Living up to my username - an ongoing thread about Silver Steel

[Voidmonster]

I gotta admit to being itchy to get one of my very early Stenton razors stamped 'Silver Steel' out to ScienceGuy for XRAY BOMBARDMENT.

[ScienceGuy]

I gotta admit to being itchy to get one of my very early Stenton razors stamped 'Silver Steel' out to ScienceGuy for XRAY BOMBARDMENT.

Hate to be nitpicky but it's electron bombardment and analysis of the ejected x-rays

[Voidmonster]

Hate to be nitpicky but it's electron bombardment and analysis of the ejected x-rays

'

No, no... That's an important distinction!

I think I'll just go with the universally applicable ZAPPING.

[Jimbo]

What we need is for Scienceguy, in a freak lab accident, to get bombarded with radioactive razor particles which mysteriously imbue him with razor-like superpowers. Not sure what those powers are, but Voidmonster you're the writer - I reckon there's a comic there to rival Stan Lee!

James.

[onimaru55]

What we need is for Scienceguy, in a freak lab accident, to get bombarded with radioactive razor particles which mysteriously imbue him with razor-like superpowers. Not sure what those powers are, but Voidmonster you're the writer - I reckon there's a comic there to rival Stan Lee!

James.

If there 's any adamantium in the razor he might turn into this guy....Just to avoid copyright issues.

[Haroldg48]

Interestingly, I just today got my Boker "Silver Steel" reazor from Jim at Vintage Blades LLC. Here's what the package insert from Boker said, "Neuaflage eines Klssikers im Boken...." Oh, I'm sorry in English, "Congratulations to your new BOKER razor blade Silver Steel...New edition of a classic Boker razor blade from the beginning of the last century. To improve the cutting abilities of those blades they mixed real silver plate into the metal in those days and called it "silver steel". Today....made of non-stainless carbon steel, that holds an edge very long shows a special hollow grinding...."

I love it!

[Mike Blue]

...To improve the cutting abilities of those blades they mixed real silver plate into the metal in those days and called it "silver steel". Today....

The marketing department just can't make "O-1 Drill Rod" sound as exotic as Silver Steel.

[pixelfixed]

How in the hell would blending in a non-ferrous metal with steel make it harder,or better??

[thebigspendur]

How in the hell would blending in a non-ferrous metal with steel make it harder,or better??

So the theory goes when you blend in certain metals the end product can be characteristics totally different than the target metal usually has. So for instance Silver is soft but mixed in with steel maybe it gives other attributes.

[Iceni]

Interesting topic.

I suppose the ultimate answer to the question regarding if it works or not is to look at the various vintage razor manufacturers and see if you can spot examples showing rust.


There is a good swathe of manufacturers that were using some form of silver steel in the early 1900's. Using that you can look for manufacturers that managed to get the mixture correct. If you can find a large collection of blades that have good finishes, come from similar batches of metal, and have a source that can be identified, Then you can probably start to investigate what mixture was used, And hopefully get some research data on how it was treated.

Looking at my ebay habits and how I select razors I have noticed some razors always seem to have a better finish. The manufacturer that pops in my head almost instantly is Bismarck. I have yet to see a rotten Bismarck, I've seen some with pitting, but never full on rust. As far as I have been able to research all Bismarck razors were made with the same "silver steel" mixture. And all Bismark razors fall in to a 30 year window between 1900 and 1930.

This thread has the worst condition Bismarck pictures I have found to date. Mostly every one I see on ebay is still gleaming.

http://straightrazorpalace.com/razor...ld-razors.html

Looking at the way the blade has gone black rather than rusty makes me suspect it's silver oxide. The pictures of the tang clearly show that the rust has been inhibited by the black layer.