Fixed blade steels???

[SALTY]

420 HC, 420J2, 440C ... I get so confused.

As I look through my gaggle of sharp steel, I notice that much of my knife use and passion for knives seems to be heavily weighted with Buck fixed blades; 119,639,105, Skinner and so forth. I've had my challenges in trying to sharpen some of these and was wondering what steel the various vintages were made of.

These are my favorite knives and those that have seen the most use over the years and would very much like to know their materials as compared to my new found, more "sophisticated" tastes.

 

[Joe Houser]

Here is a timeline that hopefully encompasses your favorite models and their particular vintage. Pre 1961 knives were made from files of, I believe, 1095? In 1961 Buck switched to forgings of 440C. In 1967 they switched to using blanks of the same material. In 1981 Buck switched to 425mod. During the 90's the switch was made to 420HC. (I really need to narrow that date down some! ) In the past few years, we have started using ATS-34 and BG-42 on specific runs.
I hope this helps.