HITACHI ZDP189 MONO STEEL

ZDP-189 is one of the most famous Japanese “super steels,” created by Hitachi Metals during a period when the knife industry was pushing the limits of stainless steel. It is unusual right from the start, with a chemistry that combines extremely high carbon at about 3 percent and chromium at 20 percent, far above the norm for most cutlery steels. These two elements alone define most of its character, but its full composition also includes 1.4 percent molybdenum, 0.6 percent tungsten, 0.1 percent vanadium, 0.5 percent manganese, and 0.4 percent silicon. Together, this cocktail of alloying ingredients creates a stainless powder metallurgy steel engineered for extraordinary hardness and wear resistance.