VG10/h1 steel

brady.kevin07 · Jan 19, 2012

I have been looking for a while have had no luck finding a place to buy vg10 and h1 steel and i was hoping that somebody would know where i could buy some?

type O · Jan 19, 2012

short answer = in Japan

VG10 doesn't leave Japan in the form of raw bar stock AFAIK. Apparently you can only buy that steel in finished knife form. Basically it's Japanese protectionism.

And the H1 used by Spyderco is probably the same deal. BE AWARE that the Spyderco H1 is not related to the American H series tool steels. Different animals.

Frank Niro · Jan 20, 2012

Go to AKS and look at the steels they have available. Chuck even has given some of his suggestions. Frank

mgysgthath · Jan 20, 2012

How do Cold Steel and Fallkniven among others get VG10 ? Murray Carter (in USA) uses Hitachi steel as well, though that may be his contacts in Japan. I'm just curious.. it seems unfair that big companies have access to steels we don't.

type O said:
short answer = in Japan

VG10 doesn't leave Japan in the form of raw bar stock AFAIK. Apparently you can only buy that steel in finished knife form. Basically it's Japanese protectionism.

And the H1 used by Spyderco is probably the same deal. BE AWARE that the Spyderco H1 is not related to the American H series tool steels. Different animals.

parbajtor · Jan 20, 2012

In the UK, Barmond steel has VG10 in stock. Don't know about your side of the 'lantic pond, though.

mete · Jan 20, 2012

Parbajtor, that's strange ,we can only get finished blades or finished knives here AFAIK.

watercrawl · Jan 20, 2012

There was a German company that was selling VG10, and a few of the Hitachi steels in sheets on their website at one time. Were crazy expensive though as I recall...but can't find them now.

brady.kevin07 · Jan 20, 2012

that sucks i was really hopin to get my hands on some. thanks for the info

Razorsharp-Travis · Jan 20, 2012

hmm, If you contact myodo steel foundary , you may be able to get your hands on some h1

type O · Jan 20, 2012

mgysgthath said:
How do Cold Steel and Fallkniven among others get VG10 ?

I don't know any absolute facts regarding the selling practices of Japanese steel mills. I could be wrong about this. But I'm fairly sure all the Fallkniven san mai knives are made in Japan (the s.m. Fallkies I own were definitely mfg in Nippon). And it seems all Cold Steel VG1 / san mai iii knives are made in Japan. Again, every single Cold Steel premium knife I own is marked "Made in Japan"

Murray Carter (in USA) uses Hitachi steel as well, though that may be his contacts in Japan.

Sounds plausible to me, albeit that doesn't mean a lot. I didn't mean to come off as a 100% certain because I'm not. And what I said about "protectionism" by the Japanese knifemaking industry... that may be incorrect. I just assume it's an act of protectionism because I cannot imagine another motive. It seems fairly clear that VG10 would be used by knifemakers in the Americas if it were available.