Sandvik 13C26 Stainless Steel for Knife Blades
Sandvik 13C26 Stainless Steel
Manufacturer: Sandvik Materials Technology
Sandvik 13C26 is a cutlery steel manufactured by Sanvik Materials Technology in Sweden. It's said to be designed as a Razor Blade steel, but it is used on plenty of entry levels knives particularly from Kershaw.
The steel has a very high Carbon to Chromium ratio, which allows it to have a very fine grain structure but also reduces its ability to resist corrosion. Since there hasn't been too many widespread cases of Kershaw knives getting rusty, I wouldn't worry too much about it, as it does have better corrosion resistant that say D2 steel. However, it is recommended to be coated if used for an EDC blade.
Generally a step up from the 440A's of the world, but not quite in the VG-10 steel territory. Sandvik 13C26 holds an edge good enough, but it truly excels at taking a fine edge.
Sandvik 13C26 Stainless Steel PDF
Composition
| C | Cr | Mn | Mo | P | Si | S | Ni | V |
| 0.68 | 12.9 | 0.6 | - | - | 0.4 | - | - |