Nitro-V vs 14C28N: Which Budget Blade Steel Is Better?
If you’ve shopped for a pocket knife in the $30 to $100 range lately, you’ve almost certainly run into two steels over and over: Nitro-V and Sandvik 14C28N. They show up on everything from bargain flippers to well-built mid-tier EDC folders, and both get recommended constantly in knife forums as the “smart money” choiceThat’s not a coincidence. These two steels are close cousins, built on the same basic idea, and in a lot of real-world use you’d struggle to tell them apart. But there are differences, and depending on how you carry and use a knife, one may suit you a little better than the other. I’ve carried both, sharpened both, and abused both, so let’s break it down.
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