camillus marine combat vs. Buck General fixed blade

W.T. Beck,
I agree with alot of what you have said here but I think that in everyday use you will not notice alot of cutting difference.
I have a Spyderco Rescue with ATS-55 and a Schrade LB7 with "Schrade+" steel (whatever that is?).
Both knives get a fair amount of use and the only difference I can tell is that the ATS-55 stains easier, and the Schrade dulls quicker.

I honestly think alot of the "superior steel" claims are just marketing hype to sell knives.
If you stick with a proven company (like Buck, Schrade, Camillus, Spyderco, Benchmade, Victorinox, Wenger) you really can't buy a bad knife.
About any of these would be better steel than our forefathers used to settle this land, explore the world, and fight wars.

Good luck,
Allen.
 
Hello again, allenC,

I think one factor at work here is the natural tendency most people have to want the best of a particular product, even though a less expensive alternative might be good enough for their needs. After all, couldn't the guys who drive Mercedes get around just as well in Toyotas ?

Have you ever heard of a Swiss watch brand called Patek Phillipe ? They claim to make the best watches in the world, with the least expensive model going for around $9,000, last I checked.
Much of the high price is due to the fact the Patek Phillipe watches are entirely hand made, with the simplest one taking more than 100 hours to make.

Now one can find a Swiss watch, such as a Rolex or Cartier, that looks just as good as a Patek Phillipe for thousands less. And if you just need to tell time, a $20 Timex will do. Still people who can afford them buy Patek Phillipe's and similar brands. I think there is a certain pride in ownership that comes with owning the best, even though there is no real practical value in it.
 
Here is a quote from Cliff Stamp in an interesting thread on stainless steels:

In general AISI 420HC is probably the baseline for tough use stainless as it has a very high toughness and ductility for a stainless steel. I would be curious if S30V was greater actually, it shouldn't if it was a normal steel, but the CPM process produces inherently tougher and more ductile steels. The problem with such steels like AISI 420HC is that you give up a lot of Class I edge retention to do well in Class III, S30V should handle both very well.
Click to expand...

It seems that the main difference between 420HC and more expensive stainless steels is in the area of edge holding. Mr. Stamp mentions two categories of edge holding, depending upon how the edge is worn. "Class I" is the category where the edge is reduced by blunting. "Class II" is the case where the edge is reduced by abrasion. Some steels do better in one category than another. The type of wear depends upon the material being cut. Mr. Stamp gave the example of 1095 steel having excellent edge retention when cutting wood, which is not an abrasive material. It fares much worse when cutting abrasive materials. Thus, 1095 is better in "Class I" than in "Class II" edge retention.

Of course, these differences do not settle the question of what is "good enough". A knife made from 420HC might be just fine for someone who doesn't mind sharpening a knife more often, or doesn't use a knife enough to require frequent sharpening. It all depends on what the user needs and wants.
 
Well, I guess this has turned into another "best steel" thread (as if there were'nt enough of those).
But anyway, the Mercedes-Toyota comparison does not apply to what we are talking about. After all, the largest Mercedes sedan (S600) can be had with a V-12 362hp engine, while the Avalon only has a V-6 210hp engine. That is a difference that anyone will notice with just one test drive.
I also don't think the expensive watch anology applies. Just because something is handmade with 100's of man-hours does not mean that it will perform better than a watch made by machines in 1 hour.
Would individually hand-made nails hold a house together better than mass-produced machine-made nails?
I think it is a fallacy to equate "the best" with "the most expensive".
Sometimes you do get what you pay for, but sometimes you just pay more for a name.
If you equate "the best" with man-hours, hand crafting, and exotic steel, then you would'nt even be looking at the Buck or the Camillus.

Unlike the Mercedes-Toyota, I can find no real cutting-performance advantage of one over the other. But the Buck does have a rust-maintenance advantage over the Camillus that can't be denied.

Of course this is just my opinion.
If one works better for you than the other then it is 100% the right choice for you. And nobody can argue against that.
Different strokes for different folks...

Good luck,
Allen.
 
Hello AllenC,

I think you might have misunderstood my comparisons. I didn't mean that a Toyota and a Mercedes are equivalent in all respects. I was just pointing out that no one really needs a fancy car to get to work or go shopping. Same with the watches. You can tell time and get a very handsome watch for less than the price of the most expensive brands.

I have gotten the impression that alot of people consider knives made with 420HC, which is what Buck, Case, Camillus, and others are using now for moderately priced knives, is good enough for most requirements. Likewise, I think a Toyota is a good enough car for most people, and that a Rolex looks as good and keeps time just as well as a Patek Phillipe watch costing three times more. Many more people think a Timex or Seiko is all the watch they need.

I didn't really have your comparison of 1095 to 420HC in mind when I wrote the post. I was just trying to understand why alot of people are satisfied with 420HC, while others condemn it.
 
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