420 HC steel

Jack142

Jack142

Joined
Aug 26, 2002
Messages
433
Hey gang,
I got a question ? How good is 420 HC steel . I am looking at a buck stockman made with it. Is it " stainless " or high carbon ( enough to stain ) ?
And how good is its edge holding and "ease of sharpening" charistics ?
I own a small buck stockman and its a Bi#%ch to sharpen
Thanks Jack
 
Well I really like BUCK's 420HC steel. Having said that alot of people don't. It is not a super steel tho it does hold a pretty good edge and it cuts well. "Edge 2000 really improves their knives cutting ability IMHO" It is easy to sharpen and takes a wicked edge. It is very stain resistant and based on my experiance is a fairly tuff steel. If I had listened to all the crap I read or heard about BUCK's 420HC I would have never tried it. But having tried it I can recommend that you give it a try.
 
I was very much against ANY 420 steel since I associated it with the junk from companies like United. I bought a Buck Odyssey a few years ago and after a few days of using it was surprised to find out it was 420HC. My Buck Special has held up well as a kitchen knife, easily outperforming my Cutco :o 440A knives and other kitchen knives in unknown steels. As tools, my Bucks hold edges longer and are sharper than my CRKT knives in AUS6. For hard use I still prefer carbon steel like 1095 and Carbon V, but 420HC from Buck will work for most purposes.
 
Schrade+ is also 420HC IIRC. It too holds a good edge, but I still prefer their 1095.
 
I own a few schrades. Most of my schrades are NIB and put away for
" lookin value "
The larger stockman is what I carry. I dont know what the steel is. It sharpens easy But I think it dulls faster than oh my Kershaw double cross. I'm carrying today. I dont think its is a good carbon steel.
I was thinking it was 440 a or c. I was wanting another trapper or stockman. I dont own but one small buck and thought a new buck would be in budget

Jack
 
The secret to getting the best out of any steel is the heat treat. When 420HC is properly heat treated it is quite a good knife steel.
When blades are heat treated by Paul Bos you are going to get the most out of them that you can. Buck's blades are heat treated by Paul Bos
 
Paul Bos has done some heat treating for me too but not on blades. Just the small parts for folders, but I hear he is quite good. The best in fact. I posted an answer to this on another forum and it got some mixed reactions. Some people just won't accept 420HC because of it's carbon content. I guess for a more discerning user something else is necessary but for the majority of the knife buying public 420 seems to fit the bill. How much edge do you need to open boxes or envelopes, or cut open dog food bags and sharpen pencils?
I think Buck picked it because it offers good edge holding, good corrosion and rust resistance and a pretty good resistance to abuse so it is a low liability steel. Regardless of what the warnings say people pry with their knives on occassion. Seems to me if you are prone to that kind of thing that other steels like D2 may be a broken blade waiting to happen so in that regard 420HC is probably a very good choice. Correct me if I'm wrong guys..
 
I've been using a Buck 301 for a couple of years and am very pleased with it's performance. It will take a very fine edge, holds it well, and is robust enough for my everyday duties. I use it more than any other knife I have.
Bob
 
You should post your question in the Buck forum. There are some folks there that dont wander off the reservation. Me , most of my knives are Buck.
STR, no corrections... 1 addition... it blanks easier in Bucks equipment
 
As stated by Keith, 420HC really depends on the heat treat. United Cutlery's 420HC is pretty much crap, but Buck, Kershaw and Camillus seems to do it right.
I've a friend that had a Kershaw Scallion in 420HC and it was nice and sharp. Edge holding isn't great, but at least it isn't a pain to sharpen like CPM60V
 
Well, I've used Buck's knives in this steel (used to own about 8 of 'em), and my Uncle Henry pocketknife was made with 440A several years ago rather than 420.

They both run at my absolute minimum acceptable level of performance, and even then I've never really been happy with them. They may not be too bad for the price, but after using good knives I don't care to ever go back to worrying about broken blades, chipped and twisted edges, or resharpening after every single use.

Just another opinion.
 
It depends on what you want out of a steel and where you set your standards. Personally given what is on the market now I believe anything below AUS8 or 440B is "crap" but then again I have set my standards high. I believe that one of the reasons Schrade went down the tubes was their steel quality whilst their carbon steel was great their stainless left a lot to be desired. I don't see why Buck persists with 420HC when there are so many good steels on the market now - even the Chinese are now producing better blades with 440c and some are of better standard then US blades. The AUS8 out of Taiwan is producing some very useable blades such as the Kabar Dozier series.
 
"United Cutlery's 420HC is pretty much crap"

Exactly what evidence are you relying on to substantiate this statement?

See this post by Cliff - I don't believe this is even an "HC" version of 420.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=303780

If I'm not mistaken this particular United product is almost 10 years old. I'm going to assume that current production facilities in Taiwan have kept pace with advances in other areas of manufacturing.

Both Benchmade and Cold Steel have had products manufactured in Taiwan for them - in the case of Benchmade the pieces I'm thinking of were manufactured almost two decades ago.

United markets knives produced in various countries outside of Taiwan including Germany.
 
Speaking of the Ka-Bar Dozier series. That new folding hunter is probably the best deal in folding hunter knives around.
 
My initial experiences with Buck's 420HC weren't very good. Turned out that most of my complaints were due to the very thick edge bevel that my Buck's came with. Now I find it "ok". Holds an edge longer than the standard Zwillings kitchen knife, but edge holding is just plain poor in comparison with ATS-34, VG-10 or S30V, nor am I able to get it as sharp as any of the higher end steels. I think the edge tends to roll to much. In my experience Spyderco's AUS-6 also holds an edge longer. On the upside, I have read that 420HC is supposed to be quite tough for a stainless steel (in comparison to D2, ATS-34, VG-10) and thus quite suitable for larger knifes, but personally I have never tested a knife intentionally to the breaking point.
 
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