Carbon Teeth and Iron Pits
If my understanding is correct, carbon is used to strengthen and harden iron. That is sort of its role in the steel recipe. So, now let's play make believe.
Pretend we have a piece of high carbon steel. Our particular steel has more carbon than the iron can completely absorb. Will this cause the steel to contain little pockets of left over carbon molecules? In the final razor, will these hard pockets of carbon be more resistant to erosion during honing or shaving? If so, could they possibly stick out of the edge like little saw teeth?
Separately, we have a razor made from high carbon steel whose carbon content is less than the saturation point of iron (.77% carbon by weight? I can't remember). Would there be pockets of pure iron that is softer than the surrounding steel? If so, would this iron be eroded more easily during shaving and stropping, creating tiny pockets or pits along the razor's edge?
Let's suppose that both of these conditions (carbon teeth and iron pits) are plausible. I propose that a razor with iron pits would provide a smoother shave than one with carbon teeth, especially a few weeks after the honing. Can this relate to the history of razors? Perhaps historically they used steel with higher or lower carbon content before metallurgy was well understood. Perhaps this difference is what gives some of the legendary razors (Chronik) their ability to take a super silky edge. Perhaps I have too much time to postulate about razors and steel.
If these ideas have any merit, how could I apply this knowledge to the creation and heat treatment of my own razor? As a complete novice, heat treating is a somewhat daunting. If I don't know exactly what I am doing, should I err on the side of over-soaking or under-soaking my steel? And how would this correlate with carbon teeth or iron pits in the final blade?
Thanks for reading, I look forward to hearing your responses.