154CM vs 12C27Mod ???

Flatlander1963

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I was just again looking at the 2010 catalog and I didn't notice before that 154cm is being discontinued in the Buck steel inventory. Man alive!!! This bothers me as I'm a huge fan of 154cm.

I'm pretty sure that Sandvik intended 12C27Mod as a kitchen cutlery steel. I guess my first reaction is "Oh No, they didn't" but maybe Bos has wiped up something special!

So fellas, is this a good move or a bad move or a neutral move??
I'm really hoping some of you steel guys chime in on this one. Thanks
 
12C27M is much tougher, but doesn't have a lot of wear resistance. Hardness of 57-58 generally.
 
With 12C27M, you'll lose a lot of wear-resistance and some potential hardness that 154CM gives, but you'll gain more toughness and potential higher hardness over 420HC as well as higher corrosion resistance over 154CM.

If you're cutting fiberglass tape or skinning animals all day, it's not a good move, but it's a good jack-of-all-trades steel for most everything else.
 
Raised their prices and went to cheaper steel.:thumbdn: Should save them a lot in production costs, because it is fine blankable just like 420hc. Looks like they are using 13c26 and 12c27mod both. Seems odd since they are both have about the same composition. I like 13c26 a lot, but it is closer AUS8A than 154cm. I have a Vantage in 13c26 and I feel it is just slightly better than the 420hc vantage in edge holding. It isn't near the S30V Pro which I believe most 154cm and ATS-34 to be quite close to.

I would like to see 13c26 and 12c27mod on more slip joints.
 
We're not seeing the big picture here, so either it's bad that they're using lower-priced steel and raising prices or as good as the situation allows because they're not raising their prices even more.
 
We're not seeing the big picture here, so either it's bad that they're using lower-priced steel and raising prices or as good as the situation allows because they're not raising their prices even more.

Very true! I'm glad they brought most of their manufacturing back home, but that could be very hard on the bottom line.
 
Lets bump this back to the top and see if anyone has anymore comments.
I just looked at the Shockey series of knives on Cabelas and there is a big price difference between the standard Buck issued knives. The only real difference is the 12c27m versus 420hc.

Not exactly the original question but I'll ask for comments on these two steels.

Can anyone say what 12C27M is it closest to in performance (other than other Sandvik steels). I have some 12C26 and like it. So, interested to hear from all.
 
12c27mod is a step down in Sandvik steel, it has less C and more Cr then 12c27....might be more stain resistant, but .52 carbon is low by today's standards, and half of what 154cm has.
 
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