Woops, I assumed Greyhound. As I type my to GSD's are trying to get in my lap. I cannotseem to explain to them they are not lap dogs.

Ah well, thought we had another greyhound aficionado on the forums, welcome anyway, and your dog as well!

Any dog can be a lap dog, just ask them...;^)

JohnE

The blade ofthe Pocket Bushman is made of Thyssen Krup 4116. It has been compared to 420HC among others. One poster on blade forum said this, "1.4116 was used by Puma for stainless knives including stainless white hunter. medium carb, quite a lot vanadium and Cr. Hardens at 55-57 HRC It lies somewhere between 440B and 440C." I'm not a steel junky, so I have no opinion. It is cheap, tough, takes and holds enough of an edge to do real work. The Sterling can restore a working edge quickly. It meets the need that I purchased it for. Your mileage may vary.

Thanks for the info, Grahund. It is curious t me that the steel would be labeled 420 series if it is actually TK4116, but what do I know? (not much).

In the 'cheap' category I like and own the Dozier Ka-Bar Hunter folder. It uses Aus-8 steel which is very respectable for the price ($20) and compares to 440B stainless. (rather than the lower carbon 420 series).

Not knocking anyone's choice of knife, just that I am a bit of a geek and shop mainly for metal(steel) when pricing knives. The worst handle can be compensated for with gloves, but an inferior metal simply fails in the task at hand. Hard to sharpen or dulls when looked at wrong. Good steel is a good thing.

The high quality/low cost of the Kabar dozier hunter has been mentioned by several people - including me - in the last few months on this forum. i got mine for $15 on a special amazon.com deal a couple of years ago. I think it's as good as spydercos at two or three times the cost.

We buy them now and give them as gifts.

According to the Cold Steel site, the blade is 4116 and the handle is "420 series". I doubt that it matters much exactly which 420 is used in the handle.

The Pocket Bushman has a 4 1/2" blade compared to the 3" blade on the Dozier Ka-Bar Hunter. Which is preferable depends on what you want to do.

Agreed 100%. What is 'preferable' is largely a matter of individual taste/preferences. I am not going to slam another person's blade.

Having said that there is some real crap out there and sticking with good steels and manufacturers/retailers with a well deserved reputation makes sense. Just last night I put a cheap chinese knock off of a swiss army knife to use and the main blade snapped backward toward me. It was 'locked' in place only by the cheap plastic body of the tool. Fortunately it was a gift and not something I actually spent money on.

The blade was marked (Stainless China). Now, as far as I know there is no stainless steel named 'China'. To me the label just means it is worth less than free because it will break when you need it. Many other steels we can spec out and use and have opinions on, but they are all more or less serviceable.

Personally I would rather get a $20 knife whose steel I was familiar with, but if it works for you then it works for you. No harm in that.