seems to me that S35v while being very promising indeed, has some unanswered questions about it yet. For example, have the knife makers really figured out the right "sweet spot" for getting it to the optimal heat treat, and etc. There have been too many instances (search in these forums--you'll find plenty of recent posts) about S35v knives chipping or showing poor performance. S35v does even worse in some cases than S30v, which S35v was designed to replace!!! So bottom line, S35v may turn out to be a fine steel, but currently in my humble opinion there are enough questions about it that I am holding off getting more S35v knives. I would look to other well established stainless or semi-stainless steels for a quality folding/auto knife. And D2 from a quality knife maker would be a fine option. For me personally again, in a folding or auto knife, due to the internal mechanisms and the risk of corrosion where I live (Pacific NW), I'd probably go with a proven high grade stainless steel rather than a semi-stainless like D2.
 
There is no direct corelation between different tool steel alloys of the same Rockwell hardness as a steel is usually chosen for it's particular attributes which may or may not be brought out because a Rc scale rating is the same as that of another alloy.
 
Stick with the utx70 i love mine. It is so small and unique among otfs. As for the steel i like s35vn because it has excellent corrosion resistants and the edge holds really well. The d2 doesnt hold that good of a edge in my opinion, i would just get d2 if you are worrying about the blade chipping or breaking so d2 would be for hard use. Youll love the knife, goodluck.
 
both are great steels and far better than any standard knife steel. I agree that you won't ever get to experience the capabilities of these steels because you won't be able to use a knife like that hard enough without it breaking. The only reason to really care about the steel on an OTF is because you want to show it off to people or something. like you said it's more of a novelty not a utility knife.
 
I completely forgot the knife is only 3 inch handle haha so youll never as he said above experience the characteristics of the steel but s35vn has great edge retention which would be what your mainly looking for in this size of knife if youre going to use it.
 
Tsujigiri said:
S30V and S35VN are good steels, but at the price of a Microtech you could do a lot better. If you're only looking at OTF knives, you'll be more limited with steel, but you can still get a better quality knife. A good vendor will take care of you if your knife is defective out of the box, but if it breaks shortly after it's the manufacturer's responsibility. The problem there is that Microtech won't help you, even if it's obviously a problem caused by their sloppy manufacturing. They used to be a great company for autos, but the Marfione junior has run the company into the ground lately, dropping quality and customer service, and even producing knockoff knives. There are other companies that make OTF knives and are more reputable now.
Click to expand...
Squeeze some dish soap in the open end and run some hot water through it. It worked on my old fire ant.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top