420 Stainless Steel question

[A.C]

I have a question on knives, machetes, and or Axes that advertise 420 stainless steel. what is 420 stainless steel and how does it compare to standard stainless steel and high carbon stainless steel?
is it worth it? how about edge holding qualities? what is the duration on the edge once sharpened and how easy is it to sharpen 420 stainless steel?
i found some catalog that advertise some nice knives with very good prices but im afraid of actually purchasing something because i dont know what 420 stainless steel is.
im sorry if this is obvious as i am somwhat new to the whole knife scene. and this forumn has been an awsome guide with sage advice from everyone as i visit each day and read several posts.
thanks everyone.

 

[Quiet Storm]

420 steels are generally not great, but there are differences.

There is for example 420HC (which stands for 420 High Carbon), definitely not a high-end steel, but at least on inexpensive, small knives which won´t see any hard use it should be quite OK.

But usually 420 means 420J2 and this steel simply sucks IMO.
It chips quite easily. It´s very easy to sharpen, but it doesn´t take a very fine edge because of its coarse grain structure (lots of Chromium).
420J2´s edge holding capability is pretty bad.
At least it doesn´t rust easily.
It is usually used for very cheap knives and wall-hangers which do not need to feature a decent steel.

 

[CH]

I would agree with Tim. Buck and several other good companies use 420HC, and they'll do fine. I wouldn't get too wound up in the steel debate, so to speak. Quality of heat treat and overall manufacture/design is much more important, IMHO.

My advice would be to stick with brand name products like Camillus, Buck, Gerber, Shrade, Spyderco, Benchmade, etc...

Best regards,
Clay