How to tell the difference between white and blue steel?

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geebr200

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Sep 26, 2019
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I cant seem to find my answer anywhere but I was wondering if you were just visually look at some knives are there any indicators that tell you what steel its made out of?

Its extremely easy if you buy from a seller that tells you what kind of steel it is but is there a way to tell visually?
 
If your eyes double as mass spectrometers, yes.
People will say they sharpen differently and they do tarnish differently, but the heat treatment will change both those qualities.
The names come from the color of paper used to label the steel deliveries.
 
Who are you buying from that you don't trust?
If it's from Japanese Knife Imports, Chef Knives to Go, or Korin don't worry about it.
 
With traditional Japanese cooking knives (where you see the most White and Blue steels used) most of time the blade is marked in one of the following ways、on one side or the other.
Shiro (white) 白
Shirogami (white paper) 白紙
Shirokou (white steel) 白鋼
Shiro Ni (white 2) 白　二

If Blue steel replace the White 白　with Ao (Blue) 青
Blue steel will say 青鋼　(Aokou)

Besides that, apart from what the vendor specs say, there there's no "sure way" to tell with the naked eye. In practice I know my White steel knives show rust rust starting much faster than my Blue steel ones. But as others have mentioned. there are other factors involved.
 
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