Thread: What are the merits of the different steels used in str8's

I'm a newbie to razors and have been reading reading reading! I think I understand carbon and stainless steels, rockwell hardness, etc., but I don't understand references to razors made of "blue", "silver", "cutlery", "manganese", etc. steels. How is one better than the other? Can someone explain or point me to a reference.

I have no point of technical reference other than to say, most of the different types of steels marketed were of a marketing purpose. However, India steels, some of the Dorko's and the Damascus steels that I have run up against honing really feel like they are a harder steel and can be very persnickidy honing. Way too any beers tonight. Not sure if that made any sense at all....lol. Lynn

I think what Lynn was trying to say is that most of those terms are simply advertising gimmicks.
They may have a bit more manganese or silver, or something that makes the steel a "blue" color or perhaps a different method of tempering, i.e. "Carbo Magnetic" razors. These things may impart a subtle difference but usually not enough to concern ourselves with.
There are exceptions to this, such as "ice hardened" or cyro treated, real, modern day Damascus,
or TI's molten lead tempering.

Hope this helps,

Thanks Randy! :lol: Lynn

Randy/Lynn... Thanks for the info!

Slight variations in steel formulas can result in very different products with very different characteristics as far as blades are concerned. Some elements are added for malleability. Some ar added for tensile strength. Some make the steel capable of being edge hardened and others aid in the formulation of fine and evenly distributed carbide structures, crucial to allowing a fine cutting edge. For all steels, carbon is the the key to hardness and edge retention. Without carbon, the metal cannot be hardened. A nail, for example, can be heat treated as much as you'd like with no effect at allfor hardening. Ultimately, for razors, the steel need not be very tough, but must have a very fine, hard edge, which could be accomplished with a number of alloys. The key is how pure the steel is, how well it was forged and shaped, how even the distribution of carbides and most important of all, how well it was heat treated. Today, we have some pretty amazing steels for cutlery, but I'm not sure if any of the super-steels are being used by razor manuacturers.

Hello Robert!

It sounds like you have a bit of knowledge about steels. Can you point me to some URL's that have good info?

What are some of the "super steels" that might be good for straight razors?

Thanks,

http://www.newgraham.com/steel_faq.htm

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/...3d7e7892?hl=en


Some of the steels that would be very interesting to find in a straight razor would be: vg-10, cpm-s30v, cmp-s60v, cpm-s90v and a variety of the high speed tool steels. The CPM steels are extremely innovative. The CPM stands for Crucible Particle Metallurgy and the steel is actually formed from powdered components. The powders can be mixed to very exact speciications and assure completelyl even distribution of all the alloys. It also allows steels to be made in any number of thicknesses, shapes and sizes of stock.

Robert, my understanding is that something isn't stell if it doesn't have iron and carbon in it. Isn't that true?

Technically, it must contain between .5 and 2 percent carbon. More or less and it's not technically classified as steel. There are some steel makers replacing some of the carbon content with nitrogen, although I don't know a lot about the formula. It is supposed to be at least as good at hardening and crystalizing as carbon but much more corrosion and stain resistant.