Mike, want something fairly cool to play with. I have a CPM-D2 blade. It would be interesting to see it compared to 13C26, this is pretty much the ultimate low/high carbide comparison. Don't care what you do, who you loan the blades to and where or what you say about it.
...AUS-6, AUS-6A, and AUS-6M softer than Kershaw's previous and current heat-treats of 13C26.
These would be expected to be slightly softer, akin to 12C27M, AUS-4 is about 56/57 HRC at maximum and usually comes in 1-2 HRC points softer. Buck runs 420HC very hard for its level, harder in comparison than Kershaw runs 13C26. The higher carbide steels also do have their advantages if you like to use duller knives and/or like really coarse edges and/or tactical style edges.
I would like to see Spyderco push harder on their AUS blades, similar to Benchmade is doing on AUS-8 which they are running at 60 HRC. Note since AUS-8 is above the 13C26 tieline it has an inherently LOWER hardness, so their heat treat is obviously more capable in that regard as they are getting more out of the steel.
The problem with use of steels like AUS-4 is that they are being used in beater knives because of the rep of the steel so it doesn't make a lot of sense money wise to max out the steel when you have the misinformation which exists currently in regards to the steel. Even then though they are no where near as far under optimal as 13C26 at 58-60.
But again you are dealing with preconception here rather than fact. Try for example to sell a decent tactical knife out of 420J2. But it is actually a decent steel for that (just like comparing S7 to D2), much more so than what is being used but good luck trying to sell that.
And how should the average Joe judge their knife and edge ...
Cosidering the initial edge is on a knife ONCE in its lifetime it seems obvious that it is fairly insignificant in terms of the functionality unless the knife is intended to never be sharpened such as disposable razor blades. This would be like judging a car poorly because it came with an empty tank of gas. No tradesmen I have ever seen judges cutting tools so, unless as noted they are disposable.
The big problem is the misinformation that initial sharpness is some sign of quality. As has been noted for many years, even the cheapest blades can get very sharp and will cut very well when properly adjusted edge angle wise. So having a very sharp edge means nothing aside from the person who sharpened it knew what they were doing and Spyderco does this beyond the custom level on a production scale.
In fact as Swaim showed long ago, such an optomized knife (very cheap) will not only initially out cut, but will out LAST a knife with a much less optimal edge grind even with a much "better" steel on the other knife. This can be a very large difference, many times to one and thus easily swamp out differences in steels.
Curiously, some of the best cutting profiles I have seen on folders have been on really cheap ones. I mean the ones with plastic handles with animals on them. The edges are often 0.005-0.010" thick, 15 degrees or less per side. Which makes a farce out of comments that this is difficult to achieve. These will cut very well, easily many times to one over sillyness at 0.030"/20+ degrees.
This is one of the best kept knife "secrets" even though Swaim made it public knowledge about ten years ago. Obviously of course, makers/manufacturers are not overly promotional in this regard. Hey, if you take this $2 knife and regrind it optimally for YOUR use, it will easily cut better intiially and the edge will last longer than this $50 knife we sell with the stock edge.
-Cliff
