Thoughts on 420HC as Blade Steel

Chariotz4

Chariotz4

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The thread title says it all; I'm wondering what you guys think of the use of 420HC as blade steel. Reading through this forum, it seems the general consensus is that it's simply 'decent', 'ok', or 'not bad' and that for a few dollars more, the upgrade to a different and better steel is generally the better decision (also, it seems that the exception to this rule is the 420HC that Buck uses due to the way they treat their steel). When I purchased my last knife, I actually passed on two knives before setttling on the third because while they felt great in hand and I liked their designs, they had 420HC blade steel (for those curious, I ended up the proud new owner of a Kershaw Blur with the partially serrated tanto blade in black). So again, for moderate/above average use (my EDC knives can see some pretty tough use at my work seeing as I work in a lumber mill), what are your guys' thoughts on 420HC?
 
In a lot of ways I consider 420HC as "stainless steel for carbon steel lovers" in that it delivers fairly similar performance to low alloy carbon steels, but with a stainless aspect added. It gets looked down on a lot by folks who sing the praises of their 1095 blades when 1095 isn't a particularly amazing steel, either, but it has the hype built around it because of the kind of heat treatment usually run on it in outdoor hard use blades being geared towards toughness rather than edge retention, and it's easy to touch up. 420HC isn't much more trouble than 1095 or similar to touch up (takes just a tiny bit longer, but not by a lot) and can be heat treated tough enough to be used for long-bladed heavy wood-chopping machetes without failure. It holds a good enough edge for most work, touches up easily, and is commonly found in budget-friendly designs. The ease of resharpening can be of advantage in hard use environments because there are plenty of things that will dull even the most high-tech blades, and with steel that's easy to fix you're back in the action faster. It's not bad by any stretch--it's just fairly pedestrian. A good, honest, blue-collar steel choice.
 
Buck probably does the best job with 420. I'm not too familiar with others. Easy to sharpen. Decent edge holding. Good price point.
 
I like Buck's 420HC.Use it daily at work,and have for years.Needless to say I am happy with its performance.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
In a lot of ways I consider 420HC as "stainless steel for carbon steel lovers" in that it delivers fairly similar performance to low alloy carbon steels, but with a stainless aspect added. It gets looked down on a lot by folks who sing the praises of their 1095 blades when 1095 isn't a particularly amazing steel, either, but it has the hype built around it because of the kind of heat treatment usually run on it in outdoor hard use blades being geared towards toughness rather than edge retention, and it's easy to touch up. 420HC isn't much more trouble than 1095 or similar to touch up (takes just a tiny bit longer, but not by a lot) and can be heat treated tough enough to be used for long-bladed heavy wood-chopping machetes without failure. It holds a good enough edge for most work, touches up easily, and is commonly found in budget-friendly designs. The ease of resharpening can be of advantage in hard use environments because there are plenty of things that will dull even the most high-tech blades, and with steel that's easy to fix you're back in the action faster. It's not bad by any stretch--it's just fairly pedestrian. A good, honest, blue-collar steel choice.
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Well I guess that I'll be looking at more options the next time I'm in the market for another blade (which will hopefully be soon ;) )!
 
Bucks 420HC is awesome, but then, so is just about everyone elses.

It definitely peaks in Bucks hands, but I've never had any problem with it from other manufacturers. It's a fantastic steel. We just live in a world populated with stuff like CPM M4, so reality has been skewed a little.

Personally, having reprofiled CPM M4, M390, etc on a fairly regular basis I'd rather have something like 420hc on a working knife. Yes, it does need to be touched up more often, but I'd much rather spend 4-5 minutes sharpening it every 3-4 days than an hour and a half every 2 weeks.
 
Chariotz4 said:
Thoughts on 420HC as Blade Steel
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As with so many other parameters in knife design, it depends on your intended use and what you like. IMO it also depends on whose 420HC you use and how hard they run it.

420HC is easy to sharpen. You can sharpen 420HC on a lot of surfaces. Even the bottom of a ceramic coffee cup. So if you are going to be out and away from your more robust sharpening equipment for a length of time, that's a plus.

IMO, 420HC when profiled correctly and run at the high end of its range as Buck does, holds a reasonable edge for a day's work. If you use it infrequently, you may have to touch it up once a week. If you use it frequently every day, you may need to touch it up on a stone day or so. If you use it HARD daily, you may have to touch it up during the day between chores.

