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Super Gold 2, commonly called SG2, is a powder-metallurgy stainless blade steel from Takefu. It offers a middle-ground balance of abrasive edge retention, toughness and corrosion resistance in Larrin Thomas’s ratings. For a slicing knife, the grind, edge angle and heat treatment are still central to how that balance feels in use.
What Is Super Gold 2?
Takefu identifies Super Gold 2 as SPG2 and describes it as a powder-metallurgy stainless blade steel. Powder processing helps control the steel’s structure, but it does not make every finished knife behave the same way.
Performance Ratings
For the science, we turn to Dr. Larrin Thomas of Knife Steel Nerds, who has kindly allowed us to share his ratings here.
| Property | Super Gold 2 |
|---|---|
| Abrasive edge retention | |
| Toughness | |
| Corrosion resistance |
Heat treatment, hardness and geometry affect actual knives.
Explore Super Gold 2’s Tradeoffs
Choose a steel above to highlight its position and see all three exact ratings below. The full map fits your screen.
Stainless
Super Gold 2
- Abrasive edge retention
- 5
- Toughness
- 4
- Corrosion resistance
- 7.5
All 48 rated materials. Numbers group steels at identical coordinates; colors describe stainless classification, not corrosion scores. Neither direction means a universally better knife.
Super Gold 2’s ratings are shown above. Enable JavaScript to select another steel, or browse the full ratings table.
SG2 Edge Retention
SG2 has an abrasive edge-retention rating of 5. It offers more wear resistance than lower-rated steels such as AEB-L, while giving up some toughness in this framework. That can suit controlled slicing when retaining a working edge matters, but a thicker SG2 blade will not necessarily cut more easily than a thinner blade in another steel.
Choosing an Edge for the Job
Its toughness rating is 4. Use an edge angle that supports the work you plan to do, especially around hard materials or incidental contact with hard surfaces. For cutting that regularly damages an edge, a tougher steel or more supportive geometry may be the better direction. A high hardness claim alone does not settle that choice.
Sharpening and Corrosion Resistance
Start sharpening with a grit that removes metal effectively for the repair or touch-up, then refine the edge and remove the burr. Do not spend a long time polishing an edge that still needs shaping. SG2’s corrosion-resistance rating is 7.5; rinse away salty or acidic residue and dry the knife after use. Check the rest of the knife as well, since fittings and handles have their own care needs.
Who Should Consider SG2?
SG2 is worth considering in a knife built for controlled slicing, particularly when you want stainless care alongside useful wear resistance. Look at blade thickness, the grind behind the edge, handle comfort and the maker’s heat-treatment information. Choose the finished knife around your tasks rather than treating powder metallurgy as an automatic reason to upgrade.
Composition
Our steel composition guide explains what the elements do and how to read these values.
Super Gold 2: Selected composition reported in Dr. Larrin Thomas’s 2019 SG2 research chart, mass %; not a current Takefu specification or batch analysis. Knife Steel Nerds: VG10 and Super Gold 2 properties and history.
| Element | Super Gold 2 |
|---|---|
| Carbon (C) | 1.4% |
| Chromium (Cr) | 15% |
| Molybdenum (Mo) | 2.8% |
| Vanadium (V) | 2% |
