How good is 420 steel?

[mole]

How good is 420 steel? I've had a few knives with it and so far I'm not impressed. I've got a Gerber with 420. It's harder to sharpen than I like and doesn't keep a edge well enough for my tastes. I've got a Buck 119 that I believe is 420 as well, but the edge chips. My 8Cr13MoV steel Spyderco Byrd EDC has no trouble beating these blades in performance.

I've got a Case that I think is 420 as well. It sharpens nice and cuts very well. Because of it's thin blade and the fact that it's a slip joint I haven't put it to hard use---mainly just trimming calluses and strings---so I don't know how it will hold up. I feel that this Case steel is good though.

The reason I ask this is because I've been thinking about getting a Buck 110 which is 420HC. I've read references to Buck's 420 having a good heat treat and producing a nice blade, but the 119 I bought about 10 years ago just isn't up to par. The Gerber and Case show that this steel can produce both poor and good knives. Is the Buck 110 in 420HC a good performer with me just happening to get a dog for the 119 or is 420 in general doomed to mediocrity?

No recommendations to get so and so higher priced stainless steel please. When it's time to get down to work I'll grab a good ole 1095 carbon steel blade and be done with it.

Thanks,
John

 

[Mp7]

I´ve bought several "Herbertz" folders made from 420 recently.

They were big sturdy knives - and cheap as chips, so i bought 48 of them

After some research and some use i must say, that the term "Tool-steel"
fits it nicely. Very sturdy material from what i´ve seen.
My blades are heavy... and will not break....

but the edge is definitely not the sharpest and not very easy to
sharpen for an amateur like me.

For a knife you love and edc - nay.
For a tool... for camping, car, toolbox etc it´s
a good material. ( as long as it is a cheap buy)

i only paid like 4$ per knife,
so i´m happy with these 5inch very heavy blades.


For a real edc pocketknife... no way.

 

[hso]

420J is not a tool steel. It is a low grade "stainless" used for inexpensive knives.

HC variants are actually a reasonable blade steel.

 

[bikerdoc]

Any 420 variant is not on my recommended list
minimum of 440 C for the tool box etc.
lately i have been impressed by the spyderco native in S30V - 39 dollars
at the big W or the tenacious in 8CR13moV

 

[SGR]

Bucks 420HC is a much better steel and nobody does a better job of heat treating. I have many Buck knives and have never had a problem with chipping. You can buy a Buck 110 from either Cabelos or Bass Pro Shop with SV30 steel, but they are much more money.

 

[hso]

Gotta agree with SGR. Bos heat threat + good edge geometry for 420HC makes for a good blade that will get hair popping sharp.

420J is just low end junk.

 

[alaskanativeson]

I'll admit, I've not had Bos heat treat anything with 420 for me. I don't doubt that if anyone can do it, he can.

That said, I've never had anything in 420 that I considered carrying in anything but an emergency role. I don't have a problem with putting one in a cabin in the woods that I'm going to leave there a long time, or in a 72 hour emergency bag, but I wouldn't choose to carry one unless I didn't really have any better choices. I'll admit, I really like some of the super premium stainless these days (S30V, CPM154 etc) but I like carbon. I keep my blades well maintained, and I like the patina a carbon blade picks up with time.

 

[Zeke/PA]

If my info is correct, 420 is a stainless alloy formulated years ago by the cutlery industry using their criteria.
Personally, I think that stainless is a poor choice for ANY knife.
There are too many other choices these days.
Regards, Zeke

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

It's all relative

Looking at it on the bright side, it's a far better material than Og used in the stone age for his hand axes, and far better than Tunga used in the bronze age for his speer points. But it's the lowest end stainless, meaning it's not as good as the lowest end non-stainless (tool) steel, except in the stain-resisting department. Whenever a knife maker wants to put *some* sort of marketing phrase on their blades, but they do not want to put 420, they will instead put "surgical stainless steel" because that impresses some people. Nice to know that your surgeon is cutting on you with inferior steel which dulls quickly - no wonder surgery is so painful to recover from - they've been cutting you up with a dull knife!

 

[hso]

Zeke/PA,

420 HC is what was made for the cutlery industry. The other 420 series steels are not good knife steels.

 

[qwert65]

premium, its cheap steel bc we throw away the blades with every use

 

[mole]

Thanks for all the replies and info guys.

John