Carter Cutlery January/February 'Vlog"

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http://www.CarterCutlery.com

Get the book today! Bladesmithing with Murray Carter http://www.cartercutlery.com/japanese-knives/blade-sharpening-dvds/bladesmith...

Get the video once it arrives! Blade Sharpening Fundamentals http://www.cartercutlery.com/japanese-knives/new-products/new-blade-sharpenin...

White Steel

Many connoisseurs of fine Japanese cutlery are well acquainted with the terms white steel and blue steel. These terms refer to the Hitachi high carbon steel that is smelted exclusively for use in laminating to mild steel for the production of the world's finest blades ever known to man. When skillfully joined to the mild steel laminate through a process known as forge-welding, the result is a blade with superior metallurgy that will sharpen easily, take a scary sharp edge and hold that edge longer than others.

After the end of World War II the leadership at Hitachi Metals decided to create a blade steel that was better than the best steel available at that time, Swedish Steel. As Japan had a long tradition of samurai swordmaking, it was decided that the new steel be modeled after the best blades ever forged. Several swords were analyzed for carbon content and alloy composition. What was discovered was that the swords averaged a little over 0.7% carbon and amazingly, they were very free from alloys and contaminants such as phosphorus and sulfur. This was the result from careful forge-welding and forging multiple times in a very clean fire made from pine charcoal.

Unlike swords which must be designed to withstand a lot of impact, the new steel was primarily going to be used in shorter lengths and used for daily cutting tasks which were not as abusive in nature. With edge holding capability in mind, a higher carbon content was considered, between 1.2% and 1.4% to be exact. To get the other advantageous qualities of the swords in their new steel, namely superior cutting performance and ease of sharpening via excellent carbide dispersion within the steel matrix, special attention was paid to ensure minimal impurities (phosphorus and sulfur) were present in each new batch of smelted steel.

The result of the engineer's efforts at Hitachi was a brilliant success. The old-school bladesmiths were quick to adapt to the new steel and apply their long years of forging experience to bring out the best potential the white steel had to offer. White steel #1(1.4% C) and White steel #2 (1.2% C) soon replaced Swedish steel as the premium choice for forge welding to make the finest blades on the Japanese domestic market.

However, there was one drawback to this new "White Steel". The problem was when young apprentices and inexperienced smiths made blades from it only a portion of the steel's potential was realized...

READ THE REST IN OUR NEWEST NEWSLETTTER: WWW.CARTERCUTLERY.COM

God bless and stay sharp...
murray@cartercutlery.com

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[AnteroX1234]

you've been eating too much

[CarterCutlery]

@AnteroX1234 Nah, you're mistaken! Murray is actually training for a weightlifting competition right now. He would say he's in his best health ever!

[MikeNelson216]

ill do it if you trade me some steel

[CarterCutlery]

@MikeNelson216 Sorry, but steel is only available to Inner Circle/Apprenticeship members.

[Pudersepp]

I like the download option! As I live over 10k km away, cross the pond.

[CarterCutlery]

@Pudersepp The download option is an incredible value to anyone, particularly to our International customers. Our downloadable videos are region free, DRM free and playable any where there is electricity.

[mrsamsa]

@CarterCutlery when will the download option become available? maybe i'm just not seeing it, but i can't find that option on your website. thanks!

[glsmith20]

Ill start the bidding at 50 dollars to the Murrey's choice of charity to shave that bad mamojam fu manchu on U-Tube

Thanks MC for the great videos

[SnyperMac]

i read your news letter the other morning, it was a little bit lengthy but a good read makes me want to get one of your neck knives. but unfortunately i just can't swing hat kind of money

[akzorz]

0:05 epic

[wigglos]

I have an off topic question: what dates will you be attending the SISAC knife show in Paris this year? I cannot seem to find dates online...

[MRSketch09]

I read the news letter, interesting bit of info.

[pennfootball71]

Well maybe we can do a test between say 52100 ball bearing steel made by an ABS master smith and compare to white steel? Also for fun we can try S35VN, ZDP 189 and O1 tool steel...I can send some of my knives to Murray to test them against white steel in some cut tests.

[2dividedby3equals666]

The link to the website is messed up, it has an extra c after Carter. Glad to hear from you guys, take care!!

[AnteroX1234]

@CarterCutlery :)