Off Topic 420a steel

[DaddyChicken]

was wondering what any of you know about 420A steel? i can't find much info online that im smart enough to understand but i have a knife i've been using for a few months and it's treated me very well and i could be wrong but it feels like its been able to hold and edge pretty well compared to other 420 steel knives i've had in the past, and it's a bit of an ass to sharpen

 

[jbmonkey]

I had to look it up. lots of info out there on it composition and uses. never had a knife in it myself so can't comment on that.

 

[failbot]

Good steel with good hardening, very durable

 

[Larrin]

420A isn’t a real designation, only 420 is. It doesn’t come in A, B, C variants. However, the carbon range is very wide for 420; the AISI spec only says 0.15% min with no limit, very odd for steel specification. When a steel company sells 420 HC that is their own addition of the “HC” which is not found in any specification. Typically this has referred to a 420 with greater than 0.4% carbon. Even AEB-L could fit under the 420 specification as it is just a very high carbon 420. If you Google 420A there seem to be some random websites that have decided that “AISI 420A” is an equivalent to the European 1.4021 which is a ~0.2% carbon 420. That is very low carbon meaning the steel is limited for hardness, 55 Rc would be basically maxing it out and likely commercial knives would be softer than that.

 

[failbot]

Some sites sell 420A as X30Cr13 judging by the composition (all standards are listed and mixed )

In any case, this is a very good steel for axes and table knives. Housewives pick at their tips, cut on plates, but then it is worth running them through a draw-through knife sharpener a couple of times and they are sharp enough to cut bread again. I used this knife to strip the entire bathroom of old plaster instead of a spatula