Photos Rockwell 106/RC?

[wildcamp]

Greetings. I am seeking to understand an odd RC rating. I recently obtained what appears to be an early 2000’s Puma Silverlion Stag, handmade stainless 440C hunting knife (Spain). Its designation is 800115 (figures Puma website does not even recognize the 800115 for dating anymore )

What is throwing me is a Rockwell stamped rating of 106/RC. I have scoured the web to understand this number, and I am coming up with a major blank. I have hit a few auction sites with this same vintage knife and was able to determine the era. But among these auction knives, they are stamped with either the same 106RC or 104/RC. I’ve also seen numbers in the 70’s range.

None of this makes sense, as a typical C rating for such a knife might be around 58, and it seems via my research, the highest RC rating is only around 72. I found one conversion site which oddly let me enter the RC number stamped on the knife, however upon hitting the convert button.. the 106 immediately changed itself to 75 (76?), providing an HBR conversion of 800..

What the heck?? I can’t imagine this knife is THAT brittle… I will say though, it does hold an edge quite well.

I’m lost

 

[killgar]

"106" is the "control number" (date code). Used on knives made after 2002.

Here is a screenshot from pumaknifecompanyusa.com. When I enter your code (106) into the date search function, it says your knife was made in the first half of 2006.




.

 

[Larrin]

You already got the answer of what the number means (at least I assume it is correct), but to teach a little about hardness that number could not be Rockwell C. The Rockwell C scale is supposed to end at 70 according to the spec though slightly higher numbers are reported for certain extreme steels as the tester will still show you the result. However, a result of 100 would mean the indenter did not move at all with the applied load, so that is the absolute maximum value that could be measured. Of course it goes without saying that no currently known steel would be anywhere near that hard.

 

[wildcamp]

"106" is the "control number" (date code). Used on knives made after 2002.

Here is a screenshot from pumaknifecompanyusa.com. When I enter your code (106) into the date search function, it says your knife was made in the first half of 2006.

View attachment 2806449


.

Bingo. That is so messed up. One would think that the 80*** number would have been the model number to trigger a date code... . The other side of this, why put the actual model # with a slash followed with RC after that? I mean, I’m not asking you. I’m just saying hypothetically. I would think the RC value should be the number there. I’m not that knowledgeable about knives, so maybe that’s not a normal practice. I don’t know. This community would know better than me.

OK so that straightens that out. Bottom line is it’s stamped as a 440C, which tells me it’s probably a 58RC. It holds its edge very well. It could be a 60 but who knows. The knife was passed along to me by a friend, and I’ve been using it for some small scale bushcraft stuff. I should probably be careful with the batoning. It’s a beautiful little knife. It fits so nicely in the hand. It’s added to the slowly growing collection. Can’t have enough knives.. right?

Well I really appreciate that information! Mystery solved. . Thanks and God bless!

 

[wildcamp]

"106" is the "control number" (date code). Used on knives made after 2002.

Here is a screenshot from pumaknifecompanyusa.com. When I enter your code (106) into the date search function, it says your knife was made in the first half of 2006.

View attachment 2806449


.

You know. I feel like a numb nut now. I just look closer at the screenshot you posted. It says right there in the second line if there’s a three digit code for a puma and then it shows a 105 RC as an example… . I broke my first rule in life: If at first you don’t succeed… read the instructions!!!

 

[killgar]

You know. I feel like a numb nut now. I just look closer at the screenshot you posted. It says right there in the second line if there’s a three digit code for a puma and then it shows a 105 RC as an example… . I broke my first rule in life: If at first you don’t succeed… read the instructions!!!

Don't feel bad, I'm sure we all occasionally miss something staring us in the face. I know I do .