Kanetsune Hunter in Hitachi blue steel

The Mastiff

The Mastiff

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Apr 21, 2006
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Does anyone have experience with the above maker, or his knives? How about non laminated Hitachi blue "super" steels track record in knives that aren't delicate, expensive chefs knives. This one is a hunter, 9.5 inch overall and pretty solidly made.

The grind is excellent, it is shaving sharp and beautifully made obviously by hand. As you see in some Japanese knives the top part of the blade is unground and looks like it came out of the forge untouched.

I'd be gratefull for any experiences or advice from those more knowledgeable. Thanks, Joe L.
 
I have a couple of knives made out of blue steel. It holds an edge very well, yet is not too hard to sharpen.

Keep it very well oiled. ;)
 
Murray Carter uses Hitachi Blue and White, and laminates too. He also forges his own Damascus. In his cataloge, he outlines the differences between Blue and White. To be honest, I can't remember the difference. I do recall that he wrote that the forging and heat treatment were far more important than the steel selection.

In the FAQ section of his catalogue, he indicated that he preferred the Hitachi steels to ZDP-189. He found that they yielded a superior product.
 
rifon2 said:
I read somewhere that the blue and white designations simply have to do with the wrapping that the steel blanks come in.
Click to expand...

They are different steels. The white steels are very pure very high carbon steels which are of several types which range from 0.9-1.4% C. The blue steels are the same with a small amount of chromum and tungsten.

Blue No.1: C 1.2% - 1.4%, Si .10% - .20%, Mn .20% - .30%, P </= .025%, S </= .004%, Cr .30% - .50%, W 1.5% - 2.0%

These are similar to the W and F series steels. They are both usually ran much harder than typical western steels.

-Cliff
 
Cliff, that's the number I have for the Blue steel. So far I'm very impressed with this knife. From the scalpel sharp blade to the hand made oak handles wound with string, handmade sheath etc. It's nice, and made to cut. Excellent for the 100$ price range it sells for.

Will my DMT's do ok or will I have to get waterstones now> :) Joe L.
 
I heart that Aogami has some W in it to make it easy to HT - HT temperature diapason is wider so it harder to miss - japanese bladesmithes checking temperature by the color of the blade - so it require good skills to make it right. So Aogami in this terms easyer then Shirogami.

You may try steel first buying cheap Higonokami.

However I like better new Japanese steel SRS-15 which is just a bit more expensive, but it is 63HRC, PowderMetalurgy, Stainless and HighSpeed.

Thanks, Vassili.
 
DMT's will sharpen it fine. Some times you will read about japanese knives chipping on diamonds or ceramics but this is due more to the type of the abrasive (rod vs benchstone). I have seen claims that they are best sharpened by natural waterstones, but like many such statements they are often rooted in tradition than actual facts.

-Cliff
 
Cliff Stamp said:
They are different steels. The white steels are very pure very high carbon steels which are of several types which range from 0.9-1.4% C. The blue steels are the same with a small amount of chromum and tungsten.

Blue No.1: C 1.2% - 1.4%, Si .10% - .20%, Mn .20% - .30%, P </= .025%, S </= .004%, Cr .30% - .50%, W 1.5% - 2.0%

These are similar to the W and F series steels. They are both usually ran much harder than typical western steels.

-Cliff
Click to expand...


It wasn't my intention to say that blue and white were the same steel.

They are obviously different.

I was simply saying that AFAIR,
the reason that they were called "white" or "blue" had to do with the color of the wrapping the blanks come in.
 
Cliff Stamp said:
DMT's will sharpen it fine. Some times you will read about japanese knives chipping on diamonds or ceramics but this is due more to the type of the abrasive (rod vs benchstone). I have seen claims that they are best sharpened by natural waterstones, but like many such statements they are often rooted in tradition than actual facts.

-Cliff
Click to expand...

It depends - I have problem with Shirogami on Higonokami with Sharpmaker diamond and ceramic rods - only waterstones were able to make it sharp. However other Shirogami knives did not have any problems. So may be this one was overhardened little bit, but waterstones was able to make it sharp anyway.

Thanks, Vassili.
 
I don't think it is overhardened as much as undertempered. I have knives at 65/66 HRC which sharpen fine on diamonds. I would like to know exactly how the japanese are hardening those blades as in general they seem to be more brittle than they should be.

-Cliff
 
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