What constitutes a knife holding an edge?

[cotdt]

It all depends on how a production knife is:

1. Controlled for material quality
2. Controlled for heat treating
3. Controlled for machining

There is no magic that a bloke in a custom shop can do that a manufacturer of a production knife cant. And in a custom shop, there very well might be more chance for errors in heat treating or machining errors for example than a pro setup where its done using CNC and computer controlled heat treating.

The difference is that production knife companies have a cost limit and they are not making knives for steel enthusiasts. They tend to run steels 2-3 points softer than optimal. 440A gets the cheapest heat treat and is usually run 56 rc. A custom maker would use oil quench and cryo, and get 59-60 rc from it. Don't be surprised if this steel from a custom maker hangs with steels like 154CM in edge retention, but is much tougher.

In reality, the hardness of production knives varies quite a bit, like the various Benchmades I have rockwell tested. Even the hardest samples were softer than I would have liked, though.

 

[nullack]

I understand what your saying my friend, but both Busse and Bark River use cryo. I dont think Busse is skimping in material or heat treat costs.