Thread: I Need Help Choosing Steel for Chandler Custom

@English

Carbon steel harness is all in the heat treatment.
With excellent HT, a tempered carbon blade will still be 62-63 HRC.

But older sheffield steel was not treated like that, and is usually softer.
Old W&B blades and similar are often a bit softer and start at 57 HRC, which is significantly softer.

This has nothing to do with the fact that they're carbon steel, but everything with the fact that they were not treated to be that hard.

You can specify the hardness that you want. A Rockwell of 60 would be good. That would be my choice. A Rockwell of 62 is much harder to hone but keeps its edge longer. Remember that the Rockwell scale is logarithmic, not linear, so a change from 60 to 62 is greater than a linear expectation.

Good point to remember when choosing a razor. Especially, if your honing skills are not that good.

Originally Posted by zenshaver

... 1095 ...

I am not sure about how it works for razors but it must be great too.

I like the stuff, and as a matter of fact, many vintage sheffield razors were essentially 1095 ( approx. .95% carbon, some manganese and minimal amounts of other impurities).

I vote for HCS, but that's the purist in me speaking.

Originally Posted by Bruno

@English

Carbon steel harness is all in the heat treatment.
With excellent HT, a tempered carbon blade will still be 62-63 HRC.

But older sheffield steel was not treated like that, and is usually softer.
Old W&B blades and similar are often a bit softer and start at 57 HRC, which is significantly softer.

This has nothing to do with the fact that they're carbon steel, but everything with the fact that they were not treated to be that hard.

Bruno is exactly right. Stainless is harder to HONE, not necessarily harder on the Rockwell scale. The difficulty in honing comes from the steel's extra resistance to abrasion.

Personally I don't like stainless blades. I've only tried a handful, but I've never figured out how to get them up to the level of a good carbon blade. Guess I still need to crack that code...

Also, a previous poster mentioned that Damascus steel has layers of nickel in it. That's true of some types of Damascus, but not the ones Zowada and JC use. The steels they use are just two dissimilar types of carbon or tool steel welded together. They should shave and hone just like an excellent blade made of a single steel.

Josh

Originally Posted by JoshEarl

Personally I don't like stainless blades. I've only tried a handful, but I've never figured out how to get them up to the level of a good carbon blade. Guess I still need to crack that code...

FWIW, in many bladesmithing circles, higher alloy content steels are usually said to hold an edge longer but don't get as keen as the lower alloy types. The same is said for Japanese steels; White Steel is very pure and has an extremely fine grain size, but when it starts to lose it's edge it does so really fast; Blue Steel has a slightly larger grain size because of the Tungsten and Chromium that form carbides to resist abrasion and as a result holds a very nice edge for longer than White Steel, but doesn't quite get as sharp.

But I don't have hands on experience with razors made of stain-less steels, so I can't give an opinion.

Originally Posted by randydance062449

You can specify the hardness that you want. A Rockwell of 60 would be good. That would be my choice. A Rockwell of 62 is much harder to hone but keeps its edge longer. Remember that the Rockwell scale is logarithmic, not linear, so a change from 60 to 62 is greater than a linear expectation.

Good point. I actually did not know that the Rockwell scale is logarithmic. That is an eye opener.

Originally Posted by netsurfr

Good point. I actually did not know that the Rockwell scale is logarithmic. That is an eye opener.

So now you know why handsanding a 61 HRC solingen blade takes much longer than handsanding a 59 HRC sheffield wedge

If i had the cash to spend i would get a damascus blade, You already have a stainless one, From what ive read Damascus steel keeps an edge longer than regular steel, So even if you have to send it back to him for honing a couple of times a year i think it will be worth it in the long run.

Damascus as used for razors is made of 2 types of high carbon steel (I think Tim Zowada uses O1 and L6).
The folding and etching does not impart magical qualities on the steel, and quality wise, it'll behave just like those high carbon steels.

So for all intents and purposes, damascus is just regular steel that looks pretty, but no better (or worse) than plain jane high carbon steel.