How Do You Read a Knife Spec Sheet?.

What each of the seven rows states

Each row on a Knives Now spec table lists what the product data for that knife states:

• Blade length: a figure in inches, as the product data for that knife states it.
• Blade steel: the steel, by grade where one is given, then often a finish. Named grades are decoded in what a steel grade name means and profiled in the Steel Lab; the word stainless alone names a family, not a grade; CPM in a grade name is Crucible's trademark for its particle metallurgy process, one route to powder metallurgy steel. A stonewash finish is tumbled with stones, Kershaw and Boker say; a bead blast finish is sprayed with fine media into a matte look, per Kershaw; stonewash or satin is a choice of look; a blade coating is, in Boker's definition, a firmly bonded layer.
• Lock: the mechanism by name, such as Lockback or Linerlock. A slip joint, which Kershaw defines as a knife with no lock, has none to name.
• Handle: the material in the product data's words, such as G10.
• Closed length and Weight: figures, as the product data states them.
• Origin: the country given for that listing; brand answers such as whether Buck is made in the USA cover the maker.

A few tables carry a Pattern row naming one of the traditional pocket knife patterns. A Case description may print a pattern number, which Case reads as handle material, blade count and factory pattern, as reading a Case pattern number explains. Boker says nickel silver, an alloy of copper, nickel and zinc, mainly goes into knife fittings, especially bolsters.

Every row of the Buck 110 Slim Select Lockback OD

The Buck 110 Slim Select Lockback OD, shown below, fills all seven rows. Blade length reads 3.75 in, Closed length 4.88 in and Weight 3.2 oz, as the product data gives them.

Blade steel reads “420HC stainless · stonewash finish”. The grade, 420HC, has a 420HC Steel Lab entry; the finish is stonewash. Lock reads Lockback, the mechanism in the lockback folder guide. Handle reads glass filled nylon, the product data's own words. Origin reads USA.

Hardness, heat treat and edge life have no row

No row gives a hardness, heat treatment or edge retention figure. Buck says heat treatment changes a metal's physical and structural properties but not its chemical composition, so a grade name, which describes composition, cannot record it. Boker says edge retention is determined by blade material, production process and edge geometry, with the user's behavior another major factor. Knives Now does not test or measure knives; the hardness a knife was treated to is its maker's to state.