I have four belt knives from the 80's 103, 119,120, & 124...they are all of 440C steel, I never could sharpen then with my Arkansas whetstones... I have read that the metal is as hard as the silica in the Arkansas stones... 6.5 on the Mohs scale. I see that Buck now uses 420HC that is easier to sharpen...Am I mistaken? Has anyone else had trouble?
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Buck knives from the 80's
- Thread starter Wallyl
- Start date
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2005
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- 2,753
Welcome to the forums.
(I could be a little off on my dates since I am pulling this from memory)
The older buck knives prior to 1981 had 440C steel. They then switched to 425M until 1994 then they switched to 420HC. The older 440C blades came with a thick grind at the edge and needs to be reprofiled. It can take some time with a stone, but it can be done (I did this with my 103and 102). They are well worth the time it takes to get them right. The easiest way to tell if you have 440C or 424M is to look under the guard, if it is silver it will have 425M if micarta, it will be 440C.
You may get better answers in the buck subforum. They will be able to give you the best answers related to Buck knives. It can be located here http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php/701-Buck-Knives
(I could be a little off on my dates since I am pulling this from memory)
The older buck knives prior to 1981 had 440C steel. They then switched to 425M until 1994 then they switched to 420HC. The older 440C blades came with a thick grind at the edge and needs to be reprofiled. It can take some time with a stone, but it can be done (I did this with my 103and 102). They are well worth the time it takes to get them right. The easiest way to tell if you have 440C or 424M is to look under the guard, if it is silver it will have 425M if micarta, it will be 440C.
You may get better answers in the buck subforum. They will be able to give you the best answers related to Buck knives. It can be located here http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php/701-Buck-Knives
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I don't have any trouble sharpening 440C on my Arkansas stones. The Arkansas stones have a finer grit than the Carborundum and Corundum stones. By the time I get to the Arkansas stones, the tapers on the blade have been established and are partially polished. At this stage in the sharpeneing process, the Arkansas stones (Washita, Soft Arkansas, and Hard Black Arkansas) are being used to further polish the tapers. They have no problem doing this.
Thank you for your response. The 103, 119, 120 have the Micarta strip..The 124 does not. I bought them all in 1988 as a local hardware store has a going out of business sale. I woudl guess they were manufactured in the mid-80's. I suppose I need to use a 1" wide belt sander and some ultra fine grit belts to reshape the blades, or send them to Buck to do it , if they do such things. Puzzling why they used that thick grind...possibly to make the edge stronger?
I have egg on my face...I used them again and could see that metal was being removed in the water used with it. I did get them sharpened quite nicely. The steel is harder than on my other knives and the knives are very slick on a Black Hard Arkansas stone.
