Thread: The Stub-Tailed Shavers

Originally Posted by thp001

I imagine it's more that most steel is recycled so maybe there are more impurities, or more detrimental impurities today than there were then. I imagine back in the days of blister and shear steel the only thing you were really contending with was the silica in the iron. If you ever find a really old shear steel knife that's in bad shape you often see the layers of steel de-laminating which is because of the silica content.

I don't know the reason for sure, but the impurities and steel properties from back then just seem to play better with my natural stones. Not to mention the heavier grinds and design properties of the blade. Harder to hone in some ways because it isn't a straight line though.
I always felt like the de-laminating was due to cold shut, which may be caused by not cleaning the steel well before folding it so the weld didn't seal properly while the steel was liquid state. Was the stuff not cleaned the Silica?

Originally Posted by rideon66

I don't know the reason for sure, but the impurities and steel properties from back then just seem to play better with my natural stones. Not to mention the heavier grinds and design properties of the blade. Harder to hone in some ways because it isn't a straight line though.
I always felt like the de-laminating was due to cold shut, which may be caused by not cleaning the steel well before folding it so the weld didn't seal properly while the steel was liquid state. Was the stuff not cleaned the Silica?

I'm sure there are forging flaws out there but you actually see this kind of delamination in wrought iron (the real stuff) kind of looks like wood fibers splitting away. Near where I lived there was an industrial museum with bars of hot rolled wrought iron down by the mill displaying this phenomena. This metal was not forged in anyway. Only happens when the metal is really beat up/rusty/old and stressed.

I agree with you on the stone observation, I've always felt modern steels, especially stainless just don't respond well on natural stones. That being said I have an old Joseph Rogers carving knife that was made right back when stainless was taking off and it feels much more like my carbon knives than my modern stainless when sharpening.