420hc is barely a steel

Lapedog said:
Please search on your phone App finder "Knife Steel" you will find an app by Z Knives that lets you look up and compare the compositions of virtually any steel, cutlery or otherwise.
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I'm not sure if this is the same app but I downloaded one before and screenshot the specific steels I was interested in at the time. I'm going to download this now. Pretty convenient.
 
Anyone who is willing to make the claim that "420hc is barely a steel", obviously is completely clueless and ignorant to what steel actually is, and I would take anything they said after that with a grain of salt.
 
CrazyCaucasian said:
I read a knife review moments ago that says 420hc has JUST ENOUGH carbon to make it from iron to steel. That was kind of funny. 420j2 must be iron. He also says because the chromium is only 12-14 (well which is it? Haha) it's not very corrosion resistant. It's my understanding that 420hc is VERY corrosion resistant. 420j2 even more so. How did he get this information? I got the link if it's wanted. Not a huge deal but very misleading. Can someone provide any info on 420hc that prove or disprove these claims? It was on a buck 113 ranger review. Good review otherwise.
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From the building you see, to the car you drive, they all have very low carbon but are still considered steel, 0.40 carbon maybe very low for a knife but as far as the industry goes that's on the higher side especially for structural steel.

yes, steel is an alloy of iron and carbon, but the range goes lower then 0.40 for the cut off from steel to iron

0.003,0.002 to 2.1% carbon is the industry standard range for steel, with below that range being a "wrought Iron" and above that range being a "cast Iron"

a short google search shows this.


So 420hc barely being steel is a misnomer

I say a better way to put it is that 420HC is barley "knife grade" steel
 
Maybe the review meant it was "Barely a steal" .

Lots of misspelling on the net these days.
 
I like Buck's 420HC. It's a tough, highly corrosion resistant steel, easy to sharpen (on diamond, anyway), takes an excellent edge and holds it well enough to satisfy millions of Buck knife owners. I used my 119 to field dress a moose and it did just fine; had to sharpen it afterwards but I don't know of any steel that would hold a hair-shaving edge when cutting tough, gritty hide. A lot depends on the heat treatment. The 420HC on my ancient Leatherman, on the other hand, would go dull when cutting toothpaste.
 
Many of my pocket knives have blades made with 420HC barely-steel. Luckily, I barely need a knife so it works great for me.
 
DeadboxHero said:
From the building you see, to the car you drive, they all have very low carbon but are still considered steel, 0.40 carbon maybe very low for a knife but as far as the industry goes that's on the higher side especially for structural steel.

yes, steel is an alloy of iron and carbon, but the range goes lower then 0.40 for the cut off from steel to iron

0.003,0.002 to 2.1% carbon is the industry standard range for steel, with below that range being a "wrought Iron" and above that range being a "cast Iron"

a short google search shows this.


So 420hc barely being steel is a misnomer

I say a better way to put it is that 420HC is barley "knife grade" steel
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Thanks! that is very interesting. Considering it "barely 'knife grade'steel" is understandable.
 
Alberta Ed said:
I like Buck's 420HC. It's a tough, highly corrosion resistant steel, easy to sharpen (on diamond, anyway), takes an excellent edge and holds it well enough to satisfy millions of Buck knife owners. I used my 119 to field dress a moose and it did just fine; had to sharpen it afterwards but I don't know of any steel that would hold a hair-shaving edge when cutting tough, gritty hide. A lot depends on the heat treatment. The 420HC on my ancient Leatherman, on the other hand, would go dull when cutting toothpaste.
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I've never dressed an animal but I love 420hc as well. It's cheap, easy to sharpen, and I like the fact it's so corrosion resistant. If the charts I saw are true. Extremely corrosion resistant again, IF THE CHART IS CORRECT. I've never had a rust stain on any of my knives except my carbon moras (so truly it doesn't matter) but just the fact it's up there with h1 is neat and definitely makes up for the edge retention. My issue is that I don't actually UNDERSTAND what each element does and what each elements specific purpose is for or how they're even put into the blade! lol I'm clueless as far as that goes which is why I was questioning that review in the first place. Imagine being told green is blue and believing that and one day someone's like: green is burgundy. It raises questions. For a moment after reading that review I was confused lol thank you again each and everyone of you!
 
420HC is "good enough" steel for most common applications and (when properly heat treated) is a lot like a stainless version of a simple carbon steel. It's the antithesis of fancy or premium, but it works, and better than many give it credit for.
 
What would happen if I took ONE of the elements out? What if the vanadium were removed entirely. Would it still be 420hc or does that alter it entirely? What if the carbon were replaced with nitrogen? Would that work? Where can I find answers to these odd questions in books or even online? Maybe I'll have to learn it on my own and UNDERSTAND IT first an make my own assessment. The latter would be nice. But where do I even begin? I know bladeforums is a treasure but I'd rather find it all from one reliable source for the convenience of it. Ya know? I'd learn it much faster flipping pages or something like that. I yearn for a deep understanding of everything that makes up steels. What's the word? The elements? Chromium and nickel, etc
 
You will pick up a lot of the info in pieces as you go. I have spent tons of time googling questions about steel, and then checking to make sure those answers are valid. Just takes time. I still have A LOT to learn. Most of use do, I'm sure. Just keep on researching, and talking with people that work in the business.
 
CrazyCaucasian said:
What would happen if I took ONE of the elements out? What if the vanadium were removed entirely. Would it still be 420hc or does that alter it entirely? What if the carbon were replaced with nitrogen? Would that work? Where can I find answers to these odd questions in books or even online? Maybe I'll have to learn it on my own and UNDERSTAND IT first an make my own assessment. The latter would be nice. But where do I even begin? I know bladeforums is a treasure but I'd rather find it all from one reliable source for the convenience of it. Ya know? I'd learn it much faster flipping pages or something like that. I yearn for a deep understanding of everything that makes up steels. What's the word? The elements? Chromium and nickel, etc
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The elements are not that straight forward, they are dependent on what else is in the steel for them to work with and what temperatures, times the steel is cooked at.

if you really want to know all this stuff, there is alot of boring reading to do. :D

read all the zknives stuff then read here.


http://www.hybridburners.com/documents/verhoeven.pdf

the material is thick, maybe hard to follow and like most things it will not directly answer specific questions but it will give you the base to find the answers on your own, Maybe its overload, But if you are serious, then you will figure it out :D or be found wanting.

Good luck :)
 
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