14c28n is... good...?

Shorttime

Shorttime

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Maybe I should pay more attention to steels.

14C28N is supposed to be the "better" version of "stainless 52100".

I've heard the stories of what 52100 can do, when it's had a proper heat-treat cycle. I'm not out here trying to bend my knives ninety degrees or chop through cinder blocks, but having that extra measure of insurance against my own poor decisions would be nice.

The trouble is those four words: "proper heat-treat cycle".

I see this steel featured in knives from Vosteed, Besttech, Real Steel, and Kershaw, among others. My question for the collective consciousness is:

Which companies do a known, good, heat treat on 14C28N?

Or, if you prefer, which companies actually list reliable numbers on Rc?
 
If we talk about some popular fixed blades,

Mora Garberg stainless is 14c28n at ~56-58 HRC according to them. Quite the robust knife it seems.
Victorinox Venture is marked at 59HRC. But the edge is fragile (very thin) so no abuse allowed.
 
I've had good luck with the steel in Kershaw and CIVIVI knives in particular. I have a couple of Vosteed knives in that steel, as well, but I haven't used them enough to get a great feel for their edge retention or anything.

I will say that, having knives in both steels, 52100 definitely seems to hold an edge for longer in my experience. I like 14c28n a lot, not for edge retention, but because it takes a very fine edge very easily. I suppose this is a kind of edge retention, but I can keep a knife in 14c28n very sharp for a very long time just by stropping on some leather every few days and that puts off serious sharpening for a long, long time.
 
You raise a good point. We always hear about how awesome 14C28N is when optimally heat treated, however who's optimally heat treating it? It falls into that strange sort of category where it's a steel that has great potential if heat treated by a top of the line company, however most of the knives that use it are in more of the budget price range, and usually the budget price range knives don't get quite as much love as the higher priced brands. Off the top of my head, I'd say the WE/Civivi gang would probably be one of the best to do 14C28N in the production range. Really, I think to get the full potential out of it, you'd want to go custom, and have the maker give instructions to Bos or Peters on how you want it heat treated. Especially Bos. I've been a big lover of the US made Kershaws for a couple decades, they were the first to ever do it with said steel. They do a good job on the heat treat in my opinion, however they're not necessarily pushing the boundaries on what's possible, and you'd want a maker/heat treater that does.
 
LimpCroissant said:
You raise a good point. We always hear about how awesome 14C28N is when optimally heat treated, however who's optimally heat treating it? It falls into that strange sort of category where it's a steel that has great potential if heat treated by a top of the line company, however most of the knives that use it are in more of the budget price range, and usually the budget price range knives don't get quite as much love as the higher priced brands. Off the top of my head, I'd say the WE/Civivi gang would probably be one of the best to do 14C28N in the production range. Really, I think to get the full potential out of it, you'd want to go custom, and have the maker give instructions to Bos or Peters on how you want it heat treated. Especially Bos. I've been a big lover of the US made Kershaws for a couple decades, they were the first to ever do it with said steel. They do a good job on the heat treat in my opinion, however they're not necessarily pushing the boundaries on what's possible, and you'd want a maker/heat treater that does.
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Or the custom makers could heat treat it themselves.
 
Larrin said:
Or the custom makers could heat treat it themselves.
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I mean... if you want to do it the easy way.....

It's a problem I've become more aware of lately, because there's a bewildering array of steels on the market, but very few companies are putting hardness numbers right out front.

I could just pop for a Busse Game Warden or HACK and call it good, but I don't like taking the easy route.
 
Insipid Moniker said:
I've had good luck with the steel in Kershaw and CIVIVI knives in particular. I have a couple of Vosteed knives in that steel, as well, but I haven't used them enough to get a great feel for their edge retention or anything.

I will say that, having knives in both steels, 52100 definitely seems to hold an edge for longer in my experience. I like 14c28n a lot, not for edge retention, but because it takes a very fine edge very easily. I suppose this is a kind of edge retention, but I can keep a knife in 14c28n very sharp for a very long time just by stropping on some leather every few days and that puts off serious sharpening for a long, long time.
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I agree with this 100%. 52100 will hold an edge longer but 14c28n is no slouch in that department.

It’s easy to put a scary sharp edge on it and it holds the sharpness a long time. Can easily be stropped or steeled back to razorlike. They did that steel right in the Luchas.

1701540550567.jpeg
 
AntDog said:
I agree with this 100%. 52100 will hold an edge longer but 14c28n is no slouch in that department.

It’s easy to put a scary sharp edge on it and it holds the sharpness a long time. Can easily be stropped or steeled back to razorlike. They did that steel right in the Luchas.

View attachment 2410328
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I feel like Busse’s variant of 52100 holds an edge much longer than the other 52100 knives I’ve experienced.
 
The issue of proper heat treatment hits a lot of steels, and not just on the budget end. 14C28N is a great steel with a cool story, but lots of companies have run it softer over the years. While it still works at 55-58HRC and I suppose that optimizes toughness, it still has relatively excellent toughness at higher hardness. That's part of what makes it great as a stainless steel.

Thankfully, there are more companies running it in the 58-60HRC range these days. Forgive me not recalling where but I did recently see some listed in the 59-61HRC range.

As LimpCroissant LimpCroissant mentioned, WE seems to be doing a good job with this steel in their Civivi line.
 
I haven’t used any in a while, but I remember it being better than 8cr13mov. I had a Leek in 14C28N and an Amplitude in 8cr and the Leek held an edge a little longer. They were some of my first knives and I wasn’t stropping back then so I can’t comment on that.
But I do know that CPM-154/S35VN from the same company is done well and blows both of those steels out of the water.
Maybe I would like 14C better now that I have a nice strop and some compounds…maybe someday I’ll give it another shot. People do seem to like it.
 
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