Yasuki Yellow Steel?

Has anybody come across this? There are some nice looking and very cheap knives on eBay claiming high HRC (circa 61). Is it worth the money charged?

If I remember correctly, yellow is Hitachi's grade below white. I think it has same carbon content as white #2 but more phosphorus and sulfur impuritys.

Be well,
Mikey

mkriggen said:

If I remember correctly, yellow is Hitachi's grade below white. I think it has same carbon content as white #2 but more phosphorus and sulfur impuritys.

Be well,
Mikey

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Will it be MUCH worse than white or any other premium steel? Better than cheapo supermarket stuff? By what extent?

As usual, it depends on the guy working it.

It has a couple of thousandths of a percent more phosphorus and sulfur that the equivalent white steel. Comes in #3 and #2 flavours, in order of increasing carbon content, like white steel. There's a yellow saw steel too.

http://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/s...llow-paper-steel?p=42881&viewfull=1#post42881

http://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/showthread.php/4994-Hitachi-steel-quick-guide

Less charged with contaminants than the SK-series, which are still fairly usable I would say.

http://blog.japaneseknifeimports.com/2012/08/a-quick-summary-of-hitachi-carbon.html?m=1

Thanks Benuser. Interesting read.

I've owned a Kikuichi in yellow steel. As I recall, a nice steel to sharpen but a bit more stinky than other Hitachi steels until you get a decent patina.

Anything from Japan is useable, no matter what steel, more importantly is the price charged reasonably. From what I heard, that steel is not so suitable for food preparation due to the impurities, only good for making saw blades and other kinds of tools.

The same seller has multiple White 2 knives in the range of USD 20-30, with very simple looking handles, looks very attractive. I shall probably build myself a set of Parer, Petty, Nakiri and Gyuto. Even if they are not good, that would be 100 dollars only for four knives which will anyway be (I expect) better than non-Japanese inexpensive cutlery.

Well, so called impurities happened to be very common in vintage European blades, from Swedish ore, and were once highly appreciated.

x737 said:

The same seller has multiple White 2 knives in the range of USD 20-30, with very simple looking handles, looks very attractive. I shall probably build myself a set of Parer, Petty, Nakiri and Gyuto. Even if they are not good, that would be 100 dollars only for four knives which will anyway be (I expect) better than non-Japanese inexpensive cutlery.

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Just curious why you don't spend the same amount of money and get one decent gyuto?

+1!

chinacats said:

Just curious why you don't spend the same amount of money and get one decent gyuto?

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Well, I am a rookie on the knife arena and already have a VG10 gyuto. Want to taste some FFs and steels while improving sharpening skills before considering investment in something pricey. FWIW, Tojiro DP is already what I would consider a 'decent gyuto', further up would be premium (for me at least) in which case I might well consider much better options than usd 100 range. As it stands, four knives for that money sound very attractive.

Hi
It seems you are making the classical rookie mistake: Fokussing on the steel and the HRC instaed on the maker. A siklled maker can make a much better knife from 440 than a beginner from Aogami! The hardness has always to be viewed in conjunction with the steel and the grind. You could harden geman steel to HRC 70, if you wanted to, but that would make the knife totally unsuable. Thats why the hardness is tempered down in the process...
In the end, you get what you pay for and as my grandma used to say: We are to poor to buy cheap stuff.......My advice save up an get a decent nakiri from a respected seller (seeing you location, i would recomment JCK..)


Greeetings Benjamin

I'm pretty sure the Bessen or traditional series by Masahiro is Kigami Yellow steel.