Thread: Does steel have a correctable memory?

Originally Posted by kaptain_zero

I'd just like to get something clarified. Chris said "In a perfect world, all blades that I shave with would lie perfectly flat (on both the front and back side of the blades mind you) on wide hones". This is where I became suspicious. If a blade is warped, it must lay uneven on *both* sides of the spine only in the opposite direction. I have a razor that lays perfectly flat on one side and has a straight edge from the factory but rocks all over the place on the other side. I don't consider this blade warped, just very poorly ground on that side that rocks and you can clearly see there is a hump in that side of the spine as well as tell tale signs in the hollow indicating the material is thicker in the same spot. I'm thinking of perhaps getting one of the grindmeisters to introduce that blade to a belt grinder as I'm not the man for that particular job but I'm sure it would be a touchy fix considering it's pretty much a full hollowground blade. I might just straighten out the spine where it touches the hone and live with the uneven blade/bevel that will result. Still, I just wanted to point out that sometimes blades are not warped if they will rest on the hone properly on one side but not the other. A blade that is warped can lay flat on one side but there will be a hollow in the middle portion of the spine and there will be a corresponding hump on the other side that lets the blade rock back and forth in which case the spine will look like a banana from up top.


Christian

Thanks for the additional clarification, Christian. I agree with you. I have used the term "warped" in this post rather loosely. I own truly warped blades (as you describe them) as well as more blades that are flat on one side and have issues, normally from what I have seen, on the spine of the other side screwing up the edge on the spine problem side from lying flat. Still, in my perfect world, my razors would lie perfectly flat, choruses would sing as I effortlessly hone my razors to sharply comfortable perfection each and every time. Yeah yeah, I know, dream on, Chris.

Chris L

Heh.... in my little warped, but perfect world, each and every razor would have a swayed back, bellied (smiling) edge and require serious body english to hone!

Oh, and to your original question... once steel has been hardened, if you move past the elasticity limit, you are permanently deforming the steel and that means breakage when it comes to hardened steel unless it's been tempered way beyond what razors are normally.

An interesting side point for some, aluminum does not have any elasticity... zero, zip! Yes, you can flex aluminum, but each and every time aluminum is flexed it actually adds to structural failure.... Steel if flexed within it's elasticity boundaries, is not affected and thus we have spring steel but not spring aluminum and this is why stress fractures are a common problem on aircraft where flex is unavoidable but steel is just too heavy to use.


Regards

Kaptain "Booze can cause brain fractures... I think" Zero

Originally Posted by kaptain_zero

An interesting side point for some, aluminum does not have any elasticity... zero, zip! Yes, you can flex aluminum, but each and every time aluminum is flexed it actually adds to structural failure.... Steel if flexed within it's elasticity boundaries, is not affected and thus we have spring steel but not spring aluminum and this is why stress fractures are a common problem on aircraft where flex is unavoidable but steel is just too heavy to use.

I beg to differ on this. Aluminum has a very small elastic region, and steel can be flexed only so many times before it fails from fatigue (normally tens of thousands of cycles, but it will fail eventually)

In the subject of warped blades, I have nothing more to add that was not already mentioned by our esteemed bladesmiths. Once that sucker is teat treated, you're pretty much limited to material removal for shaping. This is not a problem if there is steel where you don't want it, but a major issue if there is none where you do want it.

Originally Posted by floppyshoes

I beg to differ on this. Aluminum has a very small elastic region, and steel can be flexed only so many times before it fails from fatigue (normally tens of thousands of cycles, but it will fail eventually)

In the subject of warped blades, I have nothing more to add that was not already mentioned by our esteemed bladesmiths. Once that sucker is teat treated, you're pretty much limited to material removal for shaping. This is not a problem if there is steel where you don't want it, but a major issue if there is none where you do want it.

wished i were teat treated

Originally Posted by nun2sharp

wished i were teat treated

I'm not sure what shocks me more; that I made a spelling error that slipped past my proof reading or that somebody actually read my post