IMO, if you are going to use it HARD every day, it might be worth looking at an alloy with better edge retention.

If it were I, I'd use that new Kershaw and see how it holds up to your daily use.
 
BOS heat treat on 420hc (which Buck uses) is superb, but that said, it's still just a decent entry level knife steel.

Resists rust very well. Is pretty dang tough, (for hard use), but the downside is it doesn't hold a sharp edge for very long. The plus side is that it is also very easy to touch up and bring that edge back to life with even the most basic of sharpening systems/stones...

Any steel is pot metal if poorly heat treated, and the more complex the alloy, the trickier the heat treat parameters become, so even cts-xhp, s30v, n690, elmax, m390, etc, can make crappy blades if poorly heat treated...

That all said, I wouldn't shy away from 420hc from a reputable brand, especially for a beater or a novice sharpener to work on technique. Just know it's not going to attain the hardness as other higher end steels, even with a perfect heat treat, and as such, being softer, it will require more frequent sharpenings.
 
Makael said:
Buck probably does the best job with 420. I'm not too familiar with others. Easy to sharpen. Decent edge holding. Good price point.
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So with the lack of familiarity with others, how do you make that assumption?

Sent from my SM-T707V using Tapatalk
 
In a world of modern powdered super steals, 420HC works just fine. Takes a keen edge and will perform all the work of the aforementioned super steels. When it comes time to sharpen, it takes a fraction of the time to get that keen edge back. It's also very "tough," for a stainless steel, and very corrosion resistant.

There are a lot of inexpensive knives that use it, but like mentioned above, Buck gets about as much performance as you're going to see with their heat treat.
 
It works just fine like most other steels for most uses. Unless you have specific needs, any run of the mill steel will work just fine.
 
I've got 420HC on a Leatherman Wave, older version and it's a fine steel for a working knife. No problems keeping sharp and re-sharpening.

Also have a Leatherman Ti Charge with S30V steel and while it's considered a more premium steel, which it is, both work well in the Leathermans though the S30V holds an edge much longer.

With all the newer steels on the market these days, I wouldn't be in any rush to buy a new knife with 420HC. The Buck models might be an exception. However, if you already have one, use it, or come across a 'steal of a knife' at a great price, buy it!
 
to me it's just decent. there are better steels out there now, so I would not even consider a 420hc steel knife myself.
 
knarfeng said:
420HC is easy to sharpen. You can sharpen 420HC on a lot of surfaces. Even the bottom of a ceramic coffee cup. So if you are going to be out and away from your more robust sharpening equipment for a length of time, that's a plus.

IMO, 420HC when profiled correctly and run at the high end of its range as Buck does, holds a reasonable edge for a day's work. If you use it infrequently, you may have to touch it up once a week. If you use it frequently every day, you may need to touch it up on a stone day or so. If you use it HARD daily, you may have to touch it up during the day between chores.
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This. I have used Buck 110's for several different tasks, and my only complaint with their 420HC is that it tends to chip if the blade isn't stropped really good after a sharpening. Note: The chips tend to be really small, so you might not even notice them if you are not looking at your blade obsessively admiring the sharpening job you did.
 
I have it ranked very high as an EDC blade steel. It takes a scary edge rather effortless and is typically used in lower cost blades that I don't mind abusing a little.
 
Since I used a 420HC class steel to cut thousands of feet of cardboard without resharpening, I've not been nearly as impressed with steels that were supposed to be much better. If the rest of the design was right is chose 420HC over some super steels.
 
Does anyone have any experience with Condor machetes in 420hc? It seems like a stainless machete would be very handy especially if it didn't give up much in performance.

I actually like Cold steel machetes so if condor 420hc can keep with Cold steel 1055, it might be what I need.
 
Buck pioneered the cryo heat treatment of 420HC, however any high quality US company has the same great heat treatment on the 420hc

The steel sharpens fantastic holds about the same edge as a plain Western carbon steel.

While 8cr13mov doesn't sharpen as good you get more edge holding from this Chinese budget steel.

Even 440a with great heat treatment will out cut 420HC

But I still love my Kershaw Link, and Buck 110

Awesome blades.
 
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