Bark River Stainless Steels

T

The Real Hawkeye

Joined
Aug 13, 2008
Messages
120
Could someone who knows tell me something about 154CM & 12C27 stainless steels, which are two that Bark River Knife & Tool uses in a lot of their knives? How do they compare to each other and to their tool steel offerings? Thanks.
 
Very very tough steel. Takes a wicked edge and holds it. the average person would be hard pressed to recognize any edge retention differences. Easy to strop and maintain. The 154CM holds a little bit better edge than the 12c27 Sandvik according to Mike. I can't tell the difference personally, but I haven't been perfecting knives and heat treatment of steel for over 30 years either. Just to be a pain, I will throw a curve in there and say that his Bohler N685 stainless pretty much rocks too. I think I own and have used pretty much every steel he uses. A2, 1095, 52-100, 5160, 154CM, 12c27, N685. Every one of them are a sweet compromise of toughness, edge retention and ease of sharpening. I can't say enough about any of his steel.:thumbup:
 
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I agree with all that TwinBlade said.

I'm using two 12c27 Barkies and have found them to be excellent.

My Clax in N690 is proving to be the toughest blade I've ever used.

You wont regret a stainless Bark River.
 
TwinBlade said:
Very very tough steel. Takes a wicked edge and holds it. the average person would be hard pressed to recognize any edge retention differences. Easy to strop and maintain. The 154CM holds a little bit better edge than the 12c27 Sandvik according to Mike. I can't tell the difference personally, but I haven't been perfecting knives and heat treatment of steel for over 30 years either. Just to be a pain, I will throw a curve in there and say that his Bohler N690 stainless pretty much rocks too. I think I own and have used pretty much every steel he uses. A2, 1095, 52-100, 5160, 154CM, 12c27, N690. Every one of them are a sweet compromise of toughness, edge retention and ease of sharpening. I can't say enough about any of his steel.:thumbup:
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+1

I second that.
 
oldways said:
I agree with all that TwinBlade said.

I'm using two 12c27 Barkies and have found them to be excellent.

My Clax in N690 is proving to be the toughest blade I've ever used.

You wont regret a stainless Bark River.
Click to expand...
Spyderco also does a GREAT job with thier N690 blades. Check their fixed blades made for the outdoors out, they are awesome knives.
 
Please note my screw up...it is N685 not N690. I thought it looked funny when I typed it out earlier. I made the correction in my original post. I was browsing some Benchmades and had this steel on my mind after seeing it on a few of their blades. Brain Fart totally. :D
 
12c27 from BRKT is super. Not a problem for myself, but people who want to keep a knife in "pristine" condition will not want to scratch 12c27. It doesn't buff out much.
 
As far as I know, BRKT uses 154CM on only one or two knives. It;'s my favorite stainless - I wish they used it more often.
 
Seems to be a lot of praise for 154CM on here and that's cool. But my personal experience with 154CM has not been the greatest. My Leatherman has a 154CM blade in it an for some reason I have a horrible time getting a nice fine edge on it. But it could have something to do with their heat treat, I don't know. Mike's heat treat may be superior and it may be good in his knives. I've never had a 154CM Barkie. I just wanted to throw another opinion into the mix. As far as stainless goes, my current favorite is VG-10. I don't think Bark River offers it though.
 
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