I want to buy a good pocket knife that is well made and holds an edge. I was wondering which brand is better Kershaw Or Buck. Thank you for any helpful answers
Out of curiosity why did you limit your choices to those two? That's how you narrowed down or that's your starting point?
I assume we're talking about folding knives... It's pretty difficult to tell which one of those is better, if you pick two knives made out of the same steel. E.g. both makers use 13C26 Sandvik steel. It'd be pretty hard to tell which one will hold the edge better. It'd be completely up to you to decide which one.
On the other hand, Buck is more conservative and Kershaw is experimenting more with the new steels and materials.
I haven't seen any high carbon steel in Buck lineup. That is, non stainless carbon steel. The only high carbon steel they have is 154CM, but it's stainless. For the steel, to be considered high carbon it has to have ~1% of Carbon in it. These days manufacturers call whateer they want high-carbon, but that's the metallurgist classification.
Majority of Buck knives are made out of 420HC stainless steel, which isn't that good, especially in folding knives. They also have a few models in Sandvik 13C26 and some in 154CM which is still premium stainless cutlery steel.
Kershaw uses the same Sandvik 14C28N and 13C26, 440A, CPM-D2, 154CM and the newest and hottest CPM-110V. Which to be honest they harden below recommended hardness, 58-61HRC instead of 63HRC.
I suggest you pick the models you like and then compare steel, handle materials and prices.
Knife Steel FAQ will help with steel properties - http://www.zknives.com/knives/articles/knifesteelfaq.shtml
Also, unless you have some specific reason, there is no need to restrict your choice to those two makers.
Take a look here, bunch of folder reviews - http://www.zknives.com/knives/folding/index.shtml
