ChefShramrock
Well-Known Member
Most of mine are from Takefu. I love the gyuto profile. Nice long flat spot & thin drop tip. Plus, the aesthetics are really varied & nice.
Or should I say, it used to be. I heard The Japanese Government put money on Takefu Knife Village for popular Destination For tourism. Right now, I think they are getting more popular than how they used to be.
Yes, but the Takefu AS have less carbon than Hitachi counterparts and I think HRC number for Japanese knife should be take with grain of salt. Maybe they could make it harder but they know how the market will use their knife.
Another thing with Takefu is they use their Steel from Takefu Steel, not Hitachi. That’s why their HRC is slightly different. SG2 and VG10 is their main selling point, that’s why most of the blacksmith use those. Their AS is V-Toku 1 and their Blue 2 is V-Toku 2. Chromax or V Silver 1 or SKD12 is also use by Yoshikane, Takamura and Masashi
The Aogami Super products I've had from Takefu used Hitachi AS. To my knowledge Takefu Special Steel Co. are producers of laminates and stockholders rather than steel producers, per se.
They do laminates, but like VG series and SG2 are proprietary from Takefu, then I ask Kevin of Knifewear who always go to Takefu and hang around with the blacksmiths, he said that they use the most similar steel of Hitachi that is made from Takefu Steel. I also ask one of the vendor here he said that, not only Takefu knives. The slightly cheaper AS knife are usually not made using Hitachi stuff due to availability or minimum order.
They do laminates, but like VG series and SG2 are proprietary from Takefu, then I ask Kevin of Knifewear who always go to Takefu and hang around with the blacksmiths, he said that they use the most similar steel of Hitachi that is made from Takefu Steel. I also ask one of the vendor here he said that, not only Takefu knives. The slightly cheaper AS knife are usually not made using Hitachi stuff due to availability or minimum order.
Why would a Smith or retailer sell a knife as being made from AS if it's not? Why not what it is? Or 'nihonku' or whatever generic label?
They do laminates, but like VG series and SG2 are proprietary from Takefu, then I ask Kevin of Knifewear who always go to Takefu and hang around with the blacksmiths, he said that they use the most similar steel of Hitachi that is made from Takefu Steel. I also ask one of the vendor here he said that, not only Takefu knives. The slightly cheaper AS knife are usually not made using Hitachi stuff due to availability or minimum order.
...and Takefu steels are much much minor...
In what way??
Maybe, it's just R2 is Kobelco trademark name and SG2 is Takefu's name... maybe same steel/composition.SG2 is R2 from kobelco with lamination?
Well, unless it is information coming directly from Takefu Special Steel Co., I guess it is hearsay.
Buuuut.... My version of hearsay comes directly and explicitly from the distributor of Takefu steel in my country, and that is that the vtoku is a proprietary steel very similar to the Hitachi Aogami range that Takefu have made by steel producers, except for the AS, which they get direct from Hitachi.
It's normal that a company like Takefu would source different steels from different primary producers.
Sorry this is about carbon steels. VG series have presence of course.
Okay, but in what way are Takefu Steel's carbons much much minor?
I mean, not just minor, but much much minor?
Same V2 used in the Kochi?Alot of people rave about v2 (takefu) steel but it seems pretty rare, in actual knives
http://www.zknives.com/knives/steels/takefu_v2_special.shtml
Okay, but in what way are Takefu Steel's carbons much much minor?
I mean, not just minor, but much much minor?
I think they meant not as popular? Not a major player in the steel world like Hitachi? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Same V2 used in the Kochi?
I see some Yoshikane and Kumagoro (?) with V2 steel on EE
https://www.epicedge.com/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=1252&cat=Carbon+Steel+-+V2
It looks like the Kaeru KU nakiri and santoku are in V2 as well http://www.japanesenaturalstones.com/kaeru-kurouchi-nakiri-165mm/
I like my V2 kochi a lot. I really like how the steel responds to stones. Get any kind of edge I want without breaking a sweat. Definitely want another.Gesshin/JKI are one of the few off the top of my head. Yoshikane used to offer it but no longer does.
Maxim had Itinomonn v2 was discontinued as well ....All those knives seem to have alot of good comments.
(correct me if I'm wrong of course)
I’d say yes for consumers. It’s hard to find knives soled as made of the V or V-Toku steel even in Japanese market, while there are ton of Aogami/Shirogami knives out there. It’s too minor so sellers even use “Nihonkou” instead. However, this doesn’t mean it’s not “popular” for makers, of course. I don’t know the actual ratio of Hitachi vs Takefu carbon steels in the market.
I once wrote about this in another thread:
https://www.kitchenknifeforums.com/...masahiro-sakai-kikumori-or.41945/#post-618484
You probably don’t want to compare Hitachi Steel and Takefu Steel in the steel industry (not in the knife industry) by the way. Hitachi is too big ($10B revenue/30k employees) and Takefu is too small ($15M revenue/50 employees). I heard a rumor that Hitachi is too big to keep Yasuki Steels (R) on their product list, as those steels like Shirogami/Aogami are not enough profitable for them due to the small market size of knives, and Hitachi has been wanting to get rid of them, and they actually did some price ups. Another interesting fact is that the total production of kitchen knives in Fukui pref. (Takefu is part of Fukui) is around $6M. So, Takefu Steel alone is bigger than the entire Takefu knife industry. Takefu Steel has 60% share of prelaminated steels for knives/blades, while Fukui has only 3% share of kitchen knives in Japan.
SG2 is R2 from kobelco with lamination?
There's the addition of Tungsten to SRS-15 that isn't found in R2.I have heard the base powder steel is kobelco (kobe steel) r2, and when takefu laminates it with either soft SS or "damascus" the product changes name to sg2. Fällkniven also calls this steel 3G.
Its also quite similar to srs-15 in chemistry.
There's the addition of Tungsten to SRS-15 that isn't found in R2.
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