Originally Posted by
Mike Blue
It's hard to debate when generalities are being discussed. AKmik, perhaps speaking of more specific points will help this discussion.
Charlie makes good razors. I know the sources of his heat treatment education. Those are difficult to criticize. But, his razors shave hair, and his customers are satisfied. He meets the first major criteria successfully. Throughout history there have been a lot of blades that were good blades that did not benefit from the HT knowledge we have available today. They are no less good than what we make now.
I have noticed that some schools do not separate heat treatment, e.g. heat and quench to harden, from tempering, e.g. heat to reduce hardness or stress relief, but call the whole process tempering. This is imprecise but difficult to correct in common use.
edited to clarify things.