S90V vs S35VN: Which Premium Knife Steel Should You Carry?

The question shows up in every knife forum thread about premium steel: S90V or S35VN? Both are particle-metallurgy stainless steels from Crucible Industries, both sit near 14% chromium, and both are found on folding knives that cost well over $100. They are not interchangeable. The gap between them comes down to vanadium carbide volume — and to how much time you are willing to spend at the sharpening bench.

This comparison uses the published Crucible data rather than forum folklore, then translates it into what you actually feel on a knife: how long the edge lasts, how it fails, and what it costs to bring it back.

What S90V and S35VN Actually Are

Both steels are made by Crucible Industries using the CPM (Crucible Particle Metallurgy) process. Instead of pouring a large ingot and hoping the alloying elements distribute evenly, CPM steels are sprayed into fine droplets that solidify and are then consolidated. The result is a far more uniform carbide structure than conventional ingot steel can produce — and that uniformity is exactly why both S90V and S35VN can carry heavy carbide loads without turning brittle or chippy.

CPM S90V was introduced in 1999 and is built on an AISI 420 base loaded with a very large vanadium addition. It is also sold under the aliases CPM 420V and, from other mills, as 420CW or CTS-20CP. Its nominal composition is roughly 2.3% carbon, 14% chromium, 1% molybdenum and 9% vanadium.

CPM S35VN is a martensitic stainless steel designed as a tougher alternative to S30V. Crucible rebalanced the chemistry so that part of the vanadium is replaced with niobium, which forms its own hard carbides. The datasheet composition is 1.40% carbon, 14.00% chromium, 3.00% vanadium, 2.00% molybdenum and 0.50% niobium, with a recommended aim hardness of 58–61 HRC.

S90V vs S35VN: The Verified Numbers

These figures come from Crucible’s own CPM S35VN datasheet (DS413), which publishes the composition and carbide volume table for both grades side by side, plus the S90V data published by knife steel databases.

Property	CPM S90V	CPM S35VN
Maker / process	Crucible, CPM	Crucible, CPM
Carbon	~2.3%	1.40%
Chromium	14%	14.00%
Vanadium	9%	3.00%
Molybdenum	1%	2.00%
Niobium	—	0.50%
Vanadium carbide volume	9.0%	3.0%
Total carbide volume	20.0%	14.0%
Published hardness	60–62 HRC	58–61 HRC (aim)
Relative wear resistance (CATRA, vs 440C)	—	145

The single most important line in that table is the vanadium carbide volume: 9.0% versus 3.0%. S90V carries three times the vanadium carbide, and 42.9% more total carbide by volume than S35VN. Everything else about how these two steels behave in daily carry follows from that.

Edge Retention: S90V’s Vanadium Advantage

Edge retention is abrasion resistance. The harder the particles in the steel, the longer the edge stands up to slicing cardboard, rope, zip ties and abrasive packaging. Vanadium carbide is extremely hard — harder than the chromium carbides that carry ordinary stainless steels — and S90V is loaded with it.

In practice this means a properly sharpened S90V blade holds a working edge noticeably longer than S35VN when you are cutting abrasive material all day. S35VN is no slouch: Crucible rates it at 145 on the CATRA wear test relative to 440C, which is already a strong production-blade steel. It simply is not in the same wear-resistance class as a 9% vanadium grade.

Toughness: Where S35VN Fights Back

Wear resistance always trades against toughness, and this is the axis where S35VN wins. Crucible states that substituting niobium carbides for some of the vanadium carbides makes S35VN about 15–20% tougher than S30V without losing wear resistance, and that its improved toughness gives it better resistance to edge chipping.

S35VN also has a meaningfully lower carbide volume (14% versus 20%), which leaves more of the steel as a tough, fine-grained matrix instead of hard particles. That matters when a blade hits something it should not: staples in cardboard, a ceramic plate, a frozen zip tie. A thin, hard S90V edge is more likely to roll or chip in that moment; S35VN gives you more margin before damage starts.

Sharpening and Maintenance: The Hidden Cost of S90V

Here is the trade most buyers only discover after they have carried an S90V knife for a few months. Because vanadium carbides are harder than the aluminium oxide abrasive in most common sharpening stones, you can spend a long stretch rubbing steel on a stone and see almost no progress. Crucible recommends “SG” type alumina wheels or CBN wheels for grinding CPM steels, and explicitly notes that S35VN is much easier to machine than S90V.

Translated to a kitchen table or workbench:

• S35VN sharpens happily on quality water stones, ceramic stones, diamond plates and most guided systems. A routine touch-up is measured in minutes.
• S90V really wants diamond or CBN abrasives. With those, it is manageable; without them, sharpening becomes a chore and the knife ends up neglected.
• Both respond well to a strop between full sharpenings, and both reward a slightly toothy edge — a coarse finish suits high-vanadium steel better than a mirror polish.

If you are the kind of carrier who touches up an edge once a week on a ceramic rod, S90V is a poor fit. If you are the kind of carrier who sharpens twice a year and resents it both times, extra wear resistance is worth the effort.

Corrosion Resistance: Closer Than You Think

Both grades sit at roughly 14% chromium, which is what makes them stainless rather than merely stain-resistant. In daily carry — sweat, humidity, light rain, the occasional forgotten pocket — neither steel is a maintenance risk, and neither needs the oil-and-vigilance routine that a tool steel like D2 demands. Differences in corrosion performance between these two are small enough that they should not drive your buying decision; edge geometry and heat treatment will affect your day-to-day experience far more.

What These Steels Cost in Real Knives

Prices in the Artisan Cutlery and CJRB catalogues show that the two steels overlap heavily once handle materials are taken into account:

• S90V: Revel button lock with an FRN handle from $89.99; Holm 1875 steel and Micarta at $109.99, copper and wood at $149.99; Cleo 1871G in copper at $139.99; Mini Xcellerator ATZ-1860GS at $189.99.
• S35VN: Andromeda 1856P with a Micarta handle at $128.55 and the titanium version at $199.99; Apache Nomad ATZ-1813G titanium at $174.99; Bombardier ATZ-1812G at $199.49.

The lesson: at these price points you are not paying a premium for S90V itself — you are paying for the machining time and finishing that a 20% carbide steel requires, and for the handle material it is paired with. Browse the full S90V collection and the S35VN collection to see how the two are configured today.

Which Steel Should You Carry?

1. Choose S90V if maximum edge retention is the priority, you cut a lot of abrasive material, you are comfortable with diamond or CBN sharpening gear, and you like a knife that holds its edge without babysitting.
2. Choose S35VN if you want a knife that stays easy to maintain, you value toughness and chip resistance over raw wear resistance, you sharpen on standard stones, or you use the knife hard enough that a rolled edge is a real possibility.
3. Choose either if you just want a premium stainless EDC steel. Both are genuinely excellent; the differences only show up at the edges of the use case.

For most everyday carriers S35VN is the more forgiving steel and the one that will stay sharp in your pocket rather than on your bench. For the enthusiast who wants the longest-working edge a production folder can deliver — and who treats sharpening as part of the hobby — S90V is the more rewarding of the two.

If you want the deeper background on either grade on its own, start with our guides to S90V steel and S35VN steel, or compare them against the powder-metallurgy alternatives in M390, S90V, Elmax and 20CV.

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