blade steel

[ver heiratet]

The blade in my Buck lite 482 seems to be made out of the same steel that my old Buck 110 blade is made out of. The blade looks like the blade in my Buck bantam 285 but does not feel the same. Bought the 482 at Kmart of all places. $14.49 it must have been a close out sale. Posted this question in the Tec. section but was told that was a mistake to ask there. Read some of the questions in that section and some didn't even have anything to do with knives. I am knew to this site. The 482 is a sold knife.

 

[kornphlake]

Buck has used a few different steels over the years, most of the current USA made blades including the current 110 folding hunter are 420HC. At one point 110s were made with 440C and heat treated fairly hard, I've seen a lot of complaints about the old 110s with 440C being difficult to sharpen and many have tips that broke off. Although Buck does a better job heat treating 420HC than any of their competition, I'm sure they aren't immune to variances in the steel composition or heat treat process that might make two blades made from the same steel but different lots and heat treat batches might not have identical characteristics.