The Far-Eastern Wood Butcher: Prime cuts from the far east.

I like steel, especially when they're sharpened. Scissors, knives, chisels, anything that cuts. It helps if they're well forged; even better if they're forged with old steel. Why old steel, you ask? Old steel are plain carbon steel, nothing added other than carbon. Modern tool makers tend to add chrome, vanadium, tungsten, molybdenum, etc... These makes an alloy that may increase corrosion resistance, hardness, toughness, edge retention, wear resistance, etc.... But my point is this: does it make a sharper edge? Can these additives make an edge that can be sharpened to a finer edge? The answer is no. What these elements do is simply make sharpening a little harder. (I must add that these alloys will hold a semi-sharp edge a longer time) But I like sharpening. The journey is almost as fun as the destination. After you are done sharpening a plain carbon steel edge, you are immediately rewarded with a tool that has a fine edge few tools can match. Sure, recent technological ad