If you’re a knife user or a knife maker, you probably heard about the Sandvik Steels, if not take a look, they have some great steels for your knife. One of its steels is the 14c28n, that got my attention while trying to buy an entry-budget folding knife. Therefore I decided to make a 14c28n Steel Review.
If you wish to know more about the 14c28n Steel, just continue reading this blog post, I did some research and answered some common questions (like “What is it?” ‘What is its chemical composition?” “What is its hardness?” “How hard is it?” “Is it good or not?” and other questions) so let us dive in!.
14c28n is stainless steel made by the Swedish company Sandvik, it’s mainly made for knives, it’s high in Chromium for great corrosion resistance.
Quick History: In fact, 14c28 is an upgrade of the 13C26 “Kershaw asked Sandvik to make their 13C26 steel more resistant to corrosion and the result was 14C28N”.
14c28n steel composition
- 0.62% of Carbon: It improves hardness and wear/corrosion resistance, but a high amount of it decreases strength.
- 14% of Chromium: For tensile strength and Edge retention, and enhances corrosion resistance and wear resistance.
- 0.11% Nitrogen: Improves strength and edge retention.
- 0.6% of Manganese: Increases hardness and brittleness.
- 0.2% Silicon: Improves Strength.
- 0.025% of Phosphorus: Increases strength.
- 0.01% of Sulfur: Increases machinability.
As you can see, the chemical composition of the 14c28 has a high level of Chromium (14%), which makes the steel stainless.
14c28n steel hardness (Rockwell Hardness)
The hardness of 14c28n steel is 55-62HRC.
If you wish to know more about “Rockwell Hardness” Or “HRC”, you can read this blog post where I made a clear definition of it.
14c28n steel properties
According to the chemical composition and the HRC of the steel, the 14c28n Steel has the following features:
14c28n Edge Retention: 14c28n Steel offers good edge retention with a maximum hardness of 62Hrc, and the mixture of Chromium and Carbon.
14c28n Corrosion Resistance: With 14% of Chromium 14c28n steel offers great corrosion resistance.
14c28n Wear Resistance: Good wear resistance due to carbon and Manganese.
14c28n Sharpness: Even being hard steel is easy to sharpen.
14c28n Toughness: all low-mid entry steels are even focused on offering good toughness and hardness or good corrosion resistance and hardness, our 14c28 is offering hardness and corrosion resistance, which comes at the cost of toughness, so we can say it has a decent toughness.
14c28n steel equivalent
14c28n is very close to the Japanese AUS 8 Stainless Steel, their chemical composition is quite similar, they are both great for edge retention and corrosion resistance, they have a decent toughness, and they’re very famous in kitchen knives.
Is 14c28n steel good for Knives?
In general, the answer is YES, it’s a good steel for your knife, but it depends on which knife. If you’re talking about chef/kitchen knives, 14c28n would be a great pick thanks to its high corrosion resistance and edge retention. It would be great for an EDC knife with a normal usage, but if you’re looking for a tough steel for your outdoor experience camping, hunting or hiking, the 14c28n would be a good steel. But not the best choice, there are other steels with higher toughness (carbon steels for example) that would suit your usage.
Best 14C28N Knives
Kershaw Leek
The pocket knife from Kershaw comes in two steels, the 14C28N and the CMP 154 ( the CMP 154 is a bit expensive), now if you noticed the Kershaw is very famous, if not it means you don’t have enough knives reviewers on youtube (good for you), this knife just went viral, why? Because it’s cheap, efficient, strong and great in ergonomics, let me explain my self with more specs, first the Drop point plain edge blade; very sharp, high corrosion resistance and holds an edge for a good amount of time, second the ergonomics (oh boy this the best part), Kershaw did a mix between simplicity and efficiency in the design, a simple design with an index finger choil and a thumb ramp in stainless steel handle, and let’s not forget about the strong frame lock and the speed assisting opening system, (yeah a lot of good stuff), and all of this for a very, very reasonable price, great job Kershaw, well done.
14C28N VS Steel
In this section, we’re going to compare our steel with other steels, and for this, I use four criteria; Edge Retention, Corrosion resistance, Ease of Sharpness, and Toughness, and I use a scale or note from 1 to 10.
14C28N VS VG10
| 14C28N | VG10 | |
|---|---|---|
| EDGE RETENTION | 3/10 | 5/10 |
| EASE OF SHARPNESS | 6/10 | 6/10 |
| CORROSION RESISTANCE | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| TOUGHNESS | 6/10 | 4/10 |
VG10 has higher edge retention, slightly lower toughness and the same level of corrosion resistance compared to the CTS BD1 steel.
14C28N VS 8CR13MOV
| 14C28N | 8CR13MOV | |
|---|---|---|
| EDGE RETENTION | 3/10 | 1/10 |
| EASE OF SHARPNESS | 6/10 | 8/10 |
| CORROSION RESISTANCE | 7/10 | 6/10 |
| TOUGHNESS | 6/10 | 6/10 |
8CR13MOV has lower edge retention, the same level of toughness, and slightly lower corrosion resistance compared to the CTS BD1 steel.
14C28N VS S30V
| 14C28N | S30V | |
|---|---|---|
| EDGE RETENTION | 3/10 | 5/10 |
| EASE OF SHARPNESS | 6/10 | 5/10 |
| CORROSION RESISTANCE | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| TOUGHNESS | 6/10 | 6/10 |
S30V has higher edge retention, the same level of toughness and corrosion resistance compared to the CTS BD1 steel.
14C28N VS 420HC
| 14C28N | 420HC | |
|---|---|---|
| EDGE RETENTION | 3/10 | 2/10 |
| EASE OF SHARPNESS | 6/10 | 7/10 |
| CORROSION RESISTANCE | 7/10 | 6/10 |
| TOUGHNESS | 6/10 | 6/10 |
420HC has slightly lower edge retention, the same level of toughness and corrosion resistance compared to the CTS BD1 steel.
14C28N VS D2
| 14C28N | D2 | |
|---|---|---|
| EDGE RETENTION | 3/10 | 3.5/10 |
| EASE OF SHARPNESS | 6/10 | 4/10 |
| CORROSION RESISTANCE | 7/10 | 4/10 |
| TOUGHNESS | 6/10 | 6/10 |
D2 has slightly better/same edge retention, the same level of toughness, and lower corrosion resistance compared to the CTS BD1 steel.
14C28N VS 440C
| 14C28N | 440C | |
|---|---|---|
| EDGE RETENTION | 3/10 | 2.5/10 |
| EASE OF SHARPNESS | 6/10 | 7/10 |
| CORROSION RESISTANCE | 7/10 | 7/10 |
| TOUGHNESS | 6/10 | 5/10 |
440C has slightly lower/same edge retention, lower toughness, and the same level of corrosion resistance compared to the CTS BD1 steel.
Conclusion
All in all, 14c28n is a great steel for knives, I personally really appreciate it, being low-end steel that offers great corrosion resistance, edge retention and good toughness. That’s a great trade compared to its price, especially if you’re a chef or enjoy to have “chef knife” in your kitchen. 14c28n will bring a great cutting experience to your kitchen, so if you intend to own one, I highly recommend it.
As usual, if you have another opinion about the 14c28n steel, feel free to leave a comment below.
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