Thread: Why all the Mystery Steel???

I wanna start with a disclaimer in that I am not smith/forger/steelworker etc. but I have taken an Engineering class in materials (which delved into structure, stress, work hardening, forging, yield stress, etc etc etc boring boring boring) (actually I guess in this thread that stuff isn't boring, but anyways)- so I could follow the article/arguments.

I think I strongly agree with Mike (et al) on this one. Very very few people care what plastic cell phone is made of, they just want it to be durable. Very few people care what rubber compound is in the soles of their shoes, they just want them to be comfy. Very few people care what the composition is of the ink in their pen is, they just want it to write well.

We are those very few people (when it comes to razors). I believe this stems largely from the fact that straight razors (by and by) are not made anymore. They are more of a novelty. Back in teh day, you didn't have the quick and easy hyper-marketed Fusion. You had straight razors. And they either shaved, or didn't. Simply put, you bought the ones that shaved well and didn't give a who-hah about its steel- it didn't matter.

Maybe 50 years from now we won't have pens anymore. Laptops/phones/something else will have replaced them. But a small sect of us that value the art of hand writing may persist. And they will compare the mechanics of pens, the chemistry of ink, the physics of ball points/ink flow/etc. Right now I don't give a crap. I just know the cheap bics run out quick and don't write as well as my refillable Parkers. The flashy Pentel Client pencils on my desk are crappy and aren't nearly as good as my workhorse somewhat ugly Pentel 1000 drafting pencils or my Staedler workhorse essay-writer. I don't care what they're made of, or how they work (I do know how they work, but it makes no difference to me) the only thing I care about is how well it works. And I will buy what works- whether that costs more or less, or looks better or worse. (If its main function is flashy, then functionality may take a back door- see Pentel Client...)

For everyday use, usefulness counts.

While undoubtly it would be nice to know all data concerning steel type and heat treatment process details of every single razor, I think such info would benefit scientists doing some research the most, not regular razor users. The regular users are interested mostly how they shave (being properly sharpened), test these razors on their faces and provide feedback to others. The good product always defends itself. Imho, it is sufficent to know that feedback, your personal aestethic taste, condition of the item and of course funds left before making the decision about buying the razor. Personaly, I wouldn't spend big amount of $$$ on the razor basing solely on the fact the manufacturer marked their product with some wondersteel stamp or the stamp stating that it was handforged at the top of some mystic mountain.