Japanese knives, on the other hand, are made from much harder steel, between 60 and 65 HRC. Some Western-style ranges, however, are made from an excellent molybdenum steel (very often AUS-8) with an HRC of 58-59, which has the many advantages of being rather supple (little breakage), easy to sharpen, stainless, and retaining its edge for quite a long time. The vast majority of damascus knives use the highly reputed VG10 stainless steel, which is very hard (HRC 60-61) and more complex to sharpen. Finally, traditional Japanese knives use carbon steel sandwiched between iron (or sometimes stainless steel). Oxidizable, these knives need to be carefully cleaned (do not soak them, just sponge with soap and wipe dry), but benefit from an excellent compromise between high hardness (often HRC 62) and high purity. The result is a knife that is very easy to sharpen, with little breakage compared to a VG10, and an excellent cutting edge that lasts a very long time. However, it is still important to avoid contact with bones or large edges, to avoid chipping the cutting edge. A sharpening gun is of little use for a Japanese knife, as the cutting edge is maintained for a long time (several months for non-professional use).