Thread: Why all the Mystery Steel???

Some do. Hart mentions on their website that they use O-1, for example, and Livi uses 440C and N960 as well as a variety of Damasteel products which I believe are documented steels. And I believe Zowada mentions on his website the steels he uses in his pattern welds. But the market that Dovo and TI are filling doesn't overlap very well with the knife nut/steel snob market, not the way Zowada, Livi and Chandler do. There's also no advantage to Dovo or TI from advertising their steel. They can't gain market share from it - they are backlogged 6-9 months already - so the only thing this would accomplish would be to give away competitive information.

Also, these razors aren't used for chopping open car doors or splitting tree trunks or jute hawsers. They're just for shaving, and Dovo and TI have along and proven track record; the steels that Dovo and TI use, whatever the details of composition or heat treating, have been proven to be sufficient to the task. In that respect they're sort of like Rolls Royce and horsepower - they don't advertise it, but rest assured it's more than enough. That isn't enough for a steel snob but it's sufficient for most people.