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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I previously explained that Tamahagane which is a Japanese traditional steel is the best steel.

But CHIYOZURU Korehide, who has been admired as the great master of the plane and a legendary blacksmith in the 19th century, left a will that said “Don’t use Tamahagane. Use imported steels” for his disciples.


It is certain that knives made of Tamahagane are very sharp. However, Tamahagane requires a very strict temperature control, so it is difficult to maintain a stable supply.

Before the opening of Japan, craftsmen could spend a lot of time perfecting a high quality knife. But after the opening of Japan in 19th century, they required to maintain a stable supply. without any loss, under the policy of increasing wealth and military power. So. Tamahagane was replaced by imported steel from Europe.

Were Japanese knives made of imported steel less sharp? –No, they weren’t. Japanese blacksmiths researched about the nature of imported steels, learned their features in practice, and eventually adjusted the steel to Japanese knives very well. It was the beginning of the second golden age of Japanese knives, after the Tamahagane age.

I will explain more about the imported steel next time.

(Written by Iida Tool )

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Today, many kinds of steel are used as knives but the king of steel is traditionally “Tamahagane” in Japan. Although Samurai swords are made of Tamahagane in recent days, the steel is very rare.

Tamahagane is made from iron sand by a traditional furnace called “Tatara”.

The knives made of Tamahagane are the sharpest all over the world. The steel is among the finest material. It is the driving force behind the fame and legend of Japanese knives.

However, hardening of the steel is very difficult. It needs strict temperature control.
If a blacksmith misses the proper temperature by 2-3 degrees, the knife becomes a failure. Sometimes more than half of the knives become failures.
So, the steel which is involved such as chrome and tungsten have been developed after ages. They are easy to use to control the temperature.

Japanese blacksmiths who have been trained well by Tamahagane have won worldwide fame.

I will explain more about steel in the next article.

(Written by Iida Tool )

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I explained that Japanese knives are made of hard steel and soft iron by forge welding. Forge welding techniques give an advantage to Japanese knives. It is the ease of sharpening.

However solid and sharp a knife is, it must become dull. Sharpening is very important work in all countries.


Hard steel knives are too hard to be sharpened by hand. If a knife gets harder, it becomes hard to be sharpened. Or, when it is easy to be sharpened, it will be soft. Because Western knives must be soft to be sharpened, they become dull sooner than Japanese knives.

So, how about sharpening Japanese knives? –That is the situation in which an edge made of hard steel and soft iron shows its advantage.

Soft iron covers hard steel. When a Japanese knife is sharpened, soft iron and hard steel are sharpened together. Even if steel is very hard, soft iron helps a lot to be sharpened.

The fame of Japanese knives has certain reasons. They are the advantages of forge welding which I explained.

I will talk about “steel” which is an important material of knives in the next article.

(Written by Iida Tool )

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The shortest description about Japanese knives is,“They are made of hard steel and soft iron by forge welding.”

Western knives are made of only one steel. On the other hand, the edge of Japanese knives is steel, while the other part is made of soft iron.

If steel gets harder, it becomes less elastic. Or, when it gets elastic, it becomes less hard.

Today, in spite of drastic advance in technological innovation, we can’t get a steel which has both hardness and elasticity yet.

Not to break or twist and to remain sharp ……There is a discrepancy.

The process of forge welding.

It’s no exaggeration to say that the reason for the appreciation of Japanese knives is the technique of forge welding.

The technique also brings an advantage for hardening of Japanese knives.

Japanese knives are cooled rapidly with water for hardening. Using this method, the knives become very sharp. In the hardening process, Japanese craftsmen chill the knives at temperatures of over 800 degrees Celsius with water.

But, the knives made of only one steel crack when they chilled in that way.

So, old Japanese people solved this problem by forge welding of steel and soft iron. Soft iron acts as a cushion of steel in the hardening process and it prevents cracking.

On the other hand, western knives are chilled slowly with oil. It creates a blunt and tender edge.

I will explain about more advantages of the forge welding technique in the next article.

(Written by Iida Tool )

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