Takefu VG-MAX Knife Steel
Composition Analysis Graph, Equivalents And Overview

VG-MAX(Takefu) - VG-MAX has first appeared few years ago, in 2013, when Shun knives switched several of its kitchen knives from Takefu VG-10 steel to newly announced VG-MAX steel. The new alloy was, and still is proprietary steel and as with many such alloys, its composition remained unknown for a long time. I received composition from the reader, on 01/2020, and he in turn got it from Kai Cutlery rep. (Kai owns Shun). So, after 6 long years we finally have it :) As the name suggests, and as it was announced back in 2013, VG-MAX takes Takefu VG-10 steel as its base and increases several alloying element percentages, which should result in increased performance. Most notably, W and V are both at 3%, and Cobalt is increased to 2.5%. There's also slight increase in Cr and Mo content, but not as prominent as the former three. Target hardness range for the VG-MAX steel is 61HRC, +/- 1HRC, which is normal margin of error for most of the steels. I'm kind of surprised target hardness isn't higher, but the HRC number given here is what Shun wants their kitchen knives to be. Given the exclusivity of the steel, it's unlikely we'll ever find out. I suppose, Shun wouldn't want VG-MAX to compete with another premium alloy in their knives Takefu SG-2 steel. Or may be I am wrong :) May be, Shun simply doesn't want to bring it higher, I've fixed more then enough shun kitchen knives with broken tips as it is. That's not to say Shun knives are more brittle than other VG-10 steel knives though. It's just Shuns are more popular and widespread in western world than the others, and inexperienced users break them more frequently. Anyway, VG-MAX should perform a bit better compared to Takefu VG-10 steel, and it'll be a bit more difficult to sharpen too, though given proper sharpening equipment and skill, it's unlikely you'll notice increase in sharpening difficulty. You should notice better edge holding compared to Shun's VG-10 steel knives though.

Manufacturing Technology - Ingot

Country - Japan(JP)

Known Aliases:
Takefu - VGMAX