Why there is Cobalt in VG-10

This was one of the best articles to date, even though these aren’t steels I use regularily. I did heat treat N690 samples for your testing though. I really enjoyed the process of exploration. It is the same process I go through when I have an unanswered question in mental health. I was intrigued as soon as I saw the JMatPro graph. I was under the oppression that N690 was basically a VG-10 substitute, but small differences can have large real world results.
 
As a very young adult(I was married at 19!), I fell in love with San Mai VG10. I purchased, at the time, my beloved Shun chefs knife.

Now, I chuckle at how enthralled I was with VG10 then. These days, I MAKE my own kitchen/chefs knives. And I use CPM20CV EXCLUSIVELY for all of my kitchen/chefs duty, wet use and folder blades. I still have the Shun, and comparing to my handmade knife, it's not even a close competition.;) But I digress.


Interesting article. Thank you for sharing. :thumbsup:
 
One Armed said:
As a very young adult(I was married at 19!), I fell in love with San Mai VG10. I purchased, at the time, my beloved Shun chefs knife.

Now, I chuckle at how enthralled I was with VG10 then. These days, I MAKE my own kitchen/chefs knives. And I use CPM20CV EXCLUSIVELY for all of my kitchen/chefs duty, wet use and folder blades. I still have the Shun, and comparing to my handmade knife, it's not even a close competition.;) But I digress.


Interesting article. Thank you for sharing. :thumbsup:
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So what I'm hearing is that if it wasn't for VG-10 you wouldn't be making knives today. :)
 
Larrin said:
So what I'm hearing is that if it wasn't for VG-10 you wouldn't be making knives today. :)
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Hahaha... well....., not exactly. I, as I think pretty much all knifemakers, have been a knife enthusiast since a very young age. Think I had my first knife at age 8 maybe. But I was quite fond of VG10 indeed.
 
Larrin said:
One of the fun things about writing steel metallurgy articles is that I can find answers to questions that I have always wondered. Is anyone else interested in the same questions? Who knows? Cobalt is not a very common element in knife steels. Why would it be in VG-10?

http://knifesteelnerds.com/2018/05/14/why-there-is-cobalt-in-vg-10/
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Larrin! Thanks for another of your informative articles. —///////————///As a Sharpener of many production Japanese Knives and others . ———///— Global, Shun, Yanagi. Etc.——- I see & Sharpen more chipped up Shun than any other brand. ——————-I know Yanagi also has a VG-10 core, so my thoughts are the Shun are just way too hard! Like high 60’s.. I understand this is a bit off topic , but does anyone else have thoughts on the reason for this?
 
Rhinoknives1 said:
I see & Sharpen more chipped up Shun than any other brand. ——————-I know Yanagi also has a VG-10 core, so my thoughts are the Shun are just way too hard! Like high 60’s.. I understand this is a bit off topic , but does anyone else have thoughts on the reason for this?
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I see the same but also notice on many the pepper flake pits that form all over them. Seldom ever see that degree of pepper pitting on anything else.

The fact they sell a conventional honing steel, and super hard steels need a ceramic rod, I could blame for the chips but that would not explain the frequency of pitting.

https://www.amazon.com/Shun-DM0750-Honing-Steel/dp/B000139H7I

I'd like to blame dishwashing chemicals but people swear they haven't used one and still have pits.
It is just sad to have all these people that dropped lots of cake on those blades come to me depressed with how their expensive blade ended up.

Jim
 
Spideyjg said:
I see the same but also notice on many the pepper flake pits that form all over them. Seldom ever see that degree of pepper pitting on anything else.

The fact they sell a conventional honing steel, and super hard steels need a ceramic rod, I could blame for the chips but that would not explain the frequency of pitting.

https://www.amazon.com/Shun-DM0750-Honing-Steel/dp/B000139H7I

I'd like to blame dishwashing chemicals but people swear they haven't used one and still have pits.
It is just sad to have all these people that dropped lots of cake on those blades come to me depressed with how their expensive blade ended up.

Jim
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I agree on your points that there should be a ceramic rod instead of the heavy file steel rob and almost none of my customers even know how to use them! :rolleyes:——-/////-LOL I’ve tried to teach them and very few want to learn or be bothered!————I do convince a few not to put them in a dish washer! I say, it’s called a dish washer, not a knife washer for a reason ... the chemicals in the detergent are Caustic and will make the steel edge brittle... Still there has to be other factors as to why Shun are so brittle because the other brands, Global, Yaniba don’t chip or pepper at the same rate with the same neglect...??
 
A dishwasher plus ceramic dishes can cause just about anything to chip.
 
I have a set of caphalon katana knives they are VG1 and have chipped worse than anything I have ever used before. I also get rust in the chips. Off topic but I think these wannabe Shuns sound like they are even getting the chopping right. That's not true. My wife lost one and I replaced it with a mid grade shun and the chips don't rust on it.
 
Rhinoknives1 said:
I agree on your points that there should be a ceramic rod instead of the heavy file steel rob and almost none of my customers even know how to use them! :rolleyes:——-/////-LOL I’ve tried to teach them and very few want to learn or be bothered!————I do convince a few not to put them in a dish washer! I say, it’s called a dish washer, not a knife washer for a reason ... the chemicals in the detergent are Caustic and will make the steel edge brittle... Still there has to be other factors as to why Shun are so brittle because the other brands, Global, Yaniba don’t chip or pepper at the same rate with the same neglect...??
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Automatic dishwashing agents also contain various oxidizers and exacerbate rusting.

Well a you know Global is not made with VG-10. It is a bit puzzling that Shuns have that issue but as I am just a sharpener and not their QC department I don't think too much about it. Durability isn't their strong suit.

People ask what I think of them and I tell that what I have seen. Nonetheless Shun isn't on the suggestion list.

Jim
 
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