The chart above is an approximate performance.

In addition to this graph, the performance will vary greatly depending on the shape of the blade and the heat treatment process.


Corrosion resistance

Corrosion resistance directly affects the blade edge. Even if the level of rust is not visible to the naked eye, if rust occurs on the cutting edge, the sharpness will be reduced. For knives that rust easily like carbon steel, we recommend wiping them dry after use or stroping them with a strop.


Toughness

When steel is impacted, small cracks enter from the inside, and it may be chipped or broken. This resistance to chipping, in other words, tenacity, is toughness.

High toughness does not mean high strength.Without a certain degree of hardness, deformation such as bending of the cutting edge will occur.

Subjectively, if it has a hardness of 60 HRC or more and high toughness, it can be said to be a high-strength knife.


Wear resistance

The maintenance of sharpness through wear resistance is directly linked to hardness. However, wear resistance varies even with the same hardness and edge angle, depending on the characteristics of the steel.
This is due to the fineness of the matrix that makes up the steel.

A typical example is the high-performance powder steel M390, which has such a fine structure that it is touted as MicroClean, and has excellent wear resistance despite its hardness of 61HRC.
Furthermore, such a fine structure also affects excellent sharpness.
​However, when the objects being cut include hard objects, toughness is also required in addition to wear resistance.