Thread: Alternate materials for blades

Has anyone investigated other materials for straight razor blades? I'm thinking things like ceramic or tungsten or even titanium. Look at the difference under a microscope and tell me this wouldn't have possibilities.

This is a product called "endurium" and it has been used for 3,000,000 feet of cutting:


Now this one is standard carbon steel after 250,000 feet of cutting:


I've already shot an email off to this particular company and they said they don't do shaving products, but they did refer me to another company. Any thoughts on this?

[EDIT]I found an answer to part of my own question on Kyocera's website:
The peeler is great! How come you don't make a shaver?
Too dangerous! A metal razor blade has a relatively "rounded" edge (under the microscope) which prevents the blade from cutting into the skin. A ceramic razor blade, however, does not have a rounded edge and slices into the skin. Thus, a ceramic shaver would be too dangerous to use. Several engineers in Sendai who tested prototypes can confirm this painful fact!
That still leaves tungsten and titanium, though...[/EDIT]

Although it might seem at first blush like the material that holds a perfect edge without dulling might be the best answer, I think there's a greater reason to go the other way. Not only wouldn't it dull, but if it DID (dropped on the floor or whatever ) it would likely be HELL to try and rekeen.

The ancient egyptians used bronze for their razors which is a notoriously soft metal. I don't think it was by choice for them. It was the Bronze Age after all and that was the hardest metal they had. For us though, it would seem extremely supple, I suspect and respond well to sharpening and stropping. It might dull too quickly though. If bronze isn't the material, maybe brass or something else, but IN THEORY I would favour a MORE responsive material than less.

X

You make an excellent point, there. I could imagine rekeening the edge would be murder on harder materials, but if you're looking for something malleable then the high-carbon steels should already fit the bill. Considering some people have to strop mid-shave, I really doubt using a softer metal would be an option.

Originally Posted by xman

Although it might seem at first blush like the material that holds a perfect edge without dulling might be the best answer, I think there's a greater reason to go the other way. Not only wouldn't it dull, but if it DID (dropped on the floor or whatever ) it would likely be HELL to try and rekeen.
X

Realistically, I don't think that should be a consideration. Something with an edge with this durability would be sold as a permanently sharp razor- no sharpening. Hopefully it could be priced reasonably enough so you could just buy a new one if you dropped it and ruined the edge. Or for the rare occasions it would merely be sent out to a shop to be repaired or sharpened. It would probably need special equipment.

If you dropped it it would likely shatter. Boker has made a few ceramic knives over the years and they do indeed hold an edge for a long long time. They DO get dull though, and the only option is sending them back to Boker for sharpening. I didn't know Kyocera had already looked into this. Makes sense though. I'm thinking they didn't do a str8 though to test. And if they did, they probably couldn't find anyone with the experience to give it a good go. If they wanted they could slightly round the edge, microscopically speaking. The Boker pocket knives with ceramic blades were decently sharp out of the box, but nothing like a razor. I believe they could make a str8 such as that precisely as sharp as they wanted to.

Originally Posted by threeputt

If you dropped it it would likely shatter. Boker has made a few ceramic knives over the years and they do indeed hold an edge for a long long time. They DO get dull though, and the only option is sending them back to Boker for sharpening. I didn't know Kyocera had already looked into this. Makes sense though. I'm thinking they didn't do a str8 though to test. And if they did, they probably couldn't find anyone with the experience to give it a good go. If they wanted they could slightly round the edge, microscopically speaking. The Boker pocket knives with ceramic blades were decently sharp out of the box, but nothing like a razor. I believe they could make a str8 such as that precisely as sharp as they wanted to.

I have seen that quote about ceramic blades before, and I don't believe it. The main reason is what you said: they can always shape the edge. The other reason is that razors tend to be sharper than any other edge. They're always trying for a razor sharp edge. So, it's unlikely that some other application would be too sharp.

I have also seen an honest statement by another experimenter that they couldn't make ceramic blades sharp enough to be useful as a razor.

We had a long thread about ceramic blades on another site.

I've shot an email off to Kyocera to see what kind of razor they were testing and I asked if they would be willing to do a small run of straights for some experienced folk to test out. Any volunteers?

Originally Posted by mgraepel

I've shot an email off to Kyocera to see what kind of razor they were testing and I asked if they would be willing to do a small run of straights for some experienced folk to test out. Any volunteers?

Count me in. I'm always up for a challenge!

Why not! Me, too!

Randy

You can count me in too.