The acid etched Allman razor I have also did that when I wiped it down for the first few shaves.
Not that this razor is near Bob's skills.
I always like seeing these stories about unknown razors. I don't know why.
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The acid etched Allman razor I have also did that when I wiped it down for the first few shaves.
Not that this razor is near Bob's skills.
I always like seeing these stories about unknown razors. I don't know why.
An etched blade will have black foo that will wipe off. Eventually the dark black
will be almost gone and the pattern will be less stark but will stay.
Muriatic Acid or Feric chloride??????
It is possible to print a pattern on steel with a resist then etch. If the pattern looks
like pattern welded steel, wood, a man hunting, your name or what ever the final etch
will look like the pattern.
(edit) The black is etched steel and either folded steel laminate or printed resist etch
the black would be the same. I think Mike Blue is correct this looks like
pattern welded steel but badly heat treated, just terrible steel or the carbon was
burned off as the steel was folded, welded and hammered. If the steel is terrible
or if the carbon has been burned off it is what it is. If it is just bad heat treating
there is an ultra long shot that it could be heated quenched and tempered again.
Perhaps painted with a clay slip or heated in an inert gas like argon to keep O2
and CO from reacting with the carbon and steel.
While we are timing melting snowballs one might try case hardening but that
would mandate asymmetric sharpening to keep the thin hardened surface in play
for more than one day.
Another question: Does the pattern flow up onto the spine and tang, around all the corners so to speak? If it does, then if it is artifake pattern welding, the author went to significantly more difficulty to do the job, or it really is a laminate. All the fake etched pattern stuff I've ever handled was only the largest flat surfaces and the lines on the pattern don't match around a corner.
I'm voting for the Bros. Pak and Stan given the description of edge lost after one shave. Probably an early model too. These guys seem to be learning fast about heat treatment and steel mixes.
Yes and no.
I've seen it done, but it is very recognizable. The pattern usually looks like someone painted a noodle on the blade.
With these pics, imo the pattern looks real enough.
However, if one of the metals was a metal that was not suitable for razors, it would still be real damascus, yet give the experience you described. It is probably way too soft. Or the HT sucked.