Pocket Knife steel and sharpening.

[Sure Shot Rick]

I just received three pocket knives a Boker Tree Brand BARLOW made in Germany, a Boker Magnum Bonsai BARLOW made in China, and a Schatt & Morgan STOCKMAN. The last one has 420HC blades. I am not sure what the other two have for steel. Can anyone advise? Any suggestions on sharpening for these blades. I have all grits from DMT and Spyderco bench stones and several water stones. Polished or a more toothy finish for EDC general cutting.

 

[Vivi]

The Bokers are possibly carbon steel, they use it in their traditionals.

For the edges I would thin them out if they are not acute already (8-10 degrees per side will provide a good balance of cutting ability and durability) then give them a high polish. With short blades like those found on these types of knives slicing doesn't generally work as well. IT really depends on your intended use though. Do you slice or pushcut more? Also, you could leave one blade toothy and two polished etc. with multi-blade traditionals, which is one of the perks of using one.

 

[Cougar Allen]

Let’s see if we can find the right forum …

 

[yablanowitz]

The Boker Tree Brand made in Germany is likely to be 1095 carbon steel, but I would guess the Chinese made one is actually one of the Chinese alphabet soup steels like the 8Cr13MoV in the Byrd knives (which they originally said was 440C). I could be wrong on that, but my German Boker traditionals are all 1095.

 

[knarfeng]

I like a bit more robust edge than Vivi, 15°-20° per side for me. I actually like the Sharpmaker system and thin to 15°, then put a 20° bevel at the edge. YMMV. Bet you could do something similar freehand.

I think the Boker Bonsai series is stainless and that they use something similar to 420HC.
The Chinese mfgs typically use an alloy similar to 420HC. That would likely be used in the Chinese Boker.

So, I think all the blades are very similar in composition to 420HC.