Sheffield / solingen steel difference

I am currently handsanding a 7/8 quarter hollow made from solingen steel.
Until now, my sanding was always on sheffield razors.

Now this one is as tough as ball bearings. It laughs at my 100 grit sandpaper.
I have to press down really, REALLY hard in order to even make visible scratch lines.
The plus side of course is that the scratch line depth for a given grit is shallower than on softer steel so it should be easier to polish it up.

Anyway, is it normal for solingen steel razors to be harder than sheffield steel razors or is this just a coincidence / luck of the draw kind of thing?

yes, it's typical. Especially older sheffield steel (mid 1800's) is pretty soft. They're easier to hone, but the edge doesn't last as long. Sheffield edges feel different on your face too, for some reason.

I just sent a couple of old Sheffields to Joe C in the last couple of weeks for honing and asked him for his opinion, and he told me that the steel was harder than normal and the honing was [therefore] a little tricky. I have roughly dated these Rodgers razors to 1870-1880.

I had heard these generalizations too, and my limited experience cleaning up Solingens has been that they are pretty hard, but each of them has responded surprisingly well to my 4k Norton - almost to the point of my being worried I was removing metal -too- fast, but I just don't know about blanket statement that all are this or that - I have a feeling it runs in batches - but I will support that the Solingens definitely feel different to the face than any of the Sheffields that I have used - and that is a mystery too...

Just a little confused right now.

K

I think that the older TI razors feel different on your face to. Almost like it take a lighter stroke. I am in agreement that the TI is harder to hone, And when cleaning a Solingen,I always use my Dremel, and it still Will take a long time.

Phil

Can you describe more about the different "feel on the face" that you find?

Thanks,

- Dale

Sheffield razors feel less scratchy than solingens & americans, the same way that most solingen & americans feel less scratchy than stainless. Sheffield edges feel especially gentle on the face, even the singing hollow ground razors.

A TI to me feels stiff, Almost like a straight line going across your face, And hard, they are also not forgiving, one wrong move and it WILL bite you. Sheffield is like velvet, smooth gentle, glide well, but seems to need more strokes to remove stuble. Solingens seem to flex, feel very sharp, but dull quicker. At least that is what I think.

Phil

I would suspect the grain size and crystal structure of the steel to cause the differences.

Rick

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Originally Posted by mparker762

Sheffield razors feel less scratchy than solingens & americans, the same way that most solingen & americans feel less scratchy than stainless. Sheffield edges feel especially gentle on the face, even the singing hollow ground razors.

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I agree completely with this assessment.

Some of the harder German razors feel (for example Wacker razors) feel much more like stainless than carbon.

I like the way stainless razors shave, so this isn't an issue for me, but could be for someone who likes the feel of Sheffield steel.

I also agree with one of the posts above regarding the fact that current production TI Sheffield steel razors do not have the same feel as the older Sheffield razors. I have several Sheffield razors (mostly 1/2 hollow and wedges) and find them to be amazing shavers.

ditto for me

I find the Sheffields hone easier and shave smoother while not maintaining the edge as well.
Solingens "feel" harder on the hone and on my face.

I have a Sheffield full hollow and I like it better than the Solingen hollows.
I also have a Solingen wedge and like it better than the Solingen hollows.

The Solingen hollow razors just feel too ...um... harsh.

If stainless is more scratchy then do I really want a Friodur?? :shrug:

I tend to concur. The nice thing about Sheffield is that they respond to the strop very well too. I think I can keep my edge there longer with persistent stropping, 60 laps before each shave.

X

Only one of my top few razors is a Solingen blade. It does feel very smooth, though it took some work to get there :D

While I am a very big fan of smooth feel, and agree that old Sheffields feel smooth, I do not have a single one of them in my top few! (and I have tried several of the best) So much for blanket statements.

Moreover, of the next very close tier rated 10/10, it seems that German (what with Pumas and Ducks, etc.) and US blades have an edge over Sheffields. Sure, there are a few Sheffields representatives but they aren't really shining over and above the rest. Ops, I forgot to include the Swedish steel top shavers...

Cheers
Ivo

Hmm, I kind of wonder about all this. Is this like the difference between coke and pepsi? Many razors do say sheffield or solingen or silver steel on them and many don't so with many razors you don't know where they are from. Also just because it says Solingen doesn't mean the steel was sourced from there. I wonder if we did a blind test with one of each not knowing which was which say one U.S razor, one Swedish, one Silver Steel and one Solingen and a Spanish for good measure how many of us could really tell the difference.

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Originally Posted by gratewhitehuntr

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If stainless is more scratchy then do I really want a Friodur?? :shrug:

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I agree - Sheffield feels softer both when sharpening and when shaving. And GW - if I may take the liberty - yes, you do want a Friodur - mine's lovely and has stayed sharp for ages. I've found, maybe because it's a bigger (8/8) blade, that it's not as scratchy or "tinny-feeling" as my smaller Solingens.

James.