The Ultimate Guide to Powdered High-Speed Steel Knives: Sharpness, Durability, and How to Choose

Are you looking for a knife that offers outstanding sharpness, edge retention, and cutting stability?
In recent years, powdered high-speed steel (often known as SG2 or R2) has become the focus of attention among professional chefs and serious knife enthusiasts. Its fine-grained microstructure allows for an extremely thin and hard edge that maintains sharpness far longer than conventional stainless or carbon steels.

In this article, we’ll take an in-depth look at what makes powdered high-speed steel so superior, how it differs from other steels, and what to consider when choosing one. Finally, we’ll introduce JIKKO Cutlery’s recommended SG2 knives, forged by craftsmen in Sakai Osaka, Japan with over 120 years of tradition and expertise.

The Ultimate Guide to Powdered High-Speed Steel Knives: From How to Choose the Knife, to the Secret Behind the Sharpness 

When choosing a knife, the steel material used is an important factor that affects its sharpness. If you are able to choose a good steel material, the knife would have excellent sharpness and you’ll. E able to perform better when cooking.

In addition, a knife that stays sharp for a long time means you do not need to sharpen your knife as often, so even those who are busy, or that need to cook a lot can ease their cooking experiences as well.

From here on, we will explain the characteristics and the  advantages of the powdered high-speed steel.

What is Powdered High-Speed Steel? The Next Generation Steel to Choose for your Knife 

Powdered high-speed steel is a type of steel material used for knives, and is also simply known as high-speed steel (HSS). The SG2 powdered high-speed steel used by JIKKO Cutlery is a new type of steel material for knives, made by using a special manufacturing method called powder metallurgy, and it is catching the attention of many people for it being sharp, and rust-resistant steel material.

High-speed steel is generally known as “melted high-speed steel” and is used for tools such as drills. This steel material has high hardness, and is suited for manufacturing tools, but its coarse texture makes it unsuitable as steel to manufacture knives. On the other hand, “powder high-speed steel” used for knives is a type of steel produced by compressing and shaping uniformly refined carbides using the powder metallurgy process. Thus the steel material has high hardness with properties that are suitable for manufacturing knives.

The Difference between Regular Stainless Steel and Powdered High-Speed Steel: The Secret behind Powdered High-Speed Steel's Sharpness 

Powdered high-speed steel produced by powder metallurgy has extremely small and uniform carbides, enabling the cutting edge to be sharpened more, resulting in knives with excellent sharpness.

Size of the carbide / cross-section of the blade tip / comparison of the 2 cross sections

Regular stainless steel / big 

Powdered High-Speed Steel / small / the powdered high-speed steel can make the blade tip sharper

The Balance Between Cost and Quality of the Powdered High-Speed Steel Knives 

The disadvantage of powdered high-speed steel is that it is expensive, since it is specially made steel material. However, when you are purchasing a knife, you should not just decide by the price of the knife. When you consider the price against the benefits it has, you’ll start to see the balance between the cost and the quality of the knife.

*Here, “regular stainless steel” is VG10, which is quite popular as a high-grade steel material

Sharpness: The sharpness right after you sharpened the knife

The Edge Retention: How long the sharpness lasts

When you consider these advantages, you can say that powdered high-speed steel is a great steel material that is worth its price.

How to Sharpen Powdered High-Speed Steel Knives: Can Stainless Steel Knives be Sharpened? 

You may have heard someone saying that “stainless steel knives can’t be sharpened”. In the past, many stainless steel knives were made from low-quality steel, and many were made cheaply, resulting in knives that lose their sharpness quite fast. And as a result, the idea that stainless steel knives cannot be sharpened became widespread. However, the high-quality stainless steel knives you see now can indeed be sharpened. If you sharpen the knives correctly, stainless steel knives can regain their sharpness and perform excellently again.

And powdered high-speed steel is also a type of stainless steel that can be sharpened. While it may be difficult to sharpen for some because of its hardness, the steel can still be sharpened using the whetstone, just like carbon steel knives.  

For those who find sharpening challenging, we, JIKKO, offer sharpening services for your knives. By having the knife sharpened by professionals once every year or two, you can keep on using the knives with excellent sharpnesses.

【Learn more about JIKKO’s sharpening services】

JIKKO’s Powdered High-Speed Steel Knives: Cutting Edge Forged by Craftsmen’s skill and the Traditions 

At JIKKO Cutlery, we use SG2 (Super Gold 2) powdered high-speed steel manufactured by TAKEFU SPECIAL STEEL CO.,LTD. 

