Boise, Idaho. January, 2002
Spearheading innovative advances in the knife industry yet again,Chris Reeve Knives is proud to announce that brand new CPM S30V will
be the steel used for Sebenza, Umfaan and Mnandi blades. S30V
is a specialty stainless steel made by Crucible Steel in Syracuse,
New York. Crucible Steel is a company that is as passionate
about the steel they make as Chris Reeve is about the knives produced
by his company!
Over the past year, Chris has worked with Crucible
Steel pursuing the challenge of creating a new blade steel that is
tough, corrosion resistant and readily workable. The product
of their efforts is S30V, a stainless steel created with the knife
market in mind, alloyed to accommodate specific capabilities and manufactured
to ensure clean, uniform steel. Unlike traditionally cast and
rolled steels, S30V is made using the powder metallurgy process, a
process that reduces molten alloy components to minute balls – or
powder – which results in every grain comprising the exact composition
of alloy elements. The powder is compressed under significant
force to a homogenous, solid state and the steel is rolled to required
stock size. Molecules are uniform, inclusions of impurities
are insignificant and the development of large chrome carbides is
a thing of the past! For the technically minded, the major alloy
components are: Carbon (C) 1.45%, Chromium (Cr) 14.00%, Vanadium
(V) 4.00%, Molybdenum (Mo) 2.00%.
In recent years, advances
in specialty steels have been incrementally small and every advance
is more of a “tweaking” nature than a “great leap” nature. The blade
steels that we have used in the past, ATS 34 and BG42, are excellent
steels; the use of S30V is a move forward and represents
an alliance of two dynamic companies. It is an advance that
will again raise the standard of folding knife performance – a standard
already set by Chris Reeve Knives.
