Is my Chef’s Knife Stainless or not?

R

RedMoose

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Feb 9, 2024
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I need help figuring out if my knife is stainless or not. I got a Chef’s knife as a gift. I found the knife on Amazon and it says that it’s “High Carbon Stainless Steel” but I don’t know if can trust if it’s actually stainless. It also says it’s made of 5Cr15MoV whatever that means. I looked it up and google says that it should be stainless, but I wanted an opinion from an actual person.

Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.com/Professional-Japanese-Stainless-Comfortable-Cocobolo/dp/B0CJ6KZQ96/
(I’m not adverstising)
 
5Cr15Mov/7Cr15Mov are low cost Chinese stainless steels. 8Cr13Mov is generally considered an Aus8 equivalent.
But you can always check if a blade is Carbon steel or stainless by putting a drop of white vinegar
on the blade. if it turns white, it's carbon. If it stays clear it's Stainless. Won't hurt the blade, just wipe it off.
 
KenHash said:
... 8Cr13Mov is generally considered an Aus8 equivalent....
Click to expand...
As is 8Cr14MoV and 8Cr15MoV. There isn't much info out there on 7Cr15MoV but I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't practically the same steel.

Chinese steels generally have fairly wide tolerances:

8Cr13MoV : 0.7-0.8% C; 13-14.5% Cr + small amounts of Mo/V
8Cr14MoV : 0.75%-0.8% C; 13.5-14% Cr + small amounts of Mo/V
8Cr15MoV : 0.7-0.75% C; 13-14.5% Cr + small amounts of Mo/V
AUS-8 : 0.7-0.75% C; 13-14.5% Cr + small amounts of Mo/V
7Cr13 : 0.65-0.75% C; 11-13.5% Cr + small amounts of Mo/V

Etc.
 
chalby said:
As is 8Cr14MoV and 8Cr15MoV. There isn't much info out there on 7Cr15MoV but I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't practically the same steel.

Chinese steels generally have fairly wide tolerances:

8Cr13MoV : 0.7-0.8% C; 13-14.5% Cr + small amounts of Mo/V
8Cr14MoV : 0.75%-0.8% C; 13.5-14% Cr + small amounts of Mo/V
8Cr15MoV : 0.7-0.75% C; 13-14.5% Cr + small amounts of Mo/V
AUS-8 : 0.7-0.75% C; 13-14.5% Cr + small amounts of Mo/V
7Cr13 : 0.65-0.75% C; 11-13.5% Cr + small amounts of Mo/V

Etc.
Click to expand...
Chinese steels are generally "fuzzy", from tolerances to representation in many cases.
Some may be the same, some may be different.
That's why I don't consider a low end Chinese knife worth much metallurgical analysis.
 
KenHash said:
Chinese steels are generally "fuzzy", from tolerances to representation in many cases.
Some may be the same, some may be different.
That's why I don't consider a low end Chinese knife worth much metallurgical analysis.
Click to expand...
OK I get the mistrust, but the foundries generally have specs that they operate under. I haven't heard much talk of customers buying steel from Chinese foundries that ended up being out of spec. The fact that the tolerances tend to be pretty wide mean there aren't huge chances of mistakes.

It's another story altogether for some knife making companies passing off steel that was completely different eg. Eafengrow etc.
 
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