This steel is extremely hard and tough, has high wear and corrosion resistance, making it an excellent choice to choose for your knife. It is also malleable, allowing our craftsmen to manufacture knives with beautiful shapes.

JIKKO’s Ever-Popular Knives: SG2 (R2) Japanese-Style Knives, SG2 Western-Style Knives (R2) 

The SG2 (R2) series have classical looks that have a serene atmosphere. The Japanese-style knives are lightweight, allowing you to cook for a long time without fatigue on the hand. The Western-style series has a well-balanced weight to it, and is easy to hold and grip.

SG2(R2) WA (Japanese style) Santoku Knife

SG2(R2) Western style Santoku Knife

The 【Loco Damascus SG2】 Knives with Beautiful Layered Patterns 

This glamorous knife has a darker-colored Damascus blade with layered patterns. The handle is made of oak wood, which gives it a warm feel, and the octagonal shape makes it slip-resistant, so it is easy to hold.

Loco Damascus SG2 Zenkiri Knife

【HIHO】JIKKO Original-Shaped Knife: Jack Santoku Knife

JIKKO Original-Shaped “HIHO” series knives have sharp mountain-like shaped designed blades. Not only it looks cool, it can cut excellently well with its thin, sharp blades that can cut into the ingredients and separate them apart smoothly with its shape. 

HIHO Jack Santoku Knife

All-Stainless Steel Knife: 【Never Stain】Santoku Knife 

“Never Stain” is a knife made entirely of stainless steel, from the blade to the handle. Since even the handle is made with stainless steel, it can be scrubbed down with the sponge, and you can pour boiling water over the entire knife to sanitize your knife. We recommend this knife for those who need to cook in sanitized situations, like when preparing baby food.

Never Stain Santoku Knife

Frequently Asked Questions About Powdered High-Speed Steel 

From here, we’ll answer to some of the frequently asked questions about Powdered High-Speed Steel

Question: What is the sharpest knife in Japan?

Answer: The sharpest knife in Japan is said to be the knives with White Carbon #2 carbon steel. White carbon #2 is close to pure carbon steel, and has very few impurities, so it has extremely sharp blades. The White carbon #2 knives are easy to sharpen, so you re-sharpen the knife to have the sharp edges again, making it easy to maintain. The knife’s sharpness stands out especially when precise cutting techniques are needed, like when cutting sashimi and slicing ingredients thinly.

Question: What is the best steel material for knives?  

Answer: At JIKKO Cutlery, we recommend SG2, powdered high-speed steel as the best steel material for knives. SG2 is a steel material made by forming extremely fine powdered steel under high pressure, and sintering them. As a result, it has a uniform particle structure, and is extremely hard, with high wear resistance. This allows SG2 knives to maintain their sharpness even after using it for a long time, and sharpness is less likely to drop. Additionally, the SG2 steel has excellent corrosion resistance, and is easy to maintain; the SG2 knives are popular among both professional chefs and for home use.

Question: What is the highest quality stainless steel knife?

Answer: As the highest quality stainless steel knife, we, JIKKO Cutlery believe that the stainless steel HONYAKI knife and the Silver three HONYAKI knife are the highest quality stainless steel knives. The HONYAKI knives are carefully made, quenching and tempering one by one with hand, to achieve excellent hardness and edge retention. The Silver Three HONYAKI knives use high-grade stainless steel material called Silver Three steel, and have excellent sharpness and durability. This material is rust-resistant, and is easy to maintain. Additionally, since all HONYAKI knives are crafted by hand by skilled craftsmen, each piece is like an artwork when finished, and has a glamorous appearance as well as excellent functionality. These knives are highly acknowledged by professional chefs, and are known as the highest quality stainless steel knives.

Powdered High-Speed Steel Knives has Excellent Sharpness and is Easy to Use: From Professional Chefs to Beginner Chefs 

Knives with powdered high-speed steel is easy to use, and has excellent sharpness, which makes it highly recommended steel material for you to choose. Its unique characteristics stem from the special manufacturing process of the powdered high-speed steel, which sets it apart from other stainless steel knives.

The knives’ excellent sharpness and ease of use surely makes this knife special to everyone, from professional to beginner chefs. So let’s find the powdered high-speed steel knife that best suits you, and expand your cooking possibilities!

Knives That Were Introduced in the Article