Aogami, or blue paper steel, is basically shirogami steel with chrome and tungsten added to the steel. This is a very popular steel used in forging high end Japanese kitchen knives. Blue Steel No. 1 has the most durable edge due to its hardness.
Aogami(Blue) super steel
Aogami super is the highest quality carbon steel in Japan. It has extremely high hardness and is used for the high class Santoku and Gyuto knives. Depending on the manufacturing process, but most Aogami super knife can be said to be sharp.
SG2 steel has better edge retention, ease of sharpening and corrosion resistance. On the other hand, VG10 is more versatile(all-purpose), lighter and cheaper.
When it comes to making swords and survival knives, 5160 steel is better than 1095 carbon steel, as it's tougher and easier to sharpen. It's also flexible, which is a plus for sword makers. However, 1095 has a superior edge retention,which makes sharpening a breeze.
So in essence, 1095 takes a better edge, but D2 has an element of wear-resistance that might give it an edge.
Our Damascus steel is forged out of the steel sheets of grade AISI 5160 and AISI 4340. AISI 5160 is a high carbon spring steel that contains around 0.60% carbon. It is widely used to produce various types of automotive leaf springs and cutting tools.
Due to a difference in forging techniques, Japanese steel blades contain much more carbon than German blades, making them harder, but also more fragile. Because Japanese-style steel is harder, it's capable of holding an edge longer and doesn't need to be sharpened quite as often as German knives do.
1. RHODIUM: TOP MOST VALUABLE METAL. Rhodium is the most valuable metal and exists within the platinum group of metals.
By the 14 or 1500s, spring steel had been developed in Europe. This would enable a sword to flex rather than break. Japanese swords from the time weren't flexible and were generally more prone to breaking.
Vanadium carbides are among the hardest that form in steel, and chromium carbides are in between iron carbide and vanadium carbide. Steels with very high vanadium content like Vanadis 8, CPM-10V, K390, CPM-15V, etc. have extremely high edge retention.
VG10 Steel vs S30V
VG10, originating from Japan, offers excellent sharpness and durability, with its composition including vanadium, molybdenum, and cobalt. S30V, however, is often favored for its slightly superior edge retention and wear resistance due to its higher vanadium content.
In the Endeavour Damascus series, we use VG10 steel from Takefu Special Steel Co. in Echizen, Japan. The knives are hand-sharpened and polished to achieve ultimate sharpness. They are forged in 67 layers, making them completely unique and giving them a hardness of 60-61 HRC.
Martensite: It is the hardest constituent of steel.
SG2 (or R2) is a high-carbon high alloy content stainless steel that has been powderized into a very fine grain and then sintered back together. This process allows for a very consistent gran structure in the steel which makes the blade easier to sharpen and very durable.
It's called rhodium, part of the platinum group of metals. The name comes from the Greek rhodon, meaning rose, for the rosy color of rhodium compounds. It's abundant in other parts of the universe but vanishingly rare in Earth's crust—just one part in 200 million.
The largest source of iridium is South Africa. It is also one of the most prolific exporters of diamonds to this day. Diamond mining is incredibly destructive to the native landscape, visibly disfiguring the land beyond repair.
Looking farther into the future, other sources claim that things like aluminum might run dry in about 80 years. Other studies indicate that rhodium, followed by gold, platinum and tellurium, are some of the rarest elements in terms of their percentage in the planet's crust and their importance to society.
AOGAMI SUPER OR BLUE SUPER STEEL
With a 61-65 HRC hardness, its enhanced carbon and chromium levels make it the premier Yasugi steel, offering superior hardness and abrasion resistance.
These knives will stay sharp and centered for as long as you're cooking. We're serious about our craft and it shows when you handle these blades. We use 67 layers of stainless Damascus steel to create our knives, which also have a rating of 60 on the Rockwell scale. This is the real deal!
Japan has a long and rich history of making swords, knives, and other blades. You may be familiar with old Japanese movies depicting samurai warriors wielding heavy steel swords or katana. These swords are made with a rare type of steel called Tamahagane, which dates back to the 6th Century AD in Japan.
The swordsmiths got their steel ingots from India. In the 19th Century, the mining region where those ingots came from changed. These new ingots had slightly different impurities than the prior ingots. Because of the new composition, the new ingots could not be forged into Damascus steel.
The art of forming weapons from this material dates back to the 1st century, and Cabot Guns is known to be the preeminent purveyor of Damascus Steel custom 1911s.
This involves applying acid to create darker lines that mimic the appearance of layered damascus steel. While genuine damascus steel patterns flow organically, fake blades created through acid etching often display a high degree of uniformity and regularity.