Thread: Question on Henckels

Originally Posted by BobH

Like I mentioned, I have an English made stainless steel razor that predates Henckels patent on ice hardening. I could never find a reference to Firth Stainless Steel being ice hardened, naturally enough as it predates the patent for ice hardening. From that I take it that ice hardening is not absolutely necessary to produce a stainless steel straight razor blade that works well. Possibly with a different alloy of stainless steel ice hardening is not necessary, I don't know.

Bob

I concur, among my Austs I have one stainless steel that is (AFAIK) not ice-herdened, yet produces a very nice shave.
Maybe not quite as nice as the carbon steel brethren, but close enough that I understand why shavers are attracted to the near carefree convenience of stainless steel straights.

Cold temperature treatment had been around for a long time and I am unsure what any Henckels patent in that respect may have been about as the use of liquid nitrogen in metallurgy was even then quite common and was not uniquely applied by Henckels.
Maybe in the late heydays of straight shaving Henckels modified a known process enough that their - quite successful - particular way of treating steel razors qualified for a patent.


In German, the terms "stainless", "inox" (from French "inoxydable"), "rostfrei" (rust free) and "Nirosta" (acronym from German "nicht rostender Stahl") are all in use and for all practical purposes interchangeable.



B.