Type of steel

[user 50450]

Which type of steel is easiest to grind extremely sharp for a kitchen knife? Edge retention does not matter that much.
I hope You understand what I'm asking about.
I'm from Denmark and my english is a little "dull"

 

[Troopah_Knives]

Which type of steel is easiest to grind extremely sharp? Edge retention does not matter that much.
I hope You understand what I'm asking about.
I'm from Denmark and my english is a little "dull"

Simple carbon steel (Fe-C-Mn-Si) with <0.9%ish carbon is what you are looking for.

 

[user 50450]

Thank You!
Does the steel have a name like aogami or shirogami?
I'm looking for a mid price nakiri. Any suggestions?

 

[HumbleHomeCook]

Shirogami is very easy.

 

[Heckel7302]

The general consensus (backed up by my somewhat limited experience) is that white steel (shirogami) is easiest to sharpen but sacrifices some edge retention. White #1, being purest, is capable of taking the most refined edge. Who is heat treating it definitely is a variable though.

 

[esoo]

Which type of steel is easiest to grind extremely sharp for a kitchen knife? Edge retention does not matter that much.
I hope You understand what I'm asking about.
I'm from Denmark and my english is a little "dull"

Edge retention is as important as sharpness as you can make an edge very sharp that won't last a session in the kitchen.

 

[daveb]

Maker trumps steel. Find the maker you like and go with what he does best.

 

[Nemo]

I don't think I could tell the difference between most shirogami 2 and most aogami 2 (or even aogami 1) but I can tell the difference between some makers of each of these steels.

52100 makes a very sharp blade when heat treated well.

 

[Infrared]

Thank You!
Does the steel have a name like aogami or shirogami?
I'm looking for a mid price nakiri. Any suggestions?

Shirogami is generally the easiest Japanese steel to sharpen.

https://www.cleancut.eu/butik/knifetype/nakiri/kajibei_nakiri-detail
Kajibei knives are some of the easiest knives to sharpen in my experience.

 

[TB_London]

in actual use, geometry affects ease of cutting much more than the steel ever will. Go with whatever the maker recommends.

 

[Troopah_Knives]

Thank You!
Does the steel have a name like aogami or shirogami?
I'm looking for a mid price nakiri. Any suggestions?

Ah I see you meant grind as in sharpening.

The easiest steels will still be the ones I recommended. Those will be called white #3 or Shiro 3 or among western makers 1084,1075, and 1080.

The other Shiro class steels people have mentioned here like 1 and 2 are a tiny bit harder to sharpen but have a little more wear resistance. Although when you get to such small differences the geometry of the knife is going to play a much larger role in sharpenability. Knives with thinner grinds are generally easier to sharpen.

 

[ModRQC]

The various "2s" are strangely usually a good bet in their respective classes for sharpenability vs other benefits.

Like, with Carbons Shiro #2, Aogami #2, Takefu V2.

Semi-SS, you'd get A2 (very popular with Western makers) or its J-counterparts (not so popular there) VS2 and SKD-12, and also D2 - aka SLD or SKD-11 in Japan, and more frequently seen. Not entirely surprised then that Konosuke's proprietary "HD2" steel is yet another one very good option, so pleasing to sharpen, almost stainless.

With PM steels, once again we get R2 aka SG2 that's really on the easy side for this class, quite doable to get them keen on conventional abrasives.

SS could be the exception... like the easiest reputed steels would be AEB-L and Silver #3 often called Ginsan. Then again, one could sort of try to save the show by pointing out that the very popular VG-10 steel has a lower alloy variation called VG-2 which is quite strictly speaking just the same as Silver 3...

 

[gc0220]

Which type of steel is easiest to grind extremely sharp for a kitchen knife? Edge retention does not matter that much.
I hope You understand what I'm asking about.
I'm from Denmark and my english is a little "dull"

Technically white steel. But I would strongly suggest going for blue steel or something else entirely like say 52100 on the carbon side or aeb-l on the stainless side. The aeb-l is going to be much harder to machine than these other ones I mentioned, but it's actually stainless and still relatively easy, but also you say you don't care and it doesn't really matter that much but edge retention does matter and aeb-l will have more of it than these other choices I mentioned. You want a knife that works for you and your workflow. White steel is extremely easy to sharpen but also it dulls just as easily, and also rust very easily as well. Not great for a knife. 52100 or blue steel is a much better bet. If you get 52100 that's taken up to 64+ rc that's a very nice spot. If you want something that will be stainless and lower maintenance while still easy to machine but clearly a jump up from any of these other steels I mentioned in terms of edge retention, aeb-l is great, again especially when the hardness is pushed up. Based on what you've said though, I'd suggest something like blue #2, super blue or 52100 especially if it's harder. Really hard low alloy steels are a joy to use in the kitchen imo and sharpen ridiculously easily. A potential issue is chipping. I just got a new knife with super blue steel at very high hardness and I already got microchips when doing some test cutting both before and after I put my first edge on it. That would be way less likely to happen if this same knife was made of 52100 even at a similar hardness.

 

[Kawa]

To answer the question: simple carbon like shirogami or 52100.

Everything else you read is kitchen knife advice.