Thread: Japanese white steel

Originally Posted by dedox

im a bladesmith/stock removelist and i was thinking about a general purpose knife made from hatachi white steel that i got from Murray Carter who is also a knifemaker

Forge on, my good man. I can't wait to see the result. I have two Carter knives: one White Steel #1 neck knife (laminated with stainless steel) and a small funayuki in Aogami Super, laminated with stainless. The neck knife is my constant companion. I can't tell you how much my everyday life has improved by having this thing around. From opening mail, boxes, CD's, packages, etc., to cutting a few tastes off some ribs on the grill, to pruning, you name it, this neck knife serves me well.






Cheers,

Jack

okay i'll give it a shot thanks for the advice

Originally Posted by Mike Blue

Blue No. 1 Super Steel is sensitive to temperature control, but not any particular barrier to working the material for a smith with experience. Don't make these out to be magical materials.

As to thin. Hitachi has some rolling mills that make their ability to produce thin sheets a no-brainer. A smith trying to forge thin materials like that by hand would have to be very dedicated, hedging in the direction of foolish. Frankly, they probably would start with a thin sheet and not bother forging the steel down from a big lump unless they wanted to be able to claim they did once. From a practical perspective, it's a huge waste of time and fuel when Hitachi has already done it for you.

Since you know Japanese knives well, the whole point is the thin, artistic slices such blades produce. It's all about the presentation, Neh?

Hi Mike! I don't consider metal to be magical(that's the second time that notion has been connotated towards me), other than say, some of the platinum group elements.

Not to sound petty, but AS steel is a slightly different steel than #1 Aogami.

Not entirely about presentation...but i'm sure that's relevant. The japanese have many different reasons as to why and how they prepare food. But that's great info. Cheers!