I believe that the old razors difference could be due to the way the material was treated. My brother recently had a conversation with Ron Middleton. He and his brother are the last working members of a Sheffield Meister dynasty. You'll recognise their work if you have seen the film The League of Gentlemen with Sean Connery. They made all the bowie knives etc and film props. He told my brother that they couldn't get the steel as hard as they used to because they used to quench in whale oil, which is no longer available; hence their modern made bowies are a lot softer. Maybe this is the same for the razors as well. Paul