How does this steel compare to other blade steels like 154cm, 440c, AUS-8, etc? I just bought a Kershaw with this blade steel and I am curious about it. I figure it’s a pretty good steel from looking at the make up of it just haven’t had any knives with it before.
I’ve experience with most of Sandvik’s current 1x steels, except for 14C28 :). That is 12C27, 13C26 and 19C27.
As a sharpener I love these steels: they are all very fine-grained. 13C26 is my all-time favourite steel. There is no stainless steel I have gotten sharper than 13C26. It doesn’t have the best wear-resistance, however.
19C27 has better wear-resistance than 13C26, at a slight cost in its ability to take an edge. 12C27 has a little less carbon and is (I think) the budget variety and/or easier to work with. I haven’t been able to get it as sharp as 13C26.
According to zknives 14C28n has a similar composition as 13C26. It has slightly less carbon and 1% more chromium in it (as well as some nitrogen). This is consistent with reports on the internet that it was developed to be a bit more stainless than 13C26. Apparently 13C28n was developed by Sandvik in cooperation with Kershaw; hence you see it almost exclusively in Kershaw knives.
Here is an overview of these steels at the Sandvik site.
It’d be great if someone could give us first-hand reports of 14C28n. I’m curious whether it takes and edge like 13C26 and how its edge retention is.
[Edit: there is no stainless steel I have gotten sharper than 13C26. There are carbon steels, like Hitachi white and blue, that take an even more wicked edge.]
Being a Kershaw fan, I’ve got a few knives in that steel. I’m not good at comparing, but it will take a great high polished edge and hold it well… and it’s easy to touch up when it starts to dull.
I have had a couple of the “bead blast” finishes show rust spots… you’ll see threads on this elsewhere, and I found it to be true. (Which is surprising because it’s supposed to be very corrosion resistant). From what I read, it’s the particular finish that causes this. Doesn’t seem to be a big deal, but something to be aware of.
I think you’ll find it will work well for you!
So far I am liking it. It sharpened up quick and took a really good edge. I am not too sure about the stonewashed finish though, but that’s cosmetic I can deal with it. I got the random task II and with the thin edge it slices and cuts effortlessly, even if all I am doing is cutting the plastic holding 6 pack soda bottles so I can get me one. I have it in my edc rotation with my 2 D2 benchmades. It will be interesting to see how it compares as far as edge holding.