420hc. Good? Bad?

M

MMehrtens

Joined
Jan 30, 2018
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Ok. I have heard horror stories about the "cheaoer" steels like 5cr15, 7cr17, aus6,420hc, etc etc.. so i stay away from them in favor of the more midgrade to high end side of the spectrum. However I received a buck selkirk fixed blade as a gift for helping a buddy out when his motorcycle was broken. The package says its 420hc and buck claims its heat treat makes it better than just any run of the mill 420hc out there.. the package also claims it was designed for rough outdoors use.. i like the knife. Its attractive, has nice grips. Nice satin finish on the blade. Could be a contender for a new EDC. My concerns are is that I'm pretty rough on my edc. I use it for everything from cutting steak to cutting open cardboard to stripping wire if necessary. I also throw it at trees if the mood strikes me.. the blade material I have now is good ole 440c. So my question is what's this 420hc gonna perform like? Edge retention? Durability? I'm not very familiar with it.
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It's a decent hard use steel in my experience (Gerber Prodigy). It won't hold an edge as long as AUS8, but is relatively easy to get back to a good edge. It's probably ideal for the type of hard use you described.
 
Its fine steel. I've used similar steels to cut thousands of feet of cardboard and they can still cleanly slice notebook paper. Sharpen at a lower angle with a coarser stone for greater edge holding, like a coarse Norton India stone at 10 degrees per side (dps). Use a higher angle and finish for more edge durability, like 18 or 20 dps with a fine ceramic, 4000 grit waterstone, or even stropped finish.
 
i have a buck 119 and gerber strongarm, they are pretty good knives for the money. Steel is tough easy to sharpen works good for general use. Buck has real good heat treat process too.
 
From what I understand the chinese Bucks don't use the Bos heat treat, so it won't be as good as a US made Buck in 420hc, but will still be a good, useable steel.
 
Buck's 420HC works just fine, at least it does as long as you're not a steel snob who develops psychological issues at the idea of carrying anything less than "super".

I have piles of expensive knives and this plastic Buck in 420HC is one of my most used knives lately:

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Buck’s 420hc was the gold standard “back in the day.”
My father and I spent many a day in the woods with our 420hc Bucks.
It gets stupid sharp with relative ease, & I’m not a great sharpener.
My dad used to carry a small steel that he’d use if processing a lot of game. I just keep mine going with a few passes on a Sharpmaker.

I think it’s tough and holds an edge well enough.
 
soc_monki said:
From what I understand the chinese Bucks don't use the Bos heat treat, so it won't be as good as a US made Buck in 420hc, but will still be a good, useable steel.
Click to expand...

That's been tossed around the internet a lot. It uses their same heat treat and sports the BOS logo right on the Buck page.

I have a pile of 420HC from Buck and others. As someone already said, for what you describe, it should work fine.
 
It seems fairly tough, enough edge retention to get by too and stainless and easy to sharpen.
Decent steel with good HT.

But that's not high end or high performance steel by any means. There are steels that are much tougher while holding better edge and are even more stain resistant.

But there are also worse than that, like 3cr... 420J or 4034.

Buck is solid performer for the money. But I would personally not suggest 420HC over some other better budget steels we have out there.
 
I'm not usually big on marketing and claims, but Buck's heat treat really delivers. Bucks 420HC is absolutely good to go. But in a random no-name brand, I might be more wary of it.

I have multiple buck knives in 420HC. It might not excel in any one area like the most expensive of the latest and greatest supersteels, but it's a great allrounder that sharpens up easily.
 
420hc is fine user steel. I hate on Buck for their crappy fit and finish but they probably have the best example of this steel. I had one of the 420HC Kershaw Links that I used to practice sharpening with.
 
It’s definitely fine if it’s free and you are apt to sharpen as needed. Buck in general turn out better 420HC than other companies do, but there are inherent limitations to what even quality heat treating can do.

When it comes to heat treats, a well done one can get the best from a steel, and also totally ruin it but there are also limits on how “good” performance can be of an alloy. 420HC is never going to outperform S90V in wear resistance of the same knife when both are properly treated, it’s just not possible based on things like vanadium carbide content etc.
 
when i was in produce i used a buck 110 for some time, while i got some rainbow discoloration from all the roots and fruits i cut, it kept its edge for months, which included cutting through waxy cardboard, its a wonderful steel. i would suggest keeping it oiled however
 
it works. sharpens easily much like a carbon steel does. okay corrosion resistance. i dont mind it as a user. polishes nicely to a mirror. overall not bad but nothing special.

no cutting tool should be used to throw at trees. they heat treat and setup the geometry for it to be a decent cutter. not for a throwing knife. get a throwing knife, if thats your thing. setup very differently than a cutter. better steel or worse throwing isn't what a knife is for unless its designed and built to do that. 440c included in that. otherwise it will break eventually.
 
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