Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 7, 2026

VG-10

VG-10 is a cutlery-grade stainless steel produced in Japan. The name stands for V Gold 10, or sometimes V-Kin-10 (V金10号). Like various other blade steels, it is a stainless steel with a high carbon content, containing 1% carbon, 15% chromium, 1% molybdenum, 0.2% vanadium, and 1.5% cobalt.

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Jul 7, 2026
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Camillus tanto folder with "Titanium Carbonitride" coated VG10 blade source ↗

VG-10 is a cutlery-grade stainless steel produced in Japan. The name stands for V Gold 10 ("gold" meaning quality), or sometimes V-Kin-10 (V金10号) (kin means "gold" in Japanese). Like various other blade steels, it is a stainless steel with a high carbon content, containing 1% carbon, 15% chromium, 1% molybdenum, 0.2% vanadium, and 1.5% cobalt.1

The VG-10 stainless steel was originally designed by Takefu Special Steel Co. Ltd.,2 based in Takefu, Fukui Prefecture, Japan (the former cutlery/sword-making center of Echizen). Takefu also made another version: VG10W, which contains 0.4% tungsten.3 Almost all VG-10 steel knife blades were manufactured in Japan.

VG-10 was originally aimed at Japanese chefs, but also found its way into sports cutlery.

References

References

  1. "VG10 Features". Takefu Special Steel Co., Ltd. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  2. "VG-10: The gold standard of Japanese stainless steel". Digital Journal. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
  3. "Original blade steel｜Takefu Special Steel Co., Ltd". e-tokko.com. Retrieved 2023-12-21.
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