D2?

Ronin Katana wrote
Steel stocks in Longquan.

I get a lot of emails asking me about steel. When am I going to use Japanese made steel, American made steel, or crucible steel? The simple fact is, none of those steels are in Longquan, where Ronin blades are made. 1045, 1060 (9260), 1095, and T-10. That's what they have. I'm sure there are people who are going to say, BS, I use XXX steel, but the reality is, I've spent a lot of time there, and if these awesome steels were available, I'd be using them. Someone somewhere would know what I was talking about, and sell it to me, or at least show it to me.

1045, 1060, and 1095 are pretty straight forward, but T-10 is a bit of a mystery, so I'll do my best to explain it. T-10 is a buzz word steel used by Chinese ebayers. Yep, it really is that simple. Its a construction steel left over from large scale building projects. No one buying it, or using it, knows exactly what it is. They certainly can't pick it up and say what the carbon content is. It comes in on a truck, and gets stacked up in the T-10 stack. That's the stack that isn't 1045, 1060, or 1095. If it isn't one of those three, it goes in the "T-10" stack.

Applying American standards to what the Chinese use is really useless. The pictures below are where almost every single blade made in Longquan comes from. There is no Japanese or American steel here. That's marketing crap made up by people who know buyers can't tell the difference. Hanwei claims to use specialty steels that they invented, and they certainly have the money and staff to do that, but they are the exception, and not the rule. Small guys who claim they have specialty steels are probably lying, or don't realize they've been lied to. It simply isn't available, and even if it was, the workers forging the blades would have no idea how to work with it.

I know people want to believe that super swords exist, and in yet another miracle they can actually afford them, but the reality is, they don't. When vendors make claims like that, one has to approach them with a strong footing in reality.

Always consider the logistics.

Is a sword from deep in the heart of China really going to be made with steel from Japan or America? Steel is pretty heavy, and expensive to ship. Does China have laws about importing foreign steels? Maybe some high taxes to discourage imports? Is there a way to verify the claim? Does a Chinese power hammer operator know how to properly forge a specialty steel? How much steel is needed? How hot does it need to be prior to forging? Does he need to work the hammer differently? What about tempering? Polishing? These guys have a quota to fill every day. 200-300 swords a day, 6 days a week.

In a nut shell, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.