A steel gave out “TOGO Heihachiro”? : Western steel in Japan.

After the Japanese-Sino War (1894) and the Japanese-Russo War (1904), the industrial revolution finished in Japan. At that time, Japan was short on Tamahagane but Japanese modern steelmaking was still developing.

Therefore, Japan imported a lot of Western steels. Most steel was imported from England which was called “the workshop of the world ” at the time. Japan imported a lot of great steel whose names went down to posterity.

The greatest steel of them all is called “Togo ray go”. It was a very rare steel made by Andrew in England in around 1930. It adopted the advantage of Tamahagane. The steel was very elastic and maintained its sharpness remarkably. It has been remembered as the phantasmal steel in the steel mill service. Its name means Fleet Admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy “TOGO Heihachiro”. He was the most famous Japanese person in the world, so the steel took his name.

Today, there are few kilos of the steel in Japan. Though it is very rare steel, many people still want to get it for its sharpness and endurance.

Western steel had become a main knife steel instead of Tamahagane but Japan produced better steel than Western steel with its own traditional technique and modern steelmaking technology.

(Written by Iida Tool )

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