Category: High Carbon Steel
White steel, or shirogami ("white paper" steel), is the closest steel to traditional tamahagane steel. The steel is very pure with few impurities, such as phosphorus and sulfur, in the steel's make up. White steel rusts easily, however the edge it holds is regarded as one of the best.
Honyaki (literally "true fired") is an authentic technique in Japanese metalworking, employed for crafting kitchen knives as well as other tools. The blade is forged from a single piece of high-carbon steel, which is then quenched with either water or oil to create a soft spine, a hamon (or temper line) and a sharp, hard edge using clay to apply differential heat treatments. This method of constructing a blade yields a superior sharpness and edge retention when compared to lamination-based techniques. It has been adapted to describe excellent mono-stainless steel blades from Japan and carbon blades from external bladesmiths, which exhibit proper hamon but are manufactured with modern equipment.
