What we carry in 8Cr13MoV
8Cr13MoV is a Chinese stainless widely treated as the compositional twin of AUS-8, and it turns up everywhere on budget and mid-price folders and multi-tools. It sharpens easily and resists rust well. Published hardness spans 55 to 62 HRC, most often 58 to 60, so the maker's heat treat matters more than the alloy name on the box.
| Type | stainless (Chinese GB standard) |
|---|---|
| Made by | Generic Chinese mill grade; treated as a domestic analog of AUS-8. |
| Composition | C ~0.80%Cr 13-14.5%Mo ~0.15%V ~0.10% |
| Hardness | 55-62 (commonly shipped around 58-60) HRC |
| Edge retention | Fair to good; a well-regarded value steel that outperforms lower Cr-Mo Chinese grades. |
| Toughness | Good for its class, forgiving to sharpen. |
| Corrosion resistance | Good, solid mid-chromium stainless. |
| Where it sits | Ubiquitous entry-tier stainless on budget/mid folders and multi-tools; considered the compositional twin of AUS-8. |
| On this site right now | 88 listings covering 69 distinct models, $13.49 to $56.03. Brands: Kershaw (87), Buck (1). |
Search this steel and you get metallurgy. Look at the shelf and you get a brand list. Of the 88 live listings tagged 8Cr13MoV in the warehouse, 87 are Kershaw. The single exception is a Buck, the Haxby Linerlock CF. Those listings cover 69 distinct models, so what you are actually looking at is one company's overseas catalog, sorted by price.
That should change how you read the steel. Almost nobody walks in asking for 8Cr13MoV by name. People ask for an assisted opener at a certain price, a cleaver profile framelock, a light second knife for the truck, and this alloy arrives attached to the answer. It is a cost decision the manufacturer made long before you got there. Knowing what that decision bought you is the useful part.
The line you will read everywhere is that 8Cr13MoV is China's answer to Japan's AUS-8, near enough on paper to be called its compositional twin. On paper, it holds up. Carbon runs to roughly 0.80%, the chromium sits mid range for a stainless, and molybdenum and vanadium come in at the low tenths of a percent.
What a shared recipe cannot cover is everything that happens after the ingredients. Different mills, different furnaces, different grinding lines, different tolerance for a bad batch. So the AUS-8 comparison is a fair starting point (if you got along with an AUS-8 blade, you will probably get along with this) and a poor guarantee. The chart is the same. The knife in your hand was still made by whoever made it.
Here is the figure that reframes the whole steel. Blades in this alloy ship anywhere from 55 to 62 HRC, with most production landing between 58 and 60. Seven points is a wide gate for one name, wider than the gap people argue over when they compare two different steels.
Hardness is not set by the recipe. It is set by heat treat, and the alloy sets a ceiling the factory decides where to land under. Two blades at opposite ends of that band are both honestly labeled 8Cr13MoV, so the name alone will not tell you where a given run came out. What holds across the whole band is the alloy's own character: edge retention that is fair to good, toughness that is good for a value steel, and an edge that comes back without a fight.
Nobody in this building measures the hardness of an individual knife, and no listing anywhere should be read as a measurement. Treat the steel line on a spec sheet as a family name.
The upside of a modest alloy shows up on the stone. Vanadium sits at roughly 0.10%, and this is a forgiving steel to sharpen, so ordinary gear cuts it: a ceramic rod, a diamond plate, whatever is already in your drawer. A dull edge comes back in minutes rather than in a session, and you can learn to freehand on it without ruining anything expensive. That forgiveness is a real feature, not a consolation prize.
Corrosion is where the chromium earns its place. At 13 to 14.5%, this sits properly in stainless territory and will take sweat, rain and a wet cutting board without complaining. Stainless is a resistance rating, though, not immunity. Salt, acidic food residue and days shut in a damp pocket will still mark it. Wipe it dry, put a drop of oil in the pivot now and then, and it stays clean.
Plenty of these blades ship coated anyway. BlackWash, black oxide, gray PVD and Carbonitride Titanium finishes all turn up across the Kershaw listings here. Kershaw says its coatings and finishes give the metal surface some protection against scratches, wear and corrosion. The cutting edge itself is bare steel the moment it is sharpened, so it wants the same wipe down as any uncoated knife.
Two comparisons come up more than any others around this alloy. The first is whether D2 is worth the upcharge, which is really a semi stainless tool steel set against a true stainless value steel, and the two behave differently enough that the trade is worth reading through before you pay it. The second is why a Kershaw costs more than a bargain bin knife that looks similar in a photo. That comparison is usually Swedish 14C28N, a mid tier stainless a step up from this one, set against this steel. Go further and you reach premium Japanese stainless such as VG-10, which is the comparison behind the question of why a similar shaped folder can cost three times as much.
If you would rather shop than read, the best 8Cr13MoV value knife guide works through the current shelf listing by listing. The rest of the alloys, including the ones sitting closest to this one, are in the Steel Lab.
Classic budget-tier-up comparison: semi-stainless tool steel vs true stainless value steel, the most common 'is D2 worth the upcharge' question.
Entry-tier vs premium Japanese stainless, a common 'why does this knife cost 3x more' comparison.
Swedish mid-tier stainless vs Chinese budget stainless, most common 'why is this Kershaw pricier than that Ozark-tier knife' comparison.
The value steels behind two big budget shelves: Buck's 420HC, run under Buck's own heat treat, and Kershaw's 8Cr13MoV, the Chinese GB grade treated as a domestic analog of AUS-8.
Two Chinese GB value stainless steels that Kershaw puts on different kinds of knife: 7Cr17MoV on traditional multi-blade pocket knives, 8Cr13MoV on value linerlocks and framelocks. The verified records rate 8Cr13MoV ahead on edge holding and 7Cr17MoV ahead on corrosion resistance.
The figures on this page are the published specification ranges for the alloy, cross-checked against manufacturer datasheets and independent metallurgical references. They describe the steel, not any one knife. Hardness in particular is a range a mill and a knifemaker work inside, and Knives Now does not test the heat treat of individual knives, so nothing here is a claim about what a specific listing measures.
Cross-checked against the sources above. Figures verified 2026-07-19.
