Buck heat treating

The Fort

The Fort

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I have a question. Hopefully not a dumb one 🤔! If a Buck knife has the BOS heat treating logo on the blade, does it actually go through a different heat treating process than those without the logo? If not, does anyone know why some knives have it while others don't? I guess that's actually two questions 😜.
 
The Fort said:
I have a question. Hopefully not a dumb one 🤔! If a Buck knife has the BOS heat treating logo on the blade, does it actually go through a different heat treating process than those without the logo? If not, does anyone know why some knives have it while others don't? I guess that's actually two questions 😜.
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There is a buck subforum where you'll probably get better answers.
I've only ever seen it on the higher end blade steels like s30v.
 
I see the BOS logo on my Custom Shop 112 (S30V) and BassPro 110 (CPM154), and understand that Paul Bos also designed the heat treat for Buck's 420HC, too. Here's a quote from Buck's website: "Buck is a market leader in edge retention thanks to our steel selections and heat treat process pioneered by industry famous, Paul Bos, whose heat treating system has proven to be the best in the business." Bos retired a year or two ago after a distinguished career. As Buck claims, its heat treat is one of the best. I wouldn't argue with that.
 
Alberta Ed said:
I see the BOS logo on my Custom Shop 112 (S30V) and BassPro 110 (CPM154), and understand that Paul Bos also designed the heat treat for Buck's 420HC, too. Here's a quote from Buck's website: "Buck is a market leader in edge retention thanks to our steel selections and heat treat process pioneered by industry famous, Paul Bos, whose heat treating system has proven to be the best in the business." Bos retired a year or two ago after a distinguished career. As Buck claims, its heat treat is one of the best. I wouldn't argue with that.
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I wouldn't argue with that statement either, I'm willing to bet that buck the claim that they have the best HT because they were to this by their customers.
 
What makes their heat treatment better? Because they say so? Just wondering what makes it so. Anything concrete? Does anyone really mess with 420 steel to see if it's actually the best?

I only ask because I've tried several bucks and they weren't really impressive. About like Gerber. Not that they don't hold a very solid place in the knife world. Just don't see what they're doing now that commands a ton of praise.
 
I have a number of Buck knives and like them. Does anyone have any citations to empirical evidence and testing which indicates the heat treat is better than competitors producing 420HC blades?
 
I've never done a side by side test but Buck makes good knives. I guess its because they say so until verified.
 
bodog said:
What makes their heat treatment better? Because they say so? Just wondering what makes it so. Anything concrete? Does anyone really mess with 420 steel to see if it's actually the best?

I only ask because I've tried several bucks and they weren't really impressive. About like Gerber. Not that they don't hold a very solid place in the knife world. Just don't see what they're doing now that commands a ton of praise.
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Because I have 420 blades from leatherman, Gerber, utica cutmaster, and buck, and Buck's Steel holds the best edge.
I have no problem saying that bucks 420hc is the best there is.
 
In the not so old days, Paul Bos was a custom heat treater, who subsequently ran the heat treating department at Buck. He also did custom heat treating using Buck's machinery. Buck knives with the Bos name and logo were personally heat treated by Paul Bos. He also heat treated custom knives and the addition of the logo was optional by the maker, however the only production knives with Bos name and logo were Bucks. He has since retired. When Bos worked for Buck, they would say the heat treating done in the plant was his recipes and overall supervision, but production knives with his name/stamp were done by him personally.

The full story is on the Buck website: https://www.buckknives.com/about-knives/heat-treating/
 
I think some earlier Striders carried the BOS heat treat stamp as well as the newest clones from China

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