Why not better blade steel for these two knives?

Well, I can sure tell the difference between a knife that I have to sharpen twice a week, and a knife that I have to sharpen twice a year.:cool:

Ben
 
yeah, it would be nice if everyone made their knives out of titanium and cpm 15v, but its just not gonna happen, although CRKT should use higher grade steels in such a popular knife.
 
znode said:
"One of Buck's great resources is Paul Bos, who has been performing heat-treating since 1956. Paul is a nationally known heat-treating authority and has developed proprietary processes. Paul's link to Buck Knives goes back to the late '50s when he worked on custom knives for Al Buck. Paul oversees all of Buck Knives' heat-treating and performs heat-treating for a great number of custom knife makers. His shop is located in the Buck plant, where he is readily available to consult with Buck's engineers. Clearly, the Paul Bos touch is an integral part of Buck's great blades."

The guy has been heat-treating steel for 51 years. I mean, how else can Buck's 420HC steel be still competitive in this world of VG-10s and BG-42s?
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Yup, it's all in the heat treatment. "Better" steels offer "better" properties, but only if heat treated properly and if the edge is sharpened to appropriate angles to make use of that. Paul Bos is regarded as a heat treating expert, and Buck's 420HC is generally well-regarded. Here is what Buck says about the ideal hardness of various types of steel. I don't know about you, but my experience is that most production companies harden at about the 57-59 Rc range, not the 59-62 that Buck (and I'm guessing by extension, Paul Bos) recommends for higher-end steels, which kind of defeats the purpose, of using them, yes?

Cutlery Science has a review where Buck's 420HC at 58 Rc matched the general performance of a CRK Green Beret in S30V in 55-57 Rc. That's Cliff's website, so you can take it or leave it as you like. For the price, though, that's not too shabby for 420HC, eh?

EDIT: Oh, standard disclaimer; I'm not a steel junkie and all that austenite-martensite babble tends to bore me. But if you want to find out more and play with the steel junkies, the Reviews and Toolshed section will talk about steel properties and martensite/austenite till you go blue in the face. ;)
 
ChuckB_III,

I agree with you totally with your comments in regards to the popular models that the CKRT M16 series have become. I think they would sell even more and appeal to more people on this forum even if they would just step it up a bit.

ThreeWorlds,

I'll probably pick up a Buck sooner or later, but for now... well, I'm stuck with better steel. ;)
 
Heres something I don't understand.

My dozier kabar folder AUS8A sharpens very easily on my Lansky system with regular stones.

But my Cold steel voyager won't. Someone suggested that I have to get a diamond stone to sharpen it. It seems the steel is harder. But it is still AUS8a steel just like the easily sharpened dozier kabar. I don't know?
 
Scottman said:
But my Cold steel voyager won't [sharpen easily]
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Use standard sharpening tricks like using a marker. Watch for subtle recurves and make sure the ceramic is touching the entire edge. Or maybe the grind is simply thicker?
 
Scottman said:
Heres something I don't understand.

My dozier kabar folder AUS8A sharpens very easily on my Lansky system with regular stones.

But my Cold steel voyager won't. Someone suggested that I have to get a diamond stone to sharpen it. It seems the steel is harder. But it is still AUS8a steel just like the easily sharpened dozier kabar. I don't know?
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What angle are you using on your Lansky?

You might be hitting the Dozier edge at exactly the right angle

But - if you're using that same angle for the Voyager, and if the Voyager has a different edge (bevel) angle from the Dozier, you're not going to get a good edge on the Voyager until you've "reprofiled" its edge.

In my experience, AUS 8 doesn't require diamond stones for regular sharpening.
Diamond stones, though, will make it easier to reprofile the edge more quickly if that's what's needed.

Finally, you can just try using a different angle setting on the Lansky for the Voyager and see how that works.
It might be just as simple as that.
 
Scottman said:
But my Cold steel voyager won't. Someone suggested that I have to get a diamond stone to sharpen it. It seems the steel is harder. But it is still AUS8a steel just like the easily sharpened dozier kabar. I don't know?
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I have a Cold Steel small Voyager in AUS8A. I reprofiled it to 15 degres per side easily with the grey rods of the SM. (about 5 minutes work)

I can take it from no edge at all to a true razor edge in 2 or 3 minutes on the SM. The problem is, it won't hold the edge past one or two uses.:(

The AUS8A that I have owned is very soft, and I think a diamond rod would be a waste for that steel. Save the diamonds for the hard steels.
 
FliGuyRyan said:
ThreeWorlds,

I'll probably pick up a Buck sooner or later, but for now... well, I'm stuck with better steel. ;)
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Hey FliGuy,

I don't actually own any Bucks, mostly because I'm just not feeling the Buck 110 / Strider / Alpha models, but that doesn't stop me from recognizing that they have one of the industry's best experts on heat treatment :p .

As for me, I hear so many good things about Moras, I really need to get my hands on one of their laminated blades and one of their 12C27Mod blades.
 
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