Thread: Razor Steel

I have read that it does not matter what steel is used in arazor. I have a ZY and a vintage Friodur. The Henckels seems to shave muchcloser that the ZY. It does have a thinner grind. Is this all in my head, likea wine snob, or does steel and grind matter somewhat?

I'm not an expert on the matter but my 2 cents worth is i love Henckels. They seem to hone very good and shave great. I mostly use vintage Shefffields and Henckels. love them both. I'm not familiar with The ZY so i can't say how they perform for me. Maybe one of the senior members can jump in.

Originally Posted by Brent375HH

or does steel and grind matter somewhat?

Actually, they both matter a lot.

Steel quality and heat treatment is important because that will determine how strong of an edge your razor will have. Poor steel quality will be less uniform and a poor heat treatment may be too brittle or soft. A careful balance is required for optimum performance.

Grinds are important because of the delicate edge geometry. An uneven grind can make uneven bevel angles at the edge. This will cause uneven sharpness along the edge. A uniform angle along the entire edge is desirable because then the behavior of the cutting edge at the heel, middle and toe will be the same.

Originally Posted by Brent375HH

I have read that it does not matter what steel is used in a razor.

I would quit reading from that source

Originally Posted by gssixgun

I would quit reading from that source

Really and truly I think gssixgun has a point.

I think today any country that produces steel is capable of producing a steel alloy that is suitable for making straight razors from. The alloys that work well have been known for a very long time. You don't need fancy alloys to make a perfectly good straight razor blade from. You do need steel alloy made to a consistently high standard run after run after run.

The bigger question is do the actual makers buy the proper alloys, heat treat it properly, grind it properly and do that on a consistent basis. That usually does not happen when you try and make a product to the lowest possible price point.

Bob

The steel used is a major factor as well as the heat treatment.you can have a excellent steel such as O1 tool steel and not get the benefits from it by improperly heat treating it.I recently saw a YouTube video of yet another backyard expert making a knife in a day or something like that that used a oxy/acetylene torch to heat a blade to none magnetic and then quench.He just put out bogus info,O1 needs a soak at 1500 for about 7 min before quench to get the benefits of it to come into play.The heat treat is the soul of the steel.

Originally Posted by AKwildman

The steel used is a major factor as well as the heat treatment.you can have a excellent steel such as O1 tool steel and not get the benefits from it by improperly heat treating it.I recently saw a YouTube video of yet another backyard expert making a knife in a day or something like that that used a oxy/acetylene torch to heat a blade to none magnetic and then quench.He just put out bogus info,O1 needs a soak at 1500 for about 7 min before quench to get the benefits of it to come into play.The heat treat is the soul of the steel.

So would more than one heat to 1500 then quench make a difference. I belive it is charlie lewis whose video I watched, he did the heat quench process 3 times. I ask because I'm currently making a razor with O1 and want to properly do heat treatment.

Are you forging or working with anealed steel and doing stock removal,you can triple harden and also triple temper,if your forging you first need to do a normalizing cycle to relieve the stress that has built up in the steel,if stock removal with fresh steel you can skip that step.I double my hardening cycle and triple temper.No matter what you still need to soak at temp for 5-7 min.Just heating to non magnetic won't cut it.