Japanese steels what are their characteristics?

[DavidL41]

Im looking at Japanese steels specifically:

White steel #1 and #2
Blue steel #1 and #2
Super blue steel
Sword steel - description on tools like chisel, and kiridashi knives simply say sword steel. Is this a generic term? What makes them sword steel rather than regular steel.
Damascus - What makes this steel better? Technically the folding and hammering of the steel how does this change the metal? More folding = better?
wrought iron (spelling?)
vintage steels
Laminated steels - harder carbon and softer metal


Generally speaking which steel holds the sharpest edge out of all the steel and can keep an edge for a reasonable time. Carter cutlery says white steel is beyond beyond sharp how does sword steel and damascus compare?

 

[horseclover]

What many list as damascus is really just one or more types of steel folded in random or specific patterns. For the most part, this modern "damascus" for Japanese swords are entirely fantasy. It is possible for a mix to have good performance as far as sharpness and wear but they do not really compare well to traditional Japanese sword making.

Japanese steel production for swords starts with a large oven called a tatara. Iron bearing sand and charcoal are "cooked" for many hours then the resulting bloom broken apart and sorted. Here are a few ways the grades of steel are combined for a soft body with a harder steel.

The most perfect blades as far as sharpness and wear goes would more likely end up a modern monosteel, only some of which will be differentially hardened.

Cheers

GC

 

[DavidL41]

This may sound dumb but mono steel is exactly how it sounds only one steel?

Is the dual lamination enough to prevent the blade from the disadvantages of hard steels. There was a kiridashi blade I was looking at that was tempered to rc 64-66 and the cutting edge was white steel carbon and the handle was a softer steel, do you imagine that this softer steel prevents the white steel from chipping somehow?

 

[Bo T]

It wouldn't keep the edge from chipping but it could help keep the blade from breaking. I am more familiar with European steels. Laminating a high carbon blade will allow the blade to bend farther without breaking than a similar high carbon blade without the laminations. However, in the past, the main reason to laminate the high carbon steel was due to it relative rarity. Wrought iron was more readily available so welding a high carbon center in a wrought iron jacket allowed for a harder, longer wearing edge while having a blade that would withstand more abuse. And it allowed for the manufacture of more, higher quality blades. I'd guess that Japan suffered from the same lack of enough high quality materials.