Unexpectedly hard 440C BM....

Gotsouthern

Gotsouthern

Joined
Sep 25, 2009
Messages
231
Just a little tid bit I found interesting. Sharpened a buddies BM Grip with a 440C blade. Anyhow, the factory bevel was terrible and brougham had done it NO good in the time since then. Took me the better part of 40 min on the DMT XC to get it right. They got the HT right on this one for sure. I mean, it was a good bit of metal to remove, but I was genuinely surprised at how tough the stuff was. And it ended up to a straight-tree topping edge by time all was said and done. My buddy is handing it much more gingerly than he did previous.....you can tell he's a bit spooked :D

Keep in mind most of my stuff I play with in comparison is a nice sample of the current crop of cool-guy uber-steels lol.
 
No doubt, 440c even with diamond stones can take some time to grind. Buck 420 seems harder to sharpen than it should be too.
 
Seems like all knives take me forever to rebevel... It took me some 8+ hours to get my VG-10 Delica to ~10° on a DMT XC stone.
 
I agree Southern . Some of those old Buck 440C blades take me an hour to rebevel on Norton's coarse crystolon . It cuts it fine its just tough steel . DM
 
I reckon I just had it in my head it was gonna be softer. No reason why lol, but I guess its cause its not one of the steels you typically hear mentioned when talking about exceptional wear resistance. I had just done a VG10 Delica previous, and the 440 was a good sight harder to take down.

THG, if I had taken this knife to that bevel, it woulda taken 8 hrs lol. Took it to around 18-20 deg/side, its a hard use knife, and I felt certain knowing the owner he'd want it a bit on the steep side whether he knows it or not :D
 
Buck's knives are hard to sharpen because the edges are too thick. The steel is not particularly hard.
 
I've noticed that BM seems to run their steels slightly harder than other makers in the same steel. I'm convinced that the steel used in the Red Ambush knives is at least as hard as their 154CM, which ranges from 58 - 61 HRc. My Grip is 154CM and holds an edge like crazy. The Grip HG models also have very thin (relatively speaking) edges and still take a little time to rebevel.
 
I've always liked 440C a lot, if the HT is done well. I've never understood people who look down on it, it's always been a very good mix of hardness, toughness, edge retention, corrosion resistance in my experience.
Perhaps there's just a lot of confusion with '440 series' steel, which usually implies anything but 440C
 
Benchmade does do a nice job on their HT in my opinion.
I've been happy with the retention on all of mine.
 
Phil, I agree w/ you . I've always noticed a lot of good things in 440C its in the class of top grade cutlery steel . I've also seen Buck's 440C register 58,59 and 60 on a Rockwell hardness tester . Yes those older models were thick but the hardness is there as well . DM
 
I woudln't say I've ever really looked down upon it, but with all the talk of generally-generic "440 series" steels its never really been on my radar. After my experience with that Grip, I'd have me a 440C knife in a hearbeat lol. I mean I've got $10 to a dime says that thing was every bit of 58-60RC.
 
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