Sandvik 14C28N vs. ...

[Bigfattyt]

I have two customs in AEBL. I love the steel.great balance of performance characteristics.

 

[Hashishiin]

When did Douk-Douk upgrade to 14C28N?? What HRC? I see the message on their webpage now, I had no idea they switched. Very very cool. I just picked up a Boker Atlas in 12C27 because I considered it a significant upgrade over a Mercator or Douk-Douk, too.

Edit: Their website says 50-53 HRC, I wonder if that's possibly true after they switched steels. That'd be quite the waste. Maybe just forgot to update that value.

I did not expect it either, when I bought the knife, I thought it would just be carbon steel. Evidently, the "Le Colours" series is 14C28N, because I was happily surprised to see that embossed across the tang when my red one arrived. You know how all the classic knives like K55, Opinel, do stainless versions? This is Douk-Douk doing theirs, though they do have a couple more stainless variations, that may or may not be 14c as I have not owned 'em yet.

I do not think a company like M.C Cognet would "forget to heat treat", though, and then publish the results? That seems absolutely nanners. I have kind of been preoccupied with some other knives, but I am glad to start carrying, cutting with, and touching up my 14c Douk-Douk so as to try to tell if the steel is properly heat-treated or not. I have faith in my boys in Thiers.

Will it be mostly during the sharpening that I will notice.... things about heat treatment? Or will it tend to roll if it is really that soft? My testing is going to be just, cutting up every-day normal things with it until I feel it dulls, and touch up on a Sharpmaker like I would any other knife.

https://imgur.com/a/oQr4NbA

 

[Rufus1949]

All my knives from the French region of Thiers come with 14C28.
These usually arrive dull as a butter knife but sharpen to a wicked edge with no effort.

 

[Hal]

14C28N is a marvelous material.

So good in fact, you tend to forget it's stainless and not real steel .

It's just about everything you could ask for in a metal that resembles steel, but, doesn't rust that easy.

 

[justjed]

If 14C28N was the ONLY stainless alloy available, I'd not feel slighted......