Buck Knife 12c27 vs. 420HC?

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Hi All,

Fairly new to knife collecting and knife steel. Perhaps this has been covered here ad nauseam but I recently visited a Bass Pro Shop and they had an "exclusive" Redhead Pro Series skinning knife that caught my interest. Nice little hunting knife produced in collaboration with Buck's Pro Shop.

I am thinking of picking up the walnut handled version with 420HC but they also had a stag handled version with 12C27 at a higher price. Is 12C27 considerably better than 420HC or are they comparable with respect to performance? Seems people tout Buck's heat treat so I'm guessing any difference would be negligible?

I'm grateful for any help or input you might offer!
 
I'd say negligible. Both are tough, fine grained, highly stain resistant steels that take a very fine edge with minimal effort and hold it well. 12C27 is widely used (Mora), and Sandvik knows its stuff. I wouldn't diss Buck's renowned 420HC either -- I've field dressed moose with a Buck 119 and it held up as well as any other steel I've used.
 
Grateful for the response Alberta Ed. Thanks for sharing your experiences with the 119. This would be a working knife (deer and elk) so glad to hear 420HC will perform well!
 
most of my 'hunting knives' are buck 420 and they work very well for me.

I use them for field dressing, skinning, and processing. I dont split ribs, or separate joints with them, etc...I have other tools for that stuff.

I havent used Bucks 12C27
 
Neither are super steels. Both will do the job, but they are about 1 deer steels. After that you will need to touch up the edge a good bit.
 
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l1ranger said:
most of my 'hunting knives' are buck 420 and they work very well for me.

I use them for field dressing, skinning, and processing. I dont split ribs, or separate joints with them, etc...I have other tools for that stuff.

I havent used Bucks 12C27
Click to expand...

I've been using a Buck 110 in 420HC for a few years to field dress deer and I DO split the ribs with it (I don't split the pelvis at all). I haven't had a problem with it, the steel has held up well. Field dressing doesn't require a lot of cutting so no big deal. I often use it to start the skinning cuts when I get the deer back to camp but after that, I don't use a knife much at all for skinning. I butcher with a boning knife so no experience there. When I'm done I touch it up on a steel and a few swipes on a fine diamond stone. I've not noticed any edge rolling or nicks.

I haven't used anything in 12C27 to field dress deer.

Edit to add: I did use a 119 once to remove the backstraps. Given that it's not flexible at all it didn't do a good job of removing the most meat, but did a nice job of making clean 'professional looking' straight cuts. I can do that with a boning knife but find that I often try to follow the contours of the spine and end up with a somewhat ragged looking piece of meat. The 119 was, however, a very comfortable tool and worked well for the few backstraps I removed with it.
 
420HC should prove to be more rust resistant but 12c27 could have better edge retention
 
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In this case I'd think they are about even.

12C27 is a very good all around steel for a friendly price and certainly nothing to scoff at. Buck are heattreating wizards and they really make that 420HC shine. Both are definitely good to go.

However, I'm a little iffy about 420HC from other brands/manufacturers. If it weren't Buck, I'd choose 12C27 over 420HC.
 
You won't go wrong with either and 12C27 should hold an edge a little better than the 420HC to me I don't know what kind of cost difference there is but I would wager it has more to do with the Stag than the Steel.
 
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If steel was the only discriminator, I'd go 12C27. In Europe that steel is used in knives that are more high end than those you see in 420HC. I've seen it in custom knives, but never 420HC.

If it's an expensive Buck, even Buck fans wish expensive Bucks were not in 420HC.
 
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I have a Buck of the Month chef knife in 12c27 and it’s pretty great. It tends to hold an edge a bit better than the Buck 420hc chef knife we have (although one is flat ground and the other sabre). I know 12c27 is touted as being a bit tougher than 420hc but both steels have performed similarly for me in this aspect (both steels thankfully tend to roll when a mistake is made). The biggest difference I’ve noticed is that it seems to be a bit easier for me to get a really keen edge on the Buck with 12c27.
 
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They're both good steels. Not great, but good. I prefer 12C27, but Buck's 420HC is nothing to sneeze at. I have knives in both steels, they both get quite sharp with little effort, and hold an edge reasonably well. Sandvik steels generally have fewer impurities, but performance-wise, it's a tough call. You won't go wrong with either..
 
As mentioned by others, Buck uses a good heat treat on all their blades. Even the 420J2 used on their imported 300 series. :)

The higher price is most probably due to the Stag handle.
 
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