12C27 for fillet knives

bladegrinder

bladegrinder

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
May 4, 2013
Messages
346
I'm looking to start making fillet knives, I normally use CPM154 for hunters and skinners but can't find it in thin barstock and my old sanford surface grinder only has like 5" of travel that I use for folders, so looking around I'm thinking 12C27 might be a good steel, the thin stock is easily available, although I've never used it. so I'm looking for opinions on this steel, edge holding, flexibility and corrosion resistance with mirror and satin belt finishes. anyone here use this steel for fillet knives?
I'm in Florida so they will be seeing salt water. Thanks.
 
Dont know anything about 12c27. However i started out making filet knives out of D2, they hold an edge great and haven't experienced any edge chipping especially from that initial plunge cut down to the backbone then that rotation of the blade to follow it down to the tail. And i like running D2 in the higher HRC range. Being on the coast in south Louisiana I have noted small rust spots on the blades, even after washing with soap and drying after fish detail. But They sure do beat the sh*t out of the white handle dexter russels we find often around here. Testing and Tooling up to try s35vn and most recently thinking of AEB-L. Good luck!
 
Last edited:
My personal fillet knife I made from 52100 and it's amazing. I filleted 7 walleye the other day and it was still hair shaving sharp. Never used 12c27 but it's on my radar for future use. Should work good but acording to my research it's not a high performance steel. I'm also thinking my go to stainless will be AEB-L, 12c27 is attractive because it's cheep but don't let price be the driving factor unless your making a budget knife.
 
12C27 is a fine steel for a fillet knife, if you want stainless. I use W2 for the knives we use here.



 
JTknives said:
My personal fillet knife I made from 52100 and it's amazing. I filleted 7 walleye the other day and it was still hair shaving sharp. Never used 12c27 but it's on my radar for future use. Should work good but acording to my research it's not a high performance steel. I'm also thinking my go to stainless will be AEB-L, 12c27 is attractive because it's cheep but don't let price be the driving factor unless your making a budget knife.
Click to expand...
I would not put Sandvic 12C27 in the budget knife category. It is a high quality steel & very fine grain for a SS steel.
 
The late, much-missed Butch Winter, who penned The Steel Bin in Tactical Knives (also much missed), thought highly of 12C27. I saved his column, "12C27: A Steel That Gets No Respect" from a couple of decades ago. It is a fine-grained steel that, "properly heat-treated, is a steel to be reckoned with", Winter concluded. I believe it has been widely used in fillet knives and commercial cutlery.
 
12C27 and AEB-L are the same steel from different foundries, Sandvik and Uddeholm (AFAIK the former copied it from the latter). I use a close relative of 12C27, 14C28N which is almost the same alloy with nitrogen added for increased corrosion resistance.


Pablo
 
If I were to ever use a stainless steel for kitchen or fillet knives it'd be Sandvik 12C27.

But I may never use any stainless blade steel.
 
I think I came across wrong in how I worded my last post. I was not meaning to say 12c27 was a budget steel. I was saying don't go off steel price alone in picking steel unless your trying to hit a price point. But that being said 12c27 is a very reasonably priced stainless compared to others out there. That's all I ment to say

Acording to my numbers AEB-L is not 12c27 its 13c26.
 
JTknives said:
I think I came across wrong in how I worded my last post. I was not meaning to say 12c27 was a budget steel. I was saying don't go off steel price alone in picking steel unless your trying to hit a price point. But that being said 12c27 is a very reasonably priced stainless compared to others out there. That's all I ment to say

Acording to my numbers AEB-L is not 12c27 its 13c26.
Click to expand...
Much better said.
 
Here's another vote for 12C27 as a good steel. I personally like 14C28N better, but it's hard to find in thin selections. Both work good!!

Ken H>
 
Thanks for all the replies guys, I have a friend who runs a charter boat, so he'll get the first one for testing. if all's good I'm sure I'll sell a lot of these in my area. I'll also try some neck knives and some steak knives for the house. the steel should be here next week.
 
Don Hanson III said:
12C27 is a fine steel for a fillet knife, if you want stainless. I use W2 for the knives we use here.



Click to expand...
Nice looking knife Don,
Is that linen micarta used for the handles? Also how well does W2 hold up in saltwater use?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
 
Big_TM said:
Nice looking knife Don,
Is that linen micarta used for the handles? Also how well does W2 hold up in saltwater use?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Thanks Travis. This is very old micarta and appears to be paper based. W2 will hold up to saltwater like any other carbon steel, 1084, 1095, 52100, 5160, ect. I used carbon knives in the commercial fishing business in N Florida around saltwater and never has any rust issues at all. But I did take care of the knives, kept them rinsed off and dry.
 
Just to clear things up, 13c26 is sandviks version of aebl. 12c27 has slightly lower carbon content and 14c28n has slightly higher carbon content.
 
Well, I can't comment on the knife making aspect, but the Enzo necker knives are made from 12c27 afaik as well as some mora and some laguioles.
Both the necker and the mora take a wicked sharp edge and are excellent for edc use. Curious how it works with the fillet knife.
 
My only gripe with aebl , (that is similiar enough to 12c27) is that doesnt hold an edge too long. For someone that knows how to sharpen that is no big deal. But I do get a few of my family/friends always buggin me to sharpen their knives and sometimes I wish I just used something higher wear resistance. So If you know who the user is going to be you might want to take that into consideration.
 
timos- said:
My only gripe with aebl , (that is similiar enough to 12c27) is that doesnt hold an edge too long. For someone that knows how to sharpen that is no big deal. But I do get a few of my family/friends always buggin me to sharpen their knives and sometimes I wish I just used something higher wear resistance. So If you know who the user is going to be you might want to take that into consideration.
Click to expand...

...maybe another way to look at it is 12c27 is a great choice for people who "can't sharpen" knives well. I use 12c27 in my military "hard use" stainless knives and a small part of this is that although it doesn't hold an edge any better than 52100 or 1095 it's on par or at least it's in the same ballpark with them, so it's middle of the road for edge holding, BUT... and this is a big but, due to it's fine grain structure it's just easy to resharpen as those carbon steels and is for all intensive purposes every bit as tough. I get blades made of 440c (when I used to use 440c) and CPM 154 back from guys all the time to resharpen because it's "too hard to sharpen" ...never had that with 12c27. From what I have read and experienced, good old 12c27 is basically the closest thing to a simple carbon steel you can get that is stainless. it's very tough for a stainless, holds a decent edge and is easy to resharpen... all great attributes to a knife for the average user concerned with maintenance.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top