Thread: Smoothness of the blade

Using a VERY broad brush, I feel that carbons are smoother on the skin than SS blades, which always - no matter how sharp you get them - feel 'scrapy' in comparison. Maybe that's just the makeup of the steel. As to best shavers - well. For my money a big English swept-blade wedge cannot be beat for long-stroke shaving - I use Fenneys and W&B's (both 150+ years old) and I cannot find better - but that's MY way of shaving. I have mostly left the hollow grinds behind - but if they are what does the job for you, fine! And that is what is important, after all...............

Originally Posted by esal

I am aware of the fact that the contemporary blades of the safety razors are coated with chemical substances in order to feel smoother (correct me in case I am wrong).

I suspect that stropping on newsprint (which is a not uncommon practice for some straight razor shavers) emulates this. Black newspaper ink really gunks up easily and could possibly fill up the voids of the edge's scratch pattern, much like the teflon coating on commercial disposable blades.
I don't have much experience with it myself though.

Just a thought,
Bart.

[quote=esal;275657]Hello dear fellas!

A straightforward question looking for a straightforward answer:
Which type of steel do you believe that makes a straight razor blade feel smoother on the face?

I am asking this because I am aware of the fact that the contemporary blades of the safety razors are coated with chemical substances in order to feel smoother...

This may be straight forward but is actually two questions, one simple and one complicated. Starting with the simple, the coatings on the blade reduce drag on the skin from the bevel not the edge. Picture a perfect therotical edge going to infinate sharpness and coat it with anything. The edge is then that much less sharp unless you are cutting with the coating not the base metal. A good prep and good shave soap, maybe even a pre shave oil will give you less drag or a smoother slide of the metal against your face.

Second question, sharp edge, less/no tugging while cutting hairs and which metal does best. This is complicated. We talk about swedish, solingen and sheffield steels and compare them but this is very general and vague. I suspect this relates to the process used and the skills of the people making the steels and not the specific steel used in the blades. Steel is a mixture of different elements with the primary element being iron. Different types of steel have different charateristics and grain size/structure which is altered in the heat treating, quenching and tempering process. In hardened steel some common trade names for the steel would be O1, D2, A2, CPM10-V as well as different types of heat treatable stainless steels. Each have different characteristics and grain structure. The grain structure is what determins the fineness of the edge and longevity of the edge. Here is a link to some pics of metal showing the grain structure: Aston Services and Specialties: Heat Treating Evaluations and Troubleshooting . The harder grains will stay sharper longer than the softer grains between them. The larger the space between the hard grains the faster the edge will dull. As a note, tempering reduces stress and lowers the hardness of the metal making it less britle and more tough, so a double tempered Filli should not be as hard as blades of the same metal tempered just once. Each sraight razor manufacturer may have used different metals in different models of their blades. WIthout knowing exactly which metal was used for the blade we can only generalize by saying Sheffield, Soligen or Swedish steel, which had a good forging process. An example of this forging quality issue is that years ago I was working with some A2 metal which was very good heat treatable steel and held an edge well foir the application it was selected for. To save money we were trying some Japaneese steel mills (the US mills were closing). While the metal compisition was correct, the forging process (melting and mixing of the steel) resulted in the formation of tiny voids (bubbles) in the finish product which was only visible under a high powered microscope. In straight razor terms, this would have resulted in micor chips on the edge and since these 'bubbles' were all through the steel you would bever be avble to hone them all out of the edge, but it may be possible to roll a burr into the micro chips to give the appearance of a smooth edge.

So a vague answer relating to a sharp edge is the sheffield, swedish or sologen metal, but which of thee is the best for a keenest and longest lasting edge can only be based on our personnal evaluations and not sicentific data.

Personally and from my limited experiance limited razor supply, my limited honing experiance and limited detailed evaluations I like Pipe razors, Ducks and Henckles blades best with the Friodur as best of the Henckels. I have obtained the best edge on one of my Pipe razors. I also have many other blades that do very well with some being US steel such as Case Imp and Clauss blades. Sorry I could not be more straight forward with my answer. The answer to your question is complicated because the real specifics on metal used is vague. Good luck in your quest!!

Outstanding replies!!

Thank you all so much.

I have found that the final honing medium has as much to do with smoothness as the type of steel. My smoothest edge comes from CrO on a balsa paddle.

bj

Since I've only used Carbon Steel so far, I can't really offer an answer to the question. However, so far, using only Carbon, stropping and technique seem to be key to the issue (though equally, since I found a vintage coticule Multiform in my back-building, smoothness has improved exponentially).