Thread: TUNGSTEN STEEL

hey, good point on the first two as I have never looked into what India and Silver are. It's maybe just me, but some of those early alloys with enough elements to differentiate from simple carbon, but lower than HSS are simply some of the best for edge tools we have. It looks like marketing the new high tech materials of the day but was it actually a ploy?

Originally Posted by kevint

hey, good point on the first two as I have never looked into what India and Silver are. It's maybe just me, but some of those early alloys with enough elements to differentiate from simple carbon, but lower than HSS are simply some of the best for edge tools we have. It looks like marketing the new high tech materials of the day but was it actually a ploy?

I am not saying that the steel that they were producing didn't include those elements or that the companies were being dishonest. Rather then ploy I mean a marketing technique. What I am saying is that the average Joe wouldn't have a clue as to what any of those labels really meant. Especially the farther back in time that you go. When I was an Ironworker apprentice I read a book called "Metals and How To Weld Them".

Among other things it described manganese. It is an alloy that when put into steel causes it to harden as it is impacted. The book said that it was used in the buckets on draglines and in other high impact applications . Why it would be beneficial in a straight razor escapes me but Wester Bros and others branded some of their razors with that tag.

Now we can google it and come up with the definition in seconds but before the internet the only people who would have any idea what any of it meant where those who were involved in metallurgy. In the tattoo business an old fellow I knew had a sign over his work station that read,"If you can't dazzle them with brilliance baffle them with bullsh*t". That is what I think that a lot of those razor stampings are about. Nothing wrong with that. they are just trying to compete in the marketplace.

It could be a lot like that too.

Anyone have contemporary advertisements to share?: to see what they said about them.

I don't have the familiarity that a true steel guy would so I wonder if there is enough work hardening by abrasive forces to work harden the edge. With enough hope in that you could have a tough, wear resistant, hard edge.

It could be a terrible idea, which gave rise to carbo-magnetic. Proving this model was not that crappy manganese

Originally Posted by kevint

It could be a lot like that too.

Anyone have contemporary advertisements to share?

I'd love to see these too. Also did these new steels increase with the introduction of the safety razor? Was it just an attempt to keep up (marketing wise)?

Edit: Lovely looking blade: Edit

Originally Posted by kevint

It could be a lot like that too.

Anyone have contemporary advertisements to share?: to see what they said about them.

I don't have the familiarity that a true steel guy would so I wonder if there is enough work hardening by abrasive forces to work harden the edge. With enough hope in that you could have a tough, wear resistant, hard edge.

It could be a terrible idea, which gave rise to carbo-magnetic. Proving this model was not that crappy manganese

Please don't misunderstand me, there is nothing crappy about manganese in my experience. I have had a Wester Bros that I got years ago that was a heck of a good razor and I have a Bartmann Manganese that is first rate.

Quoting an article I googled on the web here,"The original austenitic manganese steel, containing about 1.2% C and 12% Mn, was invented by Sir Robert Hadfield in 1882. Hadfield`s steel was unique in that it combined high toughness and ductility with high work-hardening capacity and, usually, good resistance to wear.

Consequently, it rapidly gained acceptance as a very useful engineering material. Hadfield`s austenitic manganese steel is still used extensively, with minor modifications in composition and heat treatment, primarily in the fields of earthmoving, mining, quarrying, oil well drilling, steelmaking, railroading, dredging, lumbering, and in the manufacture of cement and clay products.

Austenitic manganese steel is used in equipment for handling and processing earthen materials (such as rock crushers, grinding mills, dredge buckets, power shovel buckets and teeth, and pumps for handling gravel and rocks). Other applications include fragmentizer hammers and grates for automobile recycling and military applications such as tank track pads". As you can see it is used for high impact applications where abrasion resistance is desired.

Sorry about the hijack.

i did make it shave ready and tested this.it is a little harder steel then usual razor but gets very fine edge and keeps it.i can't compare wonderedge Jimmy because never own one.this blade doesn't glide on your face smooth but cuts without feeling.seems like sticks to the skin strange feeling i had with this blade.it is light too i mean really light.

Originally Posted by hi_bud_gl

i did make it shave ready and tested this.it is a little harder steel then usual razor but gets very fine edge and keeps it.i can't compare wonderedge Jimmy because never own one.this blade doesn't glide on your face smooth but cuts without feeling.seems like sticks to the skin strange feeling i had with this blade.it is light too i mean really light.

Glad you got a good one Sam. The most wondrous thing about the Wonderedge is the prices they sell for.