Stainless or Carbon Steel?

[geargarcon]

Adding one piece of info that may be helpful. I have seen a number of people talk about the ease or difficulty of sharpening. I for one almost never sharpen my blades, but I do meticulously maintain my edges.

Sharp edges don’t dull suddenly. They are the result of the edge slowly rolling over time. It rolls a little at first and then gets worse each time you use it until it no longer cuts well. At this point it is impossible to straighten out and you have to put a new edge in it by sharpening it. If you can prevent it from ever rolling to begin with it you could theoretically never have to sharpen unless you do some sort of acute damage.

I keep a leather strop on my bench and every couple of uses I hit the blades with a strop. This keeps that edge straight and therefor I almost never sharpen it.

One way to tell if you have an edge starting to roll is to look at the sharp edge of your blade. Can you see light reflecting off of your edge or is it dark. If it is dark your edge is good. Sharp edges don’t reflect light. If you see any spots reflecting light, that is where your edge is starting to roll. Run it along a leather strop until the light goes away. Problem solved!

With a well maintained edge, sharpening should rarely be needed regardless of steel type!

 

[Lorax7]

Am I the only person that uses Kiku? Does it suck or something? Wait did I just totally embarrass myself?

I have a pair of 8" Kiku wire cutters I picked up this year. I'm happy with them so far. I appreciate the extra leverage of the long-handled Kiku cutters vs. the 7" wire cutters that came in my Mu Tian beginner tool set.

 

[leatherback]

I'm not super conscientious about wiping my carbon steel tools down with an oily rag every time they're used, but I do give them a thorough coating with choji oil once in a while and that seems to work pretty well to keep the rust at bay as long as they're not getting rained on and put away wet.

My experience too. I do a full clean & oil session maybe 4 times per year. THe rest of the time I just clean the blades maybe once a week and/or after/before working on sick/weak/delicate species.

 

[p_anova]

I have a pair of 8" Kiku wire cutters I picked up this year. I'm happy with them so far. I appreciate the extra leverage of the long-handled Kiku cutters vs. the 7" wire cutters that came in my Mu Tian beginner tool set.

I am super happy with their stuff to the point that my entire roll up is Kiku. My OCD demands that everything matches or the world will explode. I like to think that I am doing this to save everyone else. De nada bonsai nuts!