What is wrong with 420HC?

S

stich

Joined
May 21, 2003
Messages
366
I must not be a steel snob.:( I can't find anything I don't like about Bos treated 420HC. And I've tried. Sure, I like my knives that have "premium" steel in them. And I like my old Bucks that have 440C, which I have somehow come to think of as the low end of premium. I used to think 440C was the end all in steel. I also like plain old high carbon steels too. But you know what? When it comes down to going hunting I carry my coco lookalike 420HC Bucks into never-never land. And hit 'em with my steel and/or crock stick when I'm done. Best of all, when I've beat 'em half to death (as my dear old Mother used to threaten me) I KNOW Buck will refurbish or replace them gratis, no BS at all. I suppose I need to practice sticking my nose in the air and a broomstick up my shiney before I make future knife considerations. I have more Bucks than any other brand, I always have and I guess I always will. I reckon I need to go to my meeting now. "My name is Stich, and I'm a Bucknutt".:rolleyes:
 
Nothing is wrong with 420HC.

It is a very serviceable user steel that probably gets more work done accross the country than all the big-dollar super steels combined.

I find it ironic that many who demand "nothing but the best" in blade steel rarely if ever use their knives for more than cutting paper or string.
 
i find that the 420HC holds an edge really well. more importantly though it is easy to resharpen. i have a chinook, that holds an edge till the cows come home, but once the cows are home, it takes me forever to resharpen it. it has gotten to the point that i am afraid to use it, for fear of resharpening it, with my buck 110, i can just keep using it, and then take a couple of strokes on a fine stone.
 
The 420HC is a very good steel. The best property about it,is that it is easy to resharpen,and to make it razor sharp.The hardness of Buck´s 420HC is ideal( i belive it´s Rockwell 58). Not to hard to make it a burdon to sharpen,and not to soft so it loose it´s edge too quick.I think that many of the so called super steels are harder than they have to.420HC is one of my favorite steels. My Buck Special 119 cocobolo has a blade of 420HC,and i love it.

Manowar
 
Buck's 420HC Rocks! Just don't confuse it with 420J2. Its too bad the term 420 in general has such a bad rep. Its a shame that some people overlook Bucks because of the steel name. I prefer Buck's 420HC over most 440A/AUS-6!
 
Yeah, I'm with you regarding Aus-6. While not a bad steel, I've yet to see an example that could compare to any of my Bucks. I'm starting to believe it may very well be that heat treat is more important than steel type.
 
420HC is ok, but Buck should make more knives out of BG42. That stuff is the schizznits! :) I'm not sure it gets any better as far as stainless is concerned.
 
My favorite hunting knife is a Buck model 475 with 420HC steel and it always gets it done for me. I use it on deer and to cut apart turkeys. Just for grins, I took an older 103 with 440C on my last deer hunt. It was the first time i had used that steel. It did good too. Its real hard to compare steels when you only take one deer a year but i hope to try BG-42 this season. In about ten years i just might have something meaningful to contribute to this thread!
:p
 
IMO 420HC might get a bad reputation because so many people have bad experience with 420J2 from companies like United. My first Buck was an Odyssey and after using it I was surprised it was 420HC. Both my Odyssey and Special hold an edge much better than my CRKT knives in AUS6.
 
Proper heat treat is a must for any steel.

The company sent me a 110 to test a while back and I was duly impressed.....however the edge had been ground a little long for my tastes and it bent quite easily in the hard use tasks I used it for.
A few seconds on my HardCore with a little less angle on the edge and it worked very well. It certainly doesnt hold up for nearly as long as the CPM Stainless steels do but it also is much easier to sharpen, which is a big plus to a lot of knife users.
 
I have a Buck 110 with a 440HC blade, and I swear by it. As numerous people have mentioned, it holds a good edge and is so simple to sharpen when it does finally become blunt. A couple of stokes on the crock stick and your up and running again.

Interestingly enough I was given a Boker folding knife again with a blade of 440HC steel. I dont' know what hardness it is but, it's the most horrible blade to try and resharpen that I have ever had the misfortune to come across. I never use this knife it just sits in a draw at home. In fact the only reason I keep it is because it has lovely stag scales.

If this knife was the first knife you bought with 440HC steel I garantee it would put you off that steel for life. Which of course as we all know would be a crying shame.

Tony.
 
I'm not too versed on the huniting end of it, but as far as a tactical blade 420HC is good to go. We had Strider test some protoypes we did from 420HC as a possible material for our next collaborations. We were very pleased when they gave the thumbs up to it, cause we know how demanding they are. What probably makes the difference is that we have Paul Bos triple heat treat our 420HC making it much tougher and wear resistant than normal 420.

Bottom line is, even for extreme field use (chopping, prying, digging etc.) 420HC in the right blade geometry will do the job.

For a step up you can go BG-42, ATS-34/ 14-4/ 154cm- Only real diff is that BG has some vanadium in it that increases wear resistance.

For the best you go to S30 V

Just my two cents,

Josh
 
Can't find a chart with 420HC compared.
I'm no steel guru so I pass this along just for grins and reference.

Borrowed from:
http://www.knifezone.ca/steel.htm


The following is a generalized listing of steel characteristics with 1 being the best of the group and 12 being the poorest in the group.

Steel Type Edge Retention Ease of Sharpening Toughness Stain Resistance Overall Average
BG-42..............2....................5........................1...................2...................1
440A...............7.....................2........................1..................2....................2
440C...............5.....................8........................6..................1....................3
AUS-6.............6.....................7........................4..................4....................4
154CM............3....................10........................6..................5....................5
AUS-8...........10.....................4........................4.................10....................6
CPM440V.........1....................12.......................11.................5....................7
ATS-34...........9......................6........................3..................9...................8
VG-10.............8....................11........................6..................5...................9
AUS-1O...........4.....................9.........................6................12 ..................10
420J2.............12....................3........................11................11..................11
420................11....................1.........................6.................5...................12


.
 
I find these results interesting.

Steel Type Edge Retention Ease of Sharpening Toughness Stain Resistance Overall Average
154CM............3....................10.......... ..............6..................5................ ....5

ATS-34...........9......................6............. ...........3..................9................... 8

Who did the "heat treat" and performed the testing, and what testing was performed to find these results?
 
Scott Hartman said:
I find these results interesting.

Steel Type Edge Retention Ease of Sharpening Toughness Stain Resistance Overall Average
154CM............3....................10.......... ..............6..................5................ ....5

ATS-34...........9......................6............. ...........3..................9................... 8

Who did the "heat treat" and performed the testing, and what testing was performed to find these results?
Click to expand...

That is interesting Scott,
I dont really notice a difference betweent the 2! They both stay sharp!!!!
 
Scott Hartman said:
I find these results interesting.

Steel Type Edge Retention Ease of Sharpening Toughness Stain Resistance Overall Average
154CM............3....................10.......... ..............6..................5................ ....5

ATS-34...........9......................6............. ...........3..................9................... 8

Who did the "heat treat" and performed the testing, and what testing was performed to find these results?
Click to expand...

Yeah Scoot...I was wondering too. For me, it was seeing ATS-34 as only an "8". :eek:

Like I said, I just passed it on. But also for opinions from some of you messermeisters as I am a neophyte when it comes to steel.

I do know that I dig the BG-42 110!!!

chickentrax said:
Wow, Marv! I am impressed! :eek: How many tries did it take to get all the columns lined up??? :D
Click to expand...

Longer than it should. I need a life.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top