S45VN vs S30V vs S35VN: What’s the Difference Between These Knife Steels?
It all started with S30V. Before S30V came out in 2001, most of the high-performance steels used for knives were originally designed for something else, and borrowed by knifemakers for use in cutlery. S30V, on the other hand, was developed by steelmaker Crucible Industries in coordination with leading knifemakers specifically for use in high-end pocket knives. They wanted to make something that was simple to heat-treat, well-balanced to suit a wide range of applications, and better than everything else at the price point. And they succeeded! For years, S30V was the standard-bearer for modern metallurgy to the point that it became almost ubiquitous on knives above a certain price point.
In 2009, Crucible revised S30V to make S35VN, which traded some edge retention for more toughness and easier grindability. Knife makers and end users alike appreciated the resulting improvement in ease of sharpening, but there were those who missed the level of edge retention that S30V offered in comparison.
So, a little over ten years later Crucible rebalanced the formula again to make S45VN, which offers similar edge retention to the original S30V, but better toughness and stain resistance similar to S35VN.
So is S45VN actually better? The answer is yes, but only slightly. Given the results from laboratory testing, S45VN seems like an incremental upgrade from both S30V and S35VN. It’s tougher than S30V and has more edge retention than S35VN: a real “goldilocks” combination of attributes that make it an exceptionally well-balanced choice for just about any knife.