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Buck blades: Buck 420HC vs S30V

D

dawgvet

Joined
Jan 25, 2007
Messages
45
Looking to buy Buck Vanguard for general hunting/woods knife but am wondering if I should opt for the S30V blades offered through Cabelas or just stick with standard 420HC? Never had much dealings with Buck blades before so any advise appreciated.
 
Try out one of each ;)
They are both very good!
The S30V will stay sharper longer but it is also harder to get back to razor sharp.
Opinions on this topic vary greatly, in the end you have to be happy with it!!!
 
i have several bucks in 420hc and all have outstanding edge holding qualities. i have never tried a s30v buck but i am more than happy with the 420hc's for the price difference.,,,VWB.
 
I would get the Cabella's s30v version. It is a very nice looking knife and it gets sharp as hell. AND IT IS NOT HARD TO RESHARPEN! Well, that is if you use a Sharpmaker.

My opinion.
 
S30V sharpens pretty well on my DMT diamond hones, not a great deal differently than my Buck 110 in 420HC, which happens to be one of my favorite steels. Keep them sharp and there is not a great deal of difference between 420HC and BG42, for instance, according to others on this forum. 420HC takes a scary sharp edge and holds it well in 'real life', it's tough, stain resistant, easy to sharpen, and a heck of a lot more affordable than the newest/latest steels. That being said, S30V will hold an edge longer, but at a significantly higher price.
 
I use my 119 for all kinds of things from batoning, light chopping and lots of cutting (everything from wood, plastics, zipties, rope, ect). As everyone says, 420HC is easy to get razor sharp.

I do nick the knife quite a bit though, about every 3rd time of hard usage, and end up re-profiling it on the Lansky. In truth, I've often wondered what a super steel would be like on this knife. However, I agree with others that the steel is great for the price. Afterall, I wouldn't have this knife if it cost 2-3 times more than it did when I bought it. So basically, I am a happy customer and love this knife in 420HC. It has lived up to my expectations and because of the ease with which it sharpens up, I always re-sharpen it the same night of usage. In otherwords, the knife is never dull.

The Vanguard would be a great sized knife. For its size and my impressions of what this blade would be used for I would suggest that 420HC would be quite appropriate. Don't care for the black coated blade of the S30V sold by Cabellas' myself, but the steel would be interesting to experiment with. If you haven't had a lot of experience sharpening knives, then 420HC would be much easier to learn on.

Good luck with your decision!
 
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