Lets talk GEC!

aji1 said:
In the absence of an answer directly from GEC, I will just assume that it is 420HC as the dealers are specifying.
Click to expand...

Ive seen dealers get specs wrong when simply looking at the knife would be enough to correct the error... I’d have more faith in the GEC webpage, personally. Maybe it’s 420, but I’d be surprised it wouldn’t be deliberately advertised. I could see someone having a reasonable expectation it was 440C and being miffed to find out it was 420HC.
 
Ruhiger Sturm said:
Does anyone have any photos of their new 89 in chestnut? I’ve been pretty excited about these mostly for the different looks of chestnut covers.
Click to expand...
5YaHa7Ql.jpg
 
aji1 said:
Per an e-mail exchange with Mrs. Howard (who graciously allowed me to share the contents of our conversation), the steel in the #89 stainless fruit knives is 420HC, as described by various dealers.
Click to expand...
Thanks for looking into it.

I’m not surprised when Bill Howard chooses to do something different when it’s aesthetic in nature (like not using Acorn shields) and, on top of that, the change is obvious and readily apparent. Blade steel choice has functional implications, and it’s not easy to tell just from looking at the knife. I would guess folks hoping for 440C would be not enthusiastic about this. I’d also guess there’s a fair amount of 89 owners who mistakenly believe it’s made out of 440C, due to past experience and little bits of information like the one I pointed out on the GEC webpage.
 
I've had a number of Bucks in 420HC, and I've never had a problem with them. I tend to prefer 420HC over 440C, but that is almost entirely because of Buck's heat treatment. In most other brands, I'm not a fan of either of these steels. Does anybody know who GEC uses for heat treat? If it's Bos (Buck's HT shop), then these 420HC knives will be great.

-Tyson
 
JC024 said:
For a knife intended to cut fruit I think 420hc is a perfectly reasonable choice.
Click to expand...

Absolutely, this is by its nature a pattern that is light duty- after all before stainless, silver used to be the metal of choice for fruit knife blades, and it's as soft as :poop: No rope cutting, pruning or box breaking for this beauty:D
 
I agree. It’s a delicate knife with a long, thin blade, pivoting at a very narrow joint. Any kind of cutting that would be too much for 420 would also risk damaging the knife I’d think.

It’s also been rumored for years that GEC would like to get away from 440c due to its greater difficulty or wear on the equipment. So I am not surprised. Maybe this heralds a greater number of stainless knives in the future?

At one point I believe I read that Peters did the GEC heat treatment. Whether that’s still true I have no idea.

In practical terms 420hc is a good steel for a light-duty food knife. It is known to be particularly good from Buck, and adequate from others, with good corrosion resistance even if it’s edge holding isn’t stellar.
 
Most of the S&M Keystone series were made with 420HC when Bill was the head of Queen/S&M, and those knives had a very good H/T. I'd be surprised if GEC didn't use the same company that Queen did.
 
black mamba said:
Most of the S&M Keystone series were made with 420HC when Bill was the head of Queen/S&M, and those knives had a very good H/T. I'd be surprised if GEC didn't use the same company that Queen did.
Click to expand...
Who can tell anything anymore? Up is down, dogs are playing down with cats, and flippers are flopping.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top