VG10

My big boy 270 gyuto is a Hattori KF special Wa gyuto. I'm pretty sure it's VG10. Am I right? If so, I think most may claim it is an overpriced knife. I probably paid around $400 for it 2 years ago. However, I do like it. It's seen a lot of use and I've only had to put a "new" edge on it twice (starting with a 1k stone) over the time I've had it. It's not terribly difficult to sharpen but it does take some time.
What are the limitations with grits on a VG10? I've only gone up to a 4k so far-with excellent results. I just got an 8k stone, and wonder if it is a waste of my time to use it on this steel.
Anybody else on the forum have this knife? How do you sharpen?

Yup. VG10. Overpriced? I'm not sure most would say that but based on my personal experience, yes. It will get sharper at 8k but I find it loses it's toothiness fairly quickly at that level of refinement. I'd encouragage you to try it though. If it doesn't do what you want, it's a minor task to rough up the edge a little on a lower grit stone or rod.

I have the same knife, my first japanese knife, it was that knife who started it All i stil use it, and yes you Can use 8k Stone or more, i use jnat for it. Strop it, your choose, All about what you prefeer. When i used it at work, i stopped after 3k Stone, but that was before i Got jnats.

Never had any problems with my VG10. Used 400, 1000, 3000 and 5000 grit and it always got razor sharp ...

I've had some other Vg-10 knives, no problems going to 5K or 8K stone. The Rika 5K leaves a nice bitey edge.

It isn't exactly the most popular steel, but I think it is still good enough that you can sharpen it how you like. I have an FH and I love it, to be honest I don't notice a massive difference between it and my other knives

I don't have numbers off hand, but many of the Shun, Tojiro DP, and other Japanese knives use VG-10. It is a very popular steel!!! Look at all of the kitchen and pocket knives that use it. But that is mainly for the entry level market steel. Home cooks like it because it's awesome compared to their Henkels, Wusoff, etc that are much softer and thicker. Most home cooks aren't going to go for the high end kitchen knives because they don't know about them or don't want to pay the money. Most people here on a variety of kitchen knife forums are into the high end kitchen knives and would rather get something in a higher end steel. I think I saw somewhere that Koki (JCK) said that the VG-10 were the most popular blades, but I could be mistaken.

8K is not a waste of time providing that you want a more polished edge. 4K-6K tends to leave a nice bitey edge that most prefer. Heck, I even take my AUS-8A blades up to 8K w/o any problems.

Taz575 said:

I don't have numbers off hand, but many of the Shun, Tojiro DP, and other Japanese knives use VG-10. It is a very popular steel!!! Look at all of the kitchen and pocket knives that use it. But that is mainly for the entry level market steel. Home cooks like it because it's awesome compared to their Henkels, Wusoff, etc that are much softer and thicker. Most home cooks aren't going to go for the high end kitchen knives because they don't know about them or don't want to pay the money. Most people here on a variety of kitchen knife forums are into the high end kitchen knives and would rather get something in a higher end steel. I think I saw somewhere that Koki (JCK) said that the VG-10 were the most popular blades, but I could be mistaken.

8K is not a waste of time providing that you want a more polished edge. 4K-6K tends to leave a nice bitey edge that most prefer. Heck, I even take my AUS-8A blades up to 8K w/o any problems.

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I'm not sure what you mean by "higher end" steel. After VG10, the most common stainless is probably AEB-L/13C26, "molybdenum" or "molybdenum+vanadium" steel, and Ginsanko, none of which are particularly fancy, all of which are generally preferred for various reasons (mainly toughness and sharpening) over VG10, at least in kitchen knives.

I've never had an issue with sharpening VG-10 nor heard of anyone complaining about sharpening it?? But then again, I've played with S30V at 61 rockwell before! Chipping has been debated on a variety of forums and it seems to depend on useage, HT, angles, etc. Higher end would be the AEBL, PM steels, White, Blue, AS, 52100, etc. If you look at the stainless knives, lower end use the moly steels, followed by the vg series, followed by the PM steels and on up to ZDP-189, etc. The VG's are normally used as the middle core of a san mai blade, but not always. VG-10 is popular with the big name makers and stores, esp a san mai damascus and is popular for them as a mass selling knife. It looks pretty, so people buy them. Yes, they are harder to sharpen than the Henkels and won't take abuse as well, but they perform well IMHO for people who use them correctly and take care of them. Also look at vg-10 popularity in terms of pocket knives, too.

In terms of mass produced kitchen knives, you rarely see AEBL; most is the VG series that I see advertised usually in a san mai.

From JCK:
http://japanesechefsknife.com/InformationAboutSteels.html

Again, I'm talking about the average joe market, not the kitchen nut market!!