All about Aogami, highly ranked material for kitchen knives (3)

Aogami No.2 (Blue Paper Steel No. 2)

As basic information of Aogami No.2, it contains a lower amount of carbon, chromium and tungsten than Aogami No.1. It’s less expensive than Aogami No.1, so its hardness, stickiness and sharpness is one step behind Aogami No.1. Having said that, it would be best for those who want to purchase their first Aogami Steel cutlery since it is regarded as an icon of Aogami cutlery with ease of use. Therefore Aogami No.2-B is often considered as standard in evaluating Aogami Steel.

What’s Aogami No.2-A ?

Aogami No2-A contains 1.10-1.20% carbon of the total ingredients. As you can see the difference in the amount of carbon between Aogami No.1 and No.2, No.2 is a steel with a lower level of hardness compared to No.1. It is unlikely that you come across Aogami No.2-A products in the current market. Even if Aogami No.2-A is used for making a knife, it can be degraded into Aogami No.2-B or lower in case carbon comes off while manufacturing (decarburization).

What’s Aogami No.2-B ?

Aogami No.2-B contains 1.00-1.10% carbon of the total ingredients. This Aogami No.2-B is a representative of Aogami No.2 products, and manufactured and distributed the most. From manufacturers’ perspective, Aogami No.2-B is easy to handle in heat-treatment process since its quenching temperature is used as reference for all Aogami No.2. In other words, it can be said that a skilled blacksmith has been handling Aogami No.2-B so many times that they are most sensitive to the feeling of it.
When the amount of carbon changes, so does tempering /quenching temperature to some extent. Such a slight difference in the temperature influences perfection of a finished product, Hocho (“kitchen knife” in Japanese).

Next time, we’ll explain the details about Aogami Super (Blue Paper Super) in the following chapters.
Keep your eyes on it!

Aogami Super (Blue Paper Super)

Summary of Aogami

 

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Thank you for reading and best regards!

All the Hocho-Knife staff
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“Hocho” represents Made-in-Japan (Sushi / Sashimi) Kitchen Knives,
that is the soul of the cook!
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