Plastic sure will dull 420HC quickly!

[sawman]

A few years ago, my wife was driving down the interstate and ran into a heavy metal pole to where it punctured into the bumper and just barely avoided doing serious damage under the car.

To make a long story short, from time to time, a piece of the plastic cover underneath the car would come loose and drag while driving, as it did a few weeks ago while we were out of town.  I've been carrying my Buck 110 for this very kind of thing, and that day I used it to cut loose another piece of plastic cover and discard it (I'm surprised there's any left - and this was not the first time). 

So now, my knife is dull after that one heavy task and I'm considering upgrading my EDC blade steel.  Thoughts?

[Beerplumber]

That's a toss up, dulled quickly but a quick rub on a diamond file will make it useable again. I'm liking a 154cm blade lately, holds an edge pretty well and isn't a nightmare to quickly throw an edge on. What angle edge are you using? Perhaps a higher angle sharpening would help a bit?


Stay multi my friends

[Styerman]

440C ( well heat treated ) is a great steel . 154CM  is my steel of choice . Benchmade has some good offerings in D2 ( a tad bit less stain ressistant ) . Lots of good steel out there , some of the uber exotic stuff is hard to sharpen , without the right tools .

Chris

[Steinar]

Personally, I sharpen my knives when they are dull, instead of buying new ones. 

Back to the topic, it depends on whether you want stainless or not. If stainless is a necessity, I'd like to mention RWL-34. It's comparable to CPM 154 CM, but from Uddeholm. If you don't have the limitation of only stainless steels, Vanadis 4E has excellent edge retention and great ductility. The problem if you want high edge retention is that ductility starts suffering (chipping). I would probably never use e.g. ZDP-189 for EDC, too brittle for my tastes. I like a knife to bend before it breaks. (Disclaimer: I have knives in Vanadis 4E and RWL-34, but not ZDP-189.)

You haven't told us what you use your knife for, except maintaining your car, so it's hard making any specific recommendations. Then again, it sounds like you are more after new ideas.

That said, most (knife) steels have better edge retention than 420HC. Just remember, all steels are compromises, whatever the knife makers and steel companies try to tell us...

http://zknives.com/ is a nice website for checking up on different types of steel.

[dks]

Buck's 420HC is considered pretty good, due to its heat treat.

I understand that you are cutting pretty tough composite material, possibly with some reinforcing materials in it, so maybe most knives would have lost their edge anyway after that use.
Do not assume you will get a significantly better edge retention with other knives. Also the buck 110 has a pretty thin edge which can get damaged easily when cutting tough material; irrespective of the steel.

Options? I think you can find some 110s with different blade steel, if you want a buck 110.

440C S30V 154 CM etc should at least in theory and with good heat treatment last longer.

Personally I use a Mora or a Martiini with 1095 Carbon steel for harder cutting tasks, though I get the best results on thinner material using a cheap, replaceable blade folding Utility knife, more because of their design than the steel they are made from (which should be pretty low end).