Thread: off the shelf stainless vs carbon?

I wanted to know if any of you guys notice any difference in max attainable sharpness, edge holding and chip resistance, smoothness and so on between todays mass production stainless razors and carbon, like dovos for example? What do you prefer and why?

All I have are vintage stainless steel and regular carbon steel razors. The single exception is a modern Revisor carbon steel razor. I would be hard pressed to find any huge difference between the two steels as far has how sharp you can make them, edge holding or chip resistance or smoothness when shaving. With stainless you can get away with being a little careless in your cleaning and drying. Stainless will still show rust stains if abused as it does contain a bit of carbon in its make up. Personally I would favour stainless steel solely for it's ease of maintainance.

Bob

Sharp and shave ready will be determined by the man on the hones, as long as it's a reputable blade, old or new, Tc

So there is no practical difference here today?

Originally Posted by jigane

So there is no practical difference here today?

Yes there is one practical difference today and in the past. Stainless steel is far more forgiving of poor maintenance, making sure the blade and scales are completely dry before storing than carbon steel. It is simply more corrosion "resistant" than carbon steels. Stainless was developed specifically for that reason in the beginning of the 20th century.

Bob

Yeah I have had a dovo stainless for like 10 years and it has been "stainless" to this very day. Just wanted to know if there was any difference today.

In regular knives there is BIG difference in wear and common behaviour between carbon like 1095 and a stainless like s30v. And so on. I can sharpen a 1095 blade up to "shaving" in about 10 seconds on my sharpmaker and a s30v blade takes like an hour on the sharpmaker.

But maybe they use only a few selected steels for razors (like sandvik 13c26/uddeholm aeb-l, originally developed for razors and only that), imo not all knife steels are suitable for razors, due to coarse grained structure and and maybe large carbides and maybe brittleness/chippyness.

Don't know how true it is. The story I heard was that back in the day in Sheffield they tested many different steel alloys, most had no special properties and ended up on a slag heap. Walking past the heap months later someone saw one piece that hadn't rusted like the rest. Then went back through the alloys again to find the right one.

Originally Posted by jigane

Yeah I have had a dovo stainless for like 10 years and it has been "stainless" to this very day. Just wanted to know if there was any difference today.

In regular knives there is BIG difference in wear and common behaviour between carbon like 1095 and a stainless like s30v. And so on. I can sharpen a 1095 blade up to "shaving" in about 10 seconds on my sharpmaker and a s30v blade takes like an hour on the sharpmaker.

But maybe they use only a few selected steels for razors (like sandvik 13c26/uddeholm aeb-l, originally developed for razors and only that), imo not all knife steels are suitable for razors, due to coarse grained structure and and maybe large carbides and maybe brittleness/chippyness.

The properties/qualities you want in a knife blade are not necessarily onw you want in a straight razor blade. Straight razor making is a very mature technology so whiz bang new alloys probably are over kill but a good selling point/bragging right imo.

Bob

Originally Posted by dmnc

Don't know how true it is. The story I heard was that back in the day in Sheffield they tested many different steel alloys, most had no special properties and ended up on a slag heap. Walking past the heap months later someone saw one piece that hadn't rusted like the rest. Then went back through the alloys again to find the right one.

No, stainless steel was developed in Sheffield deliberately for a very specific reason.

Stainless Steel Sheffield Cutlery History and Information

Stainless steel has been around longer than most people, even straight razor users, think. I have a Firth Stainless straight razor that was made in Sheffield circa 1930s and sold by the T Eaton Company in their stores in Canada.

Bob

The Discovery of Stainless Steel

Stand corrected, but here is a bit more