FAQ: Should I get tools in white or blue steel?

Sadly, this isn't a question that can be answered without a bit of context. Like a lot of things, the answer is "it depends."

There is a ton of misinformation floating around on the internet that gets absorbed and repeated from source to source, and it can be hard to cut through the noise to figure out what will actually work for you.

Here are a couple of really well-written articles [1] [2] that go into the metallurgy and history of these steels. To summarize and synthesize a bit:

• Blue steel is more expensive as a raw material due to the additives in it.
• These additives make blue steel harder than white steel, and more resistant to abrasion when they are raw materials. However...
• White steel, with proper treatment by a skilled smith, can acquire the hardness and abrasion-resistant properties of its costlier cousin. 
• This treatment requires precision acquired through lots of experience, as well as excellent quality control to avoid waste, and typically leads to a premium cost for good white steel tools.
• Well-treated white steel can hold a keener edge than blue steel, and is easier to sharpen.

At the end of the day, your skill as a sharpener and the skill of the smith impact the performance of a blade more than the choice of raw material alone. Most users are limited far more by sharpening technique than by steel.

Think of a blade's steel as an input, one of many, that determines what's "best" for a given task or situation. Another critical input is the craftsperson using the tool! We are conditioned in the US to think about products and materials as monolithic things that can improve outputs without skill development. Basically, we think that the tools do all the work. This is thanks to decades of marketing messages thumping us about the head and neck.

The reality with handmade tools and handwork is that the people that produce and use the product, their skills, and the materials they work with all influence the output. Smiths are practical people who work in a highly competitive environment on very thin margins. If the raw materials made that much of a difference and it was as simple as "X is best for Y," smiths wouldn't bother with anything but X.

FWIW, I've heard very experienced craftsfolk (with, like, decades of full time experience using Japanese tools) tell stories about misidentifying favored blue steel tools as white steel and vice versa. It's just not a critical factor by itself.

I'm happy to guide individuals based on their circumstances and desired use case. Feel free to contact me if you need assistance making a decision about which tool is right for you and your project.