Thread: idea for steel

what do all of you think about tungston steel for a blade? its heavy durable and polishes nicely. i at one time had a few kives with tungston blades and they held very very good edges.

what hardness range can you expect once it's been tempered? if it's lower than rockwell 55 or above 65, I would think it wouldn't work too well, judging from the temper range most people shoot for.

I'd be worried about how brittle the blade would be.

And as jockeys said if it is above RC65 you'll have a devil of a time honing it.

Which alloys have tungsten? I bet they are used all the time- some of the time

Chrome, molybdenum, vanadium and tungsten. In varying combinations found in high alloy steels, aka, stain resistant or high speed steels, or superalloys. As has been stated previously, it would be a hard steel that would hold it's edge longer and be more difficult to hone.

Tungsten is often added when an alloy is needed to cut other hardened steels by increasing the toughness of the parent steel material. Probably not needed for an ordinary beard.

Originally Posted by Mike Blue

Tungsten is often added when an alloy is needed to cut other hardened steels by increasing the toughness of the parent steel material. Probably not needed for an ordinary beard.

so chuck norris's razor is made from tungsten steel?

Originally Posted by Detach

so chuck norris's razor is made from tungsten steel?

Chuck Norris does not shave with a conventional razor; he simply coats his head in blood and dips his face into a shark tank.

Originally Posted by WMSheep

Chuck Norris does not shave with a conventional razor; he simply coats his head in blood and dips his face into a shark tank.

Haha, too funny. I love that Chuck Norris jokes has leaked into the razor world.

My favourite one is: When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris.

Dave

If you put a nicely polished 16 degree bevel on one of those knives you could find out whether tungsten is good razor steel.

But seriously, many steels can be made to work for many applications, I wouldn't be surprised if tungsten steel worked perfectly well. But the real question is whether there is a realizable difference in the performance enhancement vs. PITA to work with factor.

I think this guy has used Japanese Blue steel in the past, though these are not: MY Japanese Style Straight Razor [MYRZ1] - $200.00 : JapaneseTools.com, The Finest Japanese Woodworking Tools

I agree with Russell. We're speaking of PITA to work with, really tight controls over the heat treatment and limited value, other than exotic qualities, in terms of making razors for production that would really have any noticeable performance improvement against ordinary hair.

But, if all those factors came together correctly, you could shave curliques off any other razor, probably including the hardened edge. The wires on Chuck's face wouldn't stand a chance.