Greetings all,
Ever since I have gotten my buck 110 I have been fascinated by what seems like an ability to hold an edge as well as the other super steels I have on a day to day basis. All in all I think I have been humbled by this simple steel. I was obsessed about reading all I could about super steels and learning everything I could about them, then I decided to finally test them out against each other.
My tests were simple with normal material one would be cutting with. I had an old hickory tree branch and started with that. I took each knife and shaved the hickory branch 40 times with each knife (My hand hurt like a #^#&.) I used 4 knives. A buck 110 (420CH), buck 426 (425M), Benchmade Ares (M2HS), and Benchmade Ares (S30V). Yes, all knives were honed to what most here reckon as super scary sharp (all tree topped hairs)
Well, all in all after 120 cuts for each knife all of them seemed equal. The only one that was showing more wear was the buck 426 with 425M steel. Wear was tested by push cutting paper.
I then went to cutting cardboard and pretty much cut until the knives started snagging on push cutting paper. The Buck 425M fell behind the other knives (snagging a lot all over the blade). The M2 stayed just slightly ahead (and I mean slightly). And the S30V and 420HC were pretty much neck and neck and only snagged slightly here and there on the paper.
After my hands were tiring dramatically to the point where I couldn't cut any more, my conclusion was that in the real world, 420HC is as good as the rest of them. I always hone my blades at the end of the night anyways (quick power strop on my belt sander) so that they are screaming sharp for the following day, so there is no need for a steel that doesn't need to be sharpened for 6 months, for me. Plus, I put the knives and my hand through hell, tearing through a hickory branch and slicing away at countles boxes until my hands were thoroughly wore out, which is more then I would do normally in a month.
I did not intend this to be a scientific method of proving one metal stomps the next, just the fact that in my applications and what I think I will be using it for it is pretty equal across the board. It may be different if you are cutting metal wires and carpet all the time, but I rarely if ever do this. Cutting up cardboard boxes, cutting up dinner, making marshmellow sticks, and carving up wood etc, cleaning fish, game..... is what I use my knives for. 420HC worked just as good as the super steels in this application. And is sharpened up with less passes on the strop. It is some good stuff. Now bucks older 425M is not.
Ever since I have gotten my buck 110 I have been fascinated by what seems like an ability to hold an edge as well as the other super steels I have on a day to day basis. All in all I think I have been humbled by this simple steel. I was obsessed about reading all I could about super steels and learning everything I could about them, then I decided to finally test them out against each other.
My tests were simple with normal material one would be cutting with. I had an old hickory tree branch and started with that. I took each knife and shaved the hickory branch 40 times with each knife (My hand hurt like a #^#&.) I used 4 knives. A buck 110 (420CH), buck 426 (425M), Benchmade Ares (M2HS), and Benchmade Ares (S30V). Yes, all knives were honed to what most here reckon as super scary sharp (all tree topped hairs)
Well, all in all after 120 cuts for each knife all of them seemed equal. The only one that was showing more wear was the buck 426 with 425M steel. Wear was tested by push cutting paper.
I then went to cutting cardboard and pretty much cut until the knives started snagging on push cutting paper. The Buck 425M fell behind the other knives (snagging a lot all over the blade). The M2 stayed just slightly ahead (and I mean slightly). And the S30V and 420HC were pretty much neck and neck and only snagged slightly here and there on the paper.
After my hands were tiring dramatically to the point where I couldn't cut any more, my conclusion was that in the real world, 420HC is as good as the rest of them. I always hone my blades at the end of the night anyways (quick power strop on my belt sander) so that they are screaming sharp for the following day, so there is no need for a steel that doesn't need to be sharpened for 6 months, for me. Plus, I put the knives and my hand through hell, tearing through a hickory branch and slicing away at countles boxes until my hands were thoroughly wore out, which is more then I would do normally in a month.
I did not intend this to be a scientific method of proving one metal stomps the next, just the fact that in my applications and what I think I will be using it for it is pretty equal across the board. It may be different if you are cutting metal wires and carpet all the time, but I rarely if ever do this. Cutting up cardboard boxes, cutting up dinner, making marshmellow sticks, and carving up wood etc, cleaning fish, game..... is what I use my knives for. 420HC worked just as good as the super steels in this application. And is sharpened up with less passes on the strop. It is some good stuff. Now bucks older 425M is not.
