German Stainless Steel

C

crbauhs

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Dec 2, 2007
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So what do you guys think of it. Boker, or Henckles/Hen and Rooster, Bulldog. I see alot that it says Hand Forged Carbon Steel, but that for them I guess is always stainless. Is it on par with Buck's 420HC, or closer to Case's True Sharp. Or maybe SAK's Inox. Maybe its as good as the carbon steel on alot of todays knives? What do you guys thing of it?
 
Henckels Friodur straight razor tested out at 60 rc, have no clue what kind of stainless steel is used though. It may be a different steel from the Friodur knife series too, which seems to be softer.
 
Hello,
german stainless is normally 4034 similar to 420, 4110 similar to 440A or with some luck 4109 somewhere in between 440B and C.
Kitchen cutlery is mostly made of 4116 (X50CrMoV15).
You can see, nothing really fancy or new, BUT the companys in Solingen know to temper and you can expect good results similar to Buck 420 and Victorinox.
Famous Puma "super keen cutting pumaster fancy steel" is nothing else than 4034 with a good temper.

Most pocket knives are from 4034 or 4110 (little more expensive) Hubertus uses as their "Hochleistungsstahl" 4109.

Regards
surfer
 
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I have several H&R fixed blades, made in Toledo, Spain. They are stamped German SS. My understanding through some research is that they are 440C. That seems to be right, comparing them to other known 440C knives I have with good HT.
 
Interesting question, however, you wrote that some of them say "hand forged" carbon steel & that that's SS. Is that true? Are the older ones (Say Gens 3 & newer Bulldogs) actually SS, not carbon steel?

If that's the case, my only current German slippie is a '93 Gen 3 Bulldog & the steel holds its edge pretty well, definitely better than my Cases with Tru-Sharp SS & my Colt with 440A (I believe).

I certainly don't know, as I'm not a metalurgists (Spelling?), but my Henckels red shield (Their carbon blade version, made by Boker, IIRC), did very well & I believe wasn't/isn't anything special. Their heat treat/temper that they do in Germany by those companies apparently is excellent.
 
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crbauhs said:
German Stainless Steel
So what do you guys think of it. Boker, or Henckles/Hen and Rooster, Bulldog. I see alot that it says Hand Forged Carbon Steel, but that for them I guess is always stainless. Is it on par with Buck's 420HC, or closer to Case's True Sharp. Or maybe SAK's Inox. Maybe its as good as the carbon steel on alot of todays knives? What do you guys thing of it?
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crbauhs said:
Here is an example of what I am talking about. http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-J-A-HEN...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4cedb0fad4

DO you see where is says both high Carbon and Hand forged Carbon? That is what I am confused about.
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I see nothing in that description or in the pictures that would lead me to believe the blades are stainless.

"high carbon" typically refers to alloys with a carbon content greater than 0.5%, but I have also seen that term used for steels with carbon content greater than 0.3%.

Whether it is hand forged or not I couldn't say.
 
knarfeng said:
I see nothing in that description or in the pictures that would lead me to believe the blades are stainless.

"high carbon" typically refers to alloys with a carbon content greater than 0.5%, but I have also seen that term used for steels with carbon content greater than 0.3%.

Whether it is hand forged or not I couldn't say.
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Well the reason I noticed it is because on some other boxes of knives from the same person, the box says stainless on it, so I was just a bit confused.
 
crbauhs said:
Well the reason I noticed it is because on some other boxes of knives from the same person, the box says stainless on it, so I was just a bit confused.
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you're right. It is a bit confusing. Perhaps it would help if you linked to one of them instead. There is nothing on the box or description of the auction to which you linked that says or implies that it is stainless.

While I have little direct experience with German stainless knives, judging from comments I have read, I would guess the performance is better than Case Tru-Sharp, not as good as Buck 420HC.
 
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