Thread: Silversteel and 01 Tool Steel

Originally Posted by TomP30

Koraat advertise their razors as being made from silver steel - 62hrc, or bearing steel - 61-62hrc, PRC and Hart and Nate etc all use 01 62hrc as far as I can see. What is the main difference between them?

Hi!

all of those steels are toolsteels or in the case of the 1.3505 (5210) it is the bearing steel version of the toolsteel 1.2067. The bearing quality has the same chemical composition except lower quantities of sulfur and phorsphor and it is better heattreated and cleaned while steelproduction.
We have decided to use 1.2210 ( which is called silversteel because it is traded only in blank ground rods which have a silver shine ;-) ) and 1.3505 because both are very fine grained, have a good thoughness at a hardness range from 61-63hrc, take a good polish and can be sharpened easily. O1 is a bit less wear resistant, but is also a fine grained steel with good thoughness and takes a good polish. The reason I personaly don´t use it for our blanks is mainly because it is alloyed with about 2% Manganese. And Manganese is a chemicaly very ignoble metall, resulting in a higher proneness for dark marks on the blade while sharpening or in contact with some soaps, compared to 1.2210 and 1.3505.
But all of these steels will make good razors and the differences (if the heat treating is properly done) will be rather small and not noticable for most of the customers.
I hope that helps you.

best regards,
Ulrik