Each time we read about knives, the term RC hardness pops up. Ok, now we all know (sort of) how it's been determined and that higher RC means harder steel. But what does it mean when it comes to performance? The general idea is, more RC = better edgeholding. Well, maybe not.
My opinion is, you have to see the whole picture. That means, RC and the type of steel used. For example: D2 or CPM4X0M with an RC of >60 makes it fairly brittle and chipping the edge on a bone for example is not what you could call "edgeholding". In addition there is the term abbrasion resistance (AR). Now I'm not a metalurgist, but I don't think there is a relationship between RC and abbrasion resistance. Titanium for example has a fairly low RC but high AR. Ceramics like MirageX has a very high RC and also a high AR. Then there is Stellite/Talonite, which you could call a sort of metal matrix, meaning harder particles embedded in a softer base. The overall RC is low but AR very good. It is probably safe to conclude that RC doesn't tell you anything about edgeholding at all.
As a result I would say that abbrasion resistance is more important when it comes to edgeholding than RC hardness. The only thing RC can give you is to determine how brittle the specific steel is. In other words, what to expect of your blade in terms of toughness.
My opinion is, you have to see the whole picture. That means, RC and the type of steel used. For example: D2 or CPM4X0M with an RC of >60 makes it fairly brittle and chipping the edge on a bone for example is not what you could call "edgeholding". In addition there is the term abbrasion resistance (AR). Now I'm not a metalurgist, but I don't think there is a relationship between RC and abbrasion resistance. Titanium for example has a fairly low RC but high AR. Ceramics like MirageX has a very high RC and also a high AR. Then there is Stellite/Talonite, which you could call a sort of metal matrix, meaning harder particles embedded in a softer base. The overall RC is low but AR very good. It is probably safe to conclude that RC doesn't tell you anything about edgeholding at all.
As a result I would say that abbrasion resistance is more important when it comes to edgeholding than RC hardness. The only thing RC can give you is to determine how brittle the specific steel is. In other words, what to expect of your blade in terms of toughness.