Buck blade steel

Too much attn on blade steels. Buy the knife for its intended purpose and it should work just fine. All of these high end steels come at a price. The typical knife owner cannot sharpen it. Where does that lead you when your knife is no sharper than a butter knife but you spent a ton of money searching for the ultimate steel. Meanwhile the buck 420 can be sharpened on just about anything and done so quickly. It can make a beginner confident. Buck have always been a working man's knife, hunter etc. Gotta love their traditional models in thousands of different configurations. That makes them worth collecting. Nobody has said the bos heat treat makes the knife superior... it just let's the 420 be the best it is capable of.
 
Makael, that is true. You can sharpen 420HC on a coffee mug or car window very easily. S110V, on the other hand, is hard to sharpen on anything (but the edge lasts a long, long time).
 
I feel that Buck's steel choice is a mixed bag.

For their sub $35 knives, the price/value ratio for 420HC is almost ideal. But for anything above that, 420HC feels almost like a ripoff.

As for their China-produced knives using 8Cr13MoV, that's the standard average-grade steel used by almost every single company that has their manufacturing done there. Even Spyderco uses that steel for their Chinese-made models. At least Buck is not charging $35 for their few Chinese-made models with 8Cr13MoV, unlike CRKT and Kershaw.

Can't comment on their other steel choices since I strictly limit myself to that <=$35 price bracket.
 
Couple of random thoughts on too many topics to do individual follow ups...

IMO, the old 440C had a reputation for being hard to sharpen for 3 reasons. 1) The semi-hollow grind being thicker behind the edge, requiring more metal to be taken off (same difficulty faced with sabre ground blades). 2) Carbides, carbides, carbides. Wasn't 440C considered the super-steel of its day? 3) General lack of stones available to tame it. Sure, modern stones started to become available and Buck helped sell them, but they were less common back in the day.

As for cutting tests, whether it be rope, cardboard or Carta gel, one needs to be careful about they tell us and what they don't tell us. These tests are only really useful in so far as the test cuts and test materials replicate what the user is wanting to do. IMO, qualitative research such as video taping professionals with access to a selection of knives and watching which they select, provides better insights into what is preferred for different cutting tasks. Google the term "ethnography" for geek-out. Or more simply, there's a good reason why pro-grade wood working knives are typically fine grained carbon steel. Horses for courses and different steels, edge geometries and edge refinements for different tasks. (BTW, if you want to win a rope cutting contest, consider Boye's cobalt dendric blades.)

Me? I like my Buck 440C blades. Like my 420HC blades. Hate that 420J2 crap though.
 
pinnah said:
IMO, the old 440C had a reputation for being hard to sharpen for 3 reasons. 1) The semi-hollow grind being thicker behind the edge, requiring more metal to be taken off (same difficulty faced with sabre ground blades). 2) Carbides, carbides, carbides. Wasn't 440C considered the super-steel of its day? 3) General lack of stones available to tame it. Sure, modern stones started to become available and Buck helped sell them, but they were less common back in the day.
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Reason 1) I'm too lazy to hunt down the info. Tell me again, what was Buck's theory behind the semi-hollow grind/convex edge? Edge durability/blade strength?

Reason 2) In the 60s, 70s and into the 80s, 440C was considered the best stainless steel on the market. Most well known, custom knifemakers were using it for their stainless blades.

Reason 3) I agree.
 
I find it kind of amazing that, 35 years later, Buck is STILL finding 440C blades that were packed away and forgotten.

There's one on e-Bay right now being sold by one the outlets for such stuff.

Still one of my favorite steels.
 
There's also a 103-105 pair.

One sad day they will have gone through all the old moving boxes and this will end.

:)
 
Here a bit of a real world usage test...we are in the middle of an ice storm here. So far I've personally put down a ton ( literally a ton 2000 lbs) of ice melt. that's 40 bags of hard gritty sand salt chloride mix that I've cut open with the sheeps foot blade on my 303 today and I'm betting after 6 or so hours rest I'll cut another 40 tomorrow...and I've plenty of edge left to do so. Buy the knife, use it, sharpen it, repeat for years!
135dc0d9823665de12ba0a3bbdd1c21d.jpg
 
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VorpalRain said:
There's also a 103-105 pair.

One sad day they will have gone through all the old moving boxes and this will end.

:)
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That would be a good pair but Buck never did a twin set pairing the 103 & 105. Some seller may think that is what goes into his twin sheath. Or a custom pairing. DM
 
Emspop, that's a lot of bags of ice melt cut open. Plus, I'm sure you were not taking much care during cutting to avoid the blade hitting the salt and sand. Good real world stuff.
DM
 
David Martin said:
Emspop, that's a lot of bags of ice melt cut open. Plus, I'm sure you were not taking much care during cutting to avoid the blade hitting the salt and sand. Good real world stuff.
DM
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Let's just say I could have treated my knife with a little more respect! The first couple bags you take your time, neatly slice open the top, pick up the bag and pour it into the spreader. That gets old and cold real fast so starting around bag 5 I'd say it was toss the bag into the spreader gut it like a fish and pull the empty bag out.
I did flush the knife out good with hot water and hose it down with wd40 when I was done...that ice melt will tear up even the toughest steel.
 
David Martin said:
That would be a good pair but Buck never did a twin set pairing the 103 & 105. Some seller may think that is what goes into his twin sheath. Or a custom pairing. DM
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Probably just an indication that Buck didn't find any leftover 440C 118, 116 or 102 blades in those dusty boxes in the dark corners (at least at this time).

I'm waiting for a Model 210 Twinset.

:)
 
You find that and there will be some guys emailing you. Of course I'd like to find one of those as well... To me the 'best twin set' would offer a 103 and 121. A skinning blade with a boning/ quartering blade. DM
 
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