Global knives are made from the finest high carbon stainless steel available for producing professional quality kitchen knives. Yoshikin uses its own proprietary stainless steelcalled CROMOVA 18 Stainless Steel and this material has been designed exclusively for Global knives. This steel is hard enough for Global knives to hold the steep, acute cutting edge and keep their edge for a long time...but soft enough so that it is not too difficult to sharpen them. The CRO in CROMOVA 18 stands for chromium and the 18 is the percentage of chromium in the steel.This high percentage of chromium contributes to Global's excellent stain resistance. Care should be taken to keep your Global knives stain and rust free. The MO and VA in CROMOVA 18 stand for molybdenum and vanadium and these are two metallic elements that give a knife good edge retention.

It is often asked why Global knives stay sharp so long without sharpening. The combination of the elements molybdenum and vanadium is one reason, but also refer back to the diagrams on the right of the straight edge vs. the beveled edge. Now take a piece of paper and gradually push it up your screen, slowly covering the tips of the two edge types, simulating the knives getting dull after use. Even as the Global straight edge gets dull it is still much thinner, and, therefore, much sharper than the knife with the beveled edge.