Thread: Why does this steel feel different.

A straight razor is basically an instrument used for shaving requiring fine motor skills to operate and manipulate. Having said that, any changes from razor to razor be it the size, configuration, grind, shape, scales can all make big differences in the way the thing performs and I think in many of these cases it is more the way these qualities cause us to use them. Subtle things can make big differences in the end.

I have enough razors of different types to have seen this over time. I have just one razor that I feel is truly different in the way it feels and performs (and it's a very basic simple looking razor) and that's my TI Damascus. For a 5/8s hollow grind if you were blindfolded you would have a very hard time figuring out what it was sliding down your face.

A simple opinion from somebody that works with steel on a dayly bases:
the more carbon a razor has in its composition the harder it gets to hone it,because carbon add durity.
The tempering has an enourmous part to play because in relation to the temperature interval steel is tempered the final hardness (Hrc) will be high or medium, thus the harder or easyer it is to hone.
We have to bear in mind that older razor making techniques involved more human and manual labor than the new automated production lines, so it is normal to feel that old razors are giving a better shave mainly because there was a lot of experimentation with the alloys and tempering back in those days(the exact formula for Filarmonica steel is not known even today).
Ps:
Sorry for my bad english.

Because of geometry most of the weight of a razor is located in the shank and the spine, so that's where the differences really are.

Massive shanks relative to the blade are not uncommon in sheffield razors because many of them are a regrind of a much larger original razor.

But there are also changes in the manufacturing even in the same models. For example some older bokers are much heavier than the later version of the same razor and if you compare them side by side you can see how the earlier one has more steel which is most notable in the shank.

Another pair to compare is the henckels friodurs - the stuff that came out in the last few years has noticeably less steel compared to the vintage ones. I don't remember the weight numbers off the top of my head, but I have posted pictures of the two side-by-side and you can see even in the blade profile how the spine of the older razor is thicker.

Finally, if you look at the razors marked 'for heavy beards' the general trend is that they are heavier with bigger spines i.e. more mass.