what is vg-10?

[Todd Schreiber]

i was surfing around and found a knife that uses vg-10 with a 58 rht. how does this compare to ast-34 or 440c or carbon?

 

[storyville]

Hey Todd,

Welcome to the forums. VG10 is a Japanese "stainless" steel that was first introduced to the US market by Spyderco, in its Moran fixed blade. (It was introduced to Spyderco by one of its makers in Seki, Japan.) Since then, Spyderco has decided to use VG-10 in other models, perhaps most notably its lightweight Calypso. Fällkniven has also been impressed by the steel. After extensively conducting tests with Spyderco’s Moran, the Swedish co. has decided to switch from ATS-34 to VG-10 in its line of fixed blades. I believe Spyderco and Fällkniven remain the only two companies in the US market to date that use VG-10; it’s still fairly new. You should be able to find info on its composition at Spyderco’s site.

Performance reviews have been very favorable. You can find several reviews via the search engine here for the Moran, the lightweight Calypso, and the Fällknivens. In fact, Alberta Ed has a really nice review of Fällkniven’s F1 in the Reviews section currently (his second review of the F1, in fact); very favorable comments of VG-10:

www.bladeforums.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/002143.html

And, as you’ll learn if you hang out here for a while, you can find some great reviews (of the Fällknivens, among *many* others) by Cliff Stamp at:

www.physics.mun.ca:80/~sstamp/knives/index.html

Happy reading!

Glen

 

[bfm]

And here I thought Vampire Gerbil had taken to numbering his kids, ala Charlie Chan.

 

[Jeff Clark]

Alloying element percentages are:

Carbon 1, Chromium 15, Cobalt 1.4, Manganese .5, Molybdenum 1, Phosphorus .03, Silicon .6, Vanadium .2.

This produces a stainless alloy that is tough and takes a very sharp edge. The cobalt is one of its most unusual features, otherwise it is a lot like AUS-10.

 

[tallwingedgoat]

I think a Japanese company called Hattori is the only one making knives out of this steel. And it's likely they are the source for blades and knives for many American cutlery companies.

My guess is Hattori probably grinds blades for Spyderco and Fallkniven, that's why they both offer this steel for their knives. They also make knives for a large number of American knife companies, including Cold Steel and possibly SOG, William-Henry, Kershaw, Al Mar, among other big names.

 

[stjames]

Originally posted by tallwingedgoat:
My guess is Hattori probably grinds blades for Spyderco and Fallkniven, that's why they both offer this steel for their knives. They also make knives for a large number of American knife companies, including Cold Steel and possibly SOG, William-Henry, Kershaw, Al Mar, among other big names.

The WH Evolution line uses VG-10, and I have been very pleased with it's performance level so far.



------------------
James Segura
San Francisco, CA

 

[tallwingedgoat]

Indeed, my Spyderco Moran is also an excellent edgeholder. I did manage to rust the mirror polished blade by negelecting to clean it for 3 days. But the rust came off easily.

If the VG-10 blades are indeed made by the same factory, then they should all be heat treated the same as well. In that case, all VG-10 knives would have similiar and consistant performance.

 

[Todd Schreiber]

Thank you storyville for the links. i love this group!! i found it researching for a new hunting knife, and i think i've got the knife bug now! i'm going to order the f1 today. thanks again everyone!

 

[Alberta Ed]

You should be happy with the F1. VG-10 is a terrific steel, IMHO. Cobalt is said to enhance the properties of other alloying elements, and no doubt the heat treat has a lot to do with its qualities.