Takefu


Takefu Special Steel Co., Ltd, Japan

Takefu Special Steel Co., Ltd. manufactures and markets clad metals using rolling mills, bonding presses, and diffusion bonding. The company was founded in 1954 and is based in Echizen, Fukui Prefecture, Japan.

Clad or composite materials are composed of more than two kinds of dissimilar metals having high functional capabilities; the bonding process combines the advantages of each metal into one solid piece where the sum is greater than the two parts. Takefu Special Steel Co. supplies a wide variety of cutlery materials not only for household use but also for use in industrial machinery mainly to cutlery production areas both in Japan and abroad. For cutlery steels Takefu Special Steel Co ranks first in market share nationwide in Japan in the manufacture of dissimilar metal composite materials (clad materials. Takefu Special Steel Co also caters to the demands for nonferrous composite materials such as titanium, copper, aluminum, etc. Thus, besides cutlery steels, they have successfully developed a new field of industrial materials such as special metal molds, electrodes, etc. 

Schematically, the production process is as shown for a San Mai [3 layer] steel.

The main cutting edge grades supplied by Takefu Special Steel co., Ltd either as conventionally melted mono steels or in clad metal combinations are VG10, Cobalt Special (CoS), Shiro or the sintered grade SPG2. Each of which has its own innate properties which transfer well to the finished product.

The picture opposite shows a model of a knife made from 3 layer material.

The attributes of the steels used by Takefu Special Steels impart various traits essential to the manufacture of great cutlery amongst these are:

Longer edge life : Thanks to the use of high quality steel with high carbon content (VG10, CoS, Shiro) or sintered (SPG2) in the heart of the slab (Steel Core), the blade once hardened, reaches much higher hardness and cutting performance to those achieved using traditional steels.

 Greater resilience: built with the principle of Japanese swords, multi-layer steel is difficult to break due to the toughness of the steel (Steel Core) and the elasticity of the steel used for the side cover (Stainless Steel).

 Improved corrosion resistance: the steel used for the outer layers (Stainless Steel), ensures the blade is extremely resistant to corrosion. The combination of two or more materials used by Takefu Steel, raises, Galvanic level, a structure which improves resistance to corrosion even on the wire.

 Easy to work even after heat treatment : Although steel normally becomes harder after quenching, lateral steel used in multilayer processing does not lose its softness and easy machining, drilling or welding even after heat treatment. For an optimal yield and performance of the blade is recommended cryogenic treatment.

 Improvement of aesthetics: Knives made with Multi-layer steel or patterned Damascus at the end of the process are aesthetically elegant, refined and highly valued by collectors worldwide.

Apart from the 3 layer San Mai construction there are many variations in which the steels can be layered such as 33 layers / 2 ply and 67 – 69 layer / 3 ply etc. Schematics of the two constructions are as follows:

Stocks of the following sizes and combinations are available:

 

 

TAKEFU  VG10 / 67 LAYER STAINLESS STEEL

Size mm

Surface Finish

60 x 2.50 x1000

Cold Rolled

40 x 4.00 x 1000

Cold Rolled

 

TAKEFU  VG10 / 420SS SAN MAI 3 LAYER STAINLESS STEEL

Size mm

Surface

60 x 2.50 x 530

Cold Rolled

60 x 3.00 x 805

Cold Rolled

 

TAKEFU  VG10 / SPG2 CORELESS STAINLESS STEEL

Size  mm

Surface Finish

60 x 2.50 x 553

Cold Rolled

 

TAKEFU  VG10

Size mm

Surface Finish

245 x 5.60mm x 600mm

Hot Rolled

 

TAKEFU 15 Layer 2 Ply SPG2

Size mm

Surface Finish

50 x 6.45mm x 500mm

Hot Rolled