Thread: Favourite steel?

So my friends, wheres your favourite type of steel from?

We have good ol' Sheffield, Swedish, Solingen and Japanese, I know a few of you are partial to some American steel from Little Valley NY too. Then we have more modern steel like 02 and Bőhler from Austria.

I maybe bias but Sheffield steel is about as good as it gets, not too hard so easy to hone and just feels great against my chops.
However, If I could only shave with one steel it would be Tamahagane. It takes an edge to a sharpness that I cant achieve with Sheffield and edge retention is second to none. Most of all with my girly like skin and wire beard it suits me perfectly. Every shave is blissful.

Thoughts?

Vintage Sheffield all day long..
Saying that though, I do appreciate vintage steels from all countries..

Cast steel from late 1700s, to early 1800s are my favorite, but I like um all. As for modern steel.....Tungsten.

Never really thought about that. Really any steel that can give me a shave I like and that is pretty much any I have tried so far.

Bob

Originally Posted by JOB15

Vintage Sheffield all day long..
Saying that though, I do appreciate vintage steels from all countries..

Vintage Sheffield has that familiar feel like an old friend, wonderful steel indeed.

Originally Posted by outback

Cast steel from late 1700s, to early 1800s are my favorite, but I like um all. As for modern steel.....Tungsten.

I'd love to try some cast steel, it's been on my hit list for a while, one day.

I too like Tungsten, I only have a RigaRazor made from it but it feels nice, reminds me a bit of Sheffield, much nicer than O2. O2 feels very clinical to me, I have to strop the life out of it for it to give me a nice shave.

I like the old cast stuff like Mike. But also enjoy the American stuff of early 1900s. The two are so much different im not sure what it is that brings me to them.

I'm with you Mark...
If I had to pick just one, Sheffield gets the nod...hands down.
There's just something special about it.

Pete <:-}

Originally Posted by Gasman

I like the old cast stuff like Mike. But also enjoy the American stuff of early 1900s. The two are so much different im not sure what it is that brings me to them.

I'm ashamed to admit that I still haven't tried American steel, again, one of these days.

I'm also a Tamahagane fan, as my Japanese Tamahagane razors consistently give me the best shaves. A close runner up would be Swedish steel. I know that I'm in the minority, but I've never cared for Sheffield steel for some reason. The harder steels just seem to give me the type of edge that I prefer.