aus-8 vs 420c

M

manassas dragon

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Dec 3, 2009
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i am looking at a spyderco byrd knife with a plain blade and a serrated blade. the steel used has a bunch of numbers and letters which i don't recall and am not going to look up again. anyway,they say that the steel is similar to aus-8. i want a decent steel and from what i read aus-8 is a so-so steel. does it compare well with buck's treatment of 420-c?
 
Properly heat treated AUS8 is a perfectly acceptable steel. It takes a fine edge fairly easily, and holds it reasonably well. I tend to compare it more to 440C. I assume you are comparing the 8Cr13MoV steel it also comes in, I would go for the AUS8 personally.


-Xander
 
AUS8 would compare favorably to Buck's 420HC in general.

There is quite a bit of variability in the performance of AUS8 in my opinion, while Buck has always done a good job with their 420HC. But since you are really asking about spyderco's 8cr13mov, I like it better than Buck's 420HC.
 
manassas dragon said:
i am looking at a spyderco byrd knife with a plain blade and a serrated blade. the steel used has a bunch of numbers and letters which i don't recall and am not going to look up again. anyway,they say that the steel is similar to aus-8. i want a decent steel and from what i read aus-8 is a so-so steel. does it compare well with buck's treatment of 420-c?
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AUS8 holds an edge better than Buck 420HC if both are treated to the same hardness.

Buck Heat treats 420HC to ~58.
The Spyderco Byrds for which I have seen hardness numbers ranged from 58 to about 61. The one I measured was 59.

Been a couple of years since I've seen anyone measuring Byrd blades. However Spyderco has demanded and gotten a pretty consistent product from their Chinese suppliers. I would guess they have not varied much in the last few years,

Bottom line is that I would expect the Spyderco Byrd to hold an edge better than Buck 420HC.

(side note: 440C holds an edge noticeably better in everyday use than AUS8.)
 
I'm pretty happy with the 8cr13mov steel on my Cara Cara 2, its one of the best knives in that price range.. I dont have any Bucks in 420c to compare it to... but I did make roughly 170 cuts (I wasnt really counting) through cardboard and it still cut printer paper decently. After 10 seconds on an ultra fine sharpmaker rod it whittled hair all over again! I think you'll be happy with it.
 
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Truthfully, if you're considering a Byrd knife, you might want to consider going with a real spyderco and going with something from the ambitious/persistence/tenacious/resilience line. The use the same 8cr13mov that is used in the Byrd knives, but there is something about them that separates them from the Byrd knives. They may be cheap and made in china, but they truly feel like "real" spydercos. The byrds just don't exude the same excellence to me.
 
I personally love the Byrd line. It's a really well made chinese line by a great company. However, I have to agree with MK on this. Get a Tenacious. It's just a few dollars more and it's a great knife. I have one and love it. This is from someone that owns many other higher end knives.

However, take that $30 you'd spend on a Tenacious, double it and get a Spyderco Native made in the USA with s30v steel.
 
My only experience with AUS8 is cold steel, it seems to me to have ever so slightly better edge retention than Buck's 420HC. However I personally can get 420HC sharper, easier, and prefer it overall.
 
mkjellgren said:
Truthfully, if you're considering a Byrd knife, you might want to consider going with a real spyderco and going with something from the ambitious/persistence/tenacious/resilience line. The use the same 8cr13mov that is used in the Byrd knives, but there is something about them that separates them from the Byrd knives. They may be cheap and made in china, but they truly feel like "real" spydercos. The byrds just don't exude the same excellence to me.
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Thi biggest difference is the round opening hole. I'm not being snarky, since I think that that makes a huge difference to the feel of the knife. The Byrd hole is fine, but it cannot give the same smooth feel when opening the knife. Which is why I did the zip tie mod on my Cara Cara 2, and use that as the primary opening method.
 
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