Thread: Advice for killer edge on friodur

Originally Posted by KristofferBodvin

Stainless softer than carbon?? I tought it was the opposite?

Some carbon steel razors are pretty soft, and some are extremely hard. But stainless razors can't be made quite as hard as the best carbon steel razors. They seem harder than they really are because chromium promotes carbide formation in the steel, and carbides are very abrasion-resistant. Also because stainless is ductile and tends to smear around instead of scraping off nicely.

IME stainless tends to need more time on the finer grit hones, and I also think that stainless responds very well to a pasted strop since the flexible surface of the pasted strop is capable of just honing around the carbides instead of having to laborously grind them down.

I agree! Friodur's can be a challenge. Mine wouldn't hold it's edge through-out the shave. I went back to the Shapton 1K and VERY deliberately set a uniform bevel. I took a LONG time honing it. Hours on a Belgium combination stone, more Shapton's, an Escher and finally finished with at least 25 laps on my 30K Shapton.

It shaves very well now. Super smooth edge under the microscope. I think the problem I encountered was a simple lack of patience the first time I honed it. Setting the bevel can't be understated!