JD Spydo wrote: ↑Mon Sep 21, 2020 9:41 pm
Say Cambertree I've talked to Brother BLOKE about this subject in the past and I've been wanting to address the issue of corrosion relating to VG-10 and now I want to ask for your take on it. I've never yet been to your great country but it most certainly is something I want to do before I depart the planet. And I'm not sure exactly where you live in Australia>> but I've heard that most of the continent has a relatively harsh environment as far as metals being subject to corrosion. In other words metals could corrode easily in most of the continent ( especially on the coastlines) is what I've heard other guys from Australia say in the past.
My ultimate question is "How Well Does VG-10 Hold Up Against Corrosion Specifically Where You Live? Here in the state of Missouri in the USA where I live we have a very humid environment in all four of the seasons. But in spite of that I've only ever had one VG-10 blade ever show any corrosion and only on one specific knife and I've probably got 12 to 14 "users" with VG-10.
My point is this>> I'm sure that for all the guys that wanted this C-60 in LC200N or H-1 for reasons of corrosion resistance >> I personally don't think they have anything to worry about unless they are in a very harsh salt water environment and they're prone to being careless with their knives. What do you say?
Hey JD, thanks for the question, and as always, you open up some excellent points for discussion, brother. :)
Well, you know if you can can ever make it over for a visit, I’d be honoured to give you a guided tour around my part of Australia. :)
I live in Southeast Australia, in the state of Victoria, out east of Melbourne.
The parallels aren’t exact, but think of maybe the Appalachian mountains, or the Pacific Northwest as a comparison, in terms of terrain.
But we have long, hot, dry summers here. At the moment we’re having a wet, squally Spring, as the storms come up from the Antarctic weather systems down south.
Bloke and Standy probably live in a more coastal environment than me. I’m a bit of a hillbilly.
:D
Most Australians - probably 80%, live in a thin band up along the east coast, and many have probably never been to the outback and vast interior deserts of our country.
So as far as VG10 goes, it’s probably in my top three steel grades among my knives, in terms of quantity of different knives. (The others would be simple carbon steels and 12C27.)
In addition to various Spydies, most of my handforged Japanese kitchen knives are VG10.
I’ve never had a problem with corrosion in that steel, JD.
I may possibly have had light orange surface spotting after leaving acidic fluid like lemon or orange juice on the blade, but it’s a rare occurrence, and generally wipes or strops straight off.
Another thing I wanted to say about VG10 is a point which is surprisingly seldom discussed - and that is, steels which are able to be ground to thin, acute edge angles will show a very marked increase in edge retention.
Cliff Stamp found that simply grinding a microbevel on a VG10 knife which was 2 1/2 degrees more acute than an otherwise identically ground S30V knife, produced the same edge retention on rope cutting.
https://youtu.be/OSDFLgq4EDs
This is a quote from Larrin, from his Maximising Edge Retention article:
‘Edge angle had by far the strongest effect on edge retention, much stronger than other effects such as PM vs ingot and the finish it was sharpened to.’
https://knifesteelnerds.com/2018/06/18/ ... retention/
My two favourite kitchen knives in VG10, a Shigeharu Funayuki and a Tanaka Nakiri, both from Kyoto bladesmiths, are 0.006” and 0.007” behind the edge respectively. And that’s after years of resharpening! The edge angle on both is probably 10dps or less.
So to get back to your question, no I’ve never had any problem with corrosion resistance in VG10 with extensive carry and use in different environments over the years.
Sure, if I’m heading down to the beach or fishing, I’ll take my Caribbean or Pac Salt or Waterway.
But otherwise, I prefer the edge behaviour of VG10 over H1 and LC200N.
And sure, I enjoy high carbide, high wear resistance steels as much as the next knife knut. But for those who dismiss VG10 because it’s not the latest and greatest shiny new ‘super’ steel on the market - maybe try grinding thinner and more acute edges on some of your lower carbide steels, and you could be pleasantly surprised by the jump in edge retention and cutting performance.
:)
And as you and others have noted, VG10 is a steel which performs very well in both plain edge
and serrated edges.