Thread: Steel question

Ok, I don't want to tell you what prompted the question, but: What's B-80-3 steel? I did an internet search and only came up wire wound nickel plated zinc for HVAC (B803). Anybody heard of this for knives or razors? I saw a Chinese razor on Ebay. I know they aren't recommended, but wondered if them highlighting the steel designation meant they'd changed something.

I've a small background with steel. I'm not an expert, so please don't misunderstand, so maybe I'm wrong, but this is not the type of steel you want to be using for a razor. It may work for a knife, but I'm honestly not sure. Along with the steel type, there is a lot of other factors that go into a type of steel. The same type of steel could be brittle or could be more malleable, depending on the contents of the steel. What you have listed, I believe (Not 100%), is just the overall spec which may not mean a whole lot in terms of razors.

Bottom line is, I'd stay away from them, at least for the time being. The razor I purchased years ago that I use as a fancy knife for opening boxes and things like that, was listed with a designation that I thought would be fine. The short story is it is not fine and I would not bring it to my face unless an obscene amount of money was involved. Even then….

As Cove5440 said go for the razor, not for the steel. If you don't know anything about the razor being good it's probably just another razor shaped object.

For example Friodurs are made of pretty pedestrian stainless steel, yet they're among the best razors ever made.

These days there are a lot of fancy steels, but very few of them are suitable for razors, and even if the steel is suitable very few places are able to heat treat it properly, as tolerances are pretty tight.

I believe I only have one razor of specialized steel (not counting exotic stuff like tamahagane) it's made of ATS-34, great shaver too. Of course, we don't know the exact composition of the steel in most vintage razors, but it can't be anything exotic (other than the rare prototypes for those lucky to stumble on such).