420HC: the mystery alloy?

[YoungCutter]

Hey,

I was looking at the Camillus EDC and the Kershaw Scallion today, they both claim to have a 420HC (High Carbon) blade alloy, i've looked at both the Spyderco and AG Russel Steel charts and I don't see any 420HC, so what the heck is it?

 

[Tommi]

C 0.5%, Cr 12-14%, Si 0.5%, V 0.2% and then there is mystery in my steel chart as some source also mentioned Mg 1%( question mark after this element in my chart). Could be that Mg was typo and ment Mn which is quite usual in blade steels or there might not be any Mg(or any other Mx element) in that alloy or the percentage was not sure. Hope this helps.

 

[scotjute]

Thought I read somewhere that the
HC stood for High Carbon, thus
the steel would have the other
ingredients to match standard 420
stainless, but the carbon was
increased to improve hardness.
If I can find the source I'll come
back on and post it.