Quote Originally Posted by DaveW View Post
Pre 1900 razors, what were they made of? On the list of carbon steels, they were one notch above file steel as the best grade of steel. But did they have vanadium carbides? Or were they an attempt at the best crucible process steel?

Bingo give that man a cigar... We barely know some of the hardness factors let alone what they really were alloy wise... So as you hone them you start figuring out what they work best with,, now keep in mind that this is only according to your face unless you happen to do this professionaly and can keep getting feedback from multiple customers... This can sometimes point you in the right direction...
Only a few of the Custom Makers have branched out into "Super Steels" some with less then stellar results, I have honed a few of them..
Some of the Japanese makers have used Tamahagane steel and I have coaxed very nice edges out of them...
The common belief is that Vintage razors were made mostly from simple tool steel, I know many of the custom guys that have tried the newer steels have wandered back to the O1 you might ask them why....