Hello everyone, new member here.
My Knife affliction hit me about 6 months ago when I was given a Benchmade Barrage (my first proper knife at the late age of 25) for my birthday. Since then I've amassed a small collection. A Buck Vantage, SOG Flash II, Fallkniven NL5 Idun, and a Cold Steel Recon Scout is all that I've got so far. Nothing too special, my Idun is my baby.
I've lurked these boards as a guest for a few months now, but I decided to register because I had to share what I've been told about this 420HC steel. I called Buck about 2 months ago asking about their 420HC steel when telling them my Vantage was rubbing the liner when folding. Their customer service was great and I got my blade back in a week, perfect.
This is what they told me over the phone about the 420HC steel: They said that with a good heat treat, they could get the 420HC steel to a very similar performance level to AUS8/440C but it wasn't nearly as wearing on their machine tools. So they can make the same quality knife at a better price point due to the lower overhead. And from what I've seen I can't tell too big of a difference between my SOG Flash II and my Vantage. Both steels seem to be about the same with edge retention, sharpenability, etc. These are on folders, so I'm not batoning through wood anything. But for every day cutting tasks, they seem about the same. So from my perspective, it seems as though what Buck told me over the phone was about right.
As a first time poster, I hope this was helpful.