Thread: Superplastic UHC Steel

Apologies if this has been discussed before. I have searched the forum but cannot find the topic covered, unless it has been discussed under a brand name.

When superplastic Ultra High Carbon Steel was developed it compared favourably with medieval Damascus steel. https://e-reports-ext.llnl.gov/pdf/237566.pdf https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/611842

As I understand it, Sherby licensed it for commercial production I think in the late 80s. If so I am assuming the raw material is not as expensive as say, wootz.

There were experiments with laminates as well which added to the superplasticity attributes.

Are there any custom blade makers working with UHC, either on its own or with laminates?
Does the superplasticity allow for more advanced geometries? (For instance, some kind of ultra ultra hollow, with a very acute bevel).
Does the licensed version have a brand name which I am missing, and it's more common than I realise?

How does UHC Steel compare with Wootz Damascus?

You might contact Tim Zowada or Mr Blue. They are the experts on steel fabrication.

A lot of makers use hypereutectiod steels. I read only the abstract in the link, but the wiki on superplasticity is concerning behavior at stresses beyond the yield point of the material, so it's hard to see how this property would be advantageous in a razor. Thiers issard uses a 1.35% carbon steel. I think that most wootz is above 2%. The Gillett 'Blue Blade' was 1.2% carbon.

So the benefits of hypereutectiod steels has been exploited for years, but I don't think that the superplasticity of the material has anything to do with it.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

You might contact Tim Zowada or Mr Blue. They are the experts on steel fabrication.

And to clarify, Mr Blue's username is Mike Blue.

Originally Posted by bluesman7

So the benefits of hypereutectiod steels has been exploited for years, but I don't think that the superplasticity of the material has anything to do with it.

OK, so first of all, thank you to Utopian for the clarification about Mike Blue.

I will admit, I got confused and stumbled across your website. Wow. I am absolutely blown away by your razors, sir. I don't remember seeing such beautiful hollow grinds.

Given how you yourself shape a blade, would superplasticity allow you to make hollow grinds like yours that flexed to the contours of a face. In the second article they talk about pattern welded damascus with one component metal being UHC. I am just imagining how that blade might behave.

Thank you for the compliments on my razors. Sorry for the confusion between bluesman and Mike Blue. I had not thought about that.

Well, the hollow grinding does make a lively shave IME. The superplasticity, as I understand it, is about the behavior of the material when it is stressed beyond yield. Yield is defined as when permanent deformation occurs. In other words, the super plastic property would only come in to play if the blade flexed far enough that it did not return to straight when the flexing force was removed. So I don't see how superplasticity could come into play on a razor.

I do like talking and reading about steels, especially hypereutectoid steels, so I may go back and read the whole paper.

Victor, when I made that clarification I was not thinking that anyone would consider you as Mr Blue. Honestly I wasn't thinking of you at all. I only wanted to make sure that the OP could reach the person I assumed to be referenced as Mr Blue.

Mr Blues would have made me think of you.

OK, I did a quick read of the paper. The superplasticity is a property occurring at 600-800 degrees C. There is quite a lot of interesting info on genuine damascus [wootz] and modern UHCS.


Bruno at Snail Forge is making razors with wootz.


This thread should really be moved to the forge section.

My apologies, the confusion was all mine, both in terms of Mr Blue and where to start this thread.

How can the thread be moved to the forge section? Can someone do that, or do I need to re-post there?

Contact a moderator and they can move it for you.