8Cr13MoV in stock
Yes, for a budget knife: it is the everyday entry-tier stainless on budget and mid-priced folders and multi-tools. 8Cr13MoV is a Chinese GB grade with about 0.8% carbon and 13 to 14.5% chromium, usually shipped at 58 to 60 HRC. It is treated as the compositional twin of Japanese AUS-8: fair to good edge retention, good toughness, and very easy to sharpen.
It hits a genuinely useful point on the curve. Enough carbon to hold a working edge, enough chromium to shrug off ordinary moisture, soft enough to sharpen on anything, and cheap enough to put on a $25 folder.
It clearly outperforms the lower Cr-Mo Chinese grades like 3Cr13 and 5Cr15MoV, which is why it became the default across so much of the budget and mid market.
It will not hold an edge like D2 or a powder steel, and nobody sensible claims otherwise. Against Buck's 420HC, another common budget steel, 420HC vs 8Cr13MoV lays out the trade. What it will do is come back to shaving sharp in two minutes on a basic stone, every time, for years.
Heat treat quality varies more between manufacturers than the alloy does. The same steel on a well-known brand and on an anonymous one are not the same knife.
Everyday carry, work knives, first knives, and anything that gets sharpened by its owner rather than sent away. It is a forgiving steel to learn on.
If you want a step up without a big jump in price, Sandvik 14C28N gives you better toughness and corrosion resistance for a modest premium.
The grid below shows 8Cr13MoV listings from Kershaw, chosen from the catalog when this answer was written. Each one carries 8Cr13MoV in its own specification table, and its price is read from the live catalog every time the site is built.
The full reference entry, with the published composition and hardness range and every listing we carry in it, is 8Cr13MoV in the Steel Lab.