Thread: Frozen blade anyone?

Originally Posted by TheBaron

funny, my testicles seem to also work on that same logic. Although I'm sure my instrument produces a much different sound than your trumpet when played.

Nifty, cold is not a problem when you use silver solder and Baron, thank you, for your reply, ungentlemanly, but a reply none the less.

Originally Posted by yoshida

When I heat the steel and then cool it fast the connections in the steel don't have time to adjust and so remain "under tension", one way of making them go back to equilibrium was to put them on the freezer, or so it was what I've been told.

Have you used this yourself in some other application?

That sounds like the tempering process that makers would harden their blades with: they would heat it (red hot, so it turns amagnetic), the immediately cool it with a bath of some sort. This will harden the blade so it will take edge. Could be that sticking them to freezer/cryogenically freezing might relieve the stress from the process. Other thing I've heard is that they are heated to some lower temperature and let to cool slowly to remove brittleness. Do notice that I'm not a smith or a metallurgist.

Whether you would need to do it after shaving? I dunno... The usage temperature is a fraction of the tempering temperatures, even if you stuck it to a freezer. I certainly won't be trying it with my razors =)

I never did that, basically I just did the heat treatment part and used several cooling methods to assess the different results in the steels properties. Cryogenic temperatures, I believe, would be so extreme as to ruin the intended treatment that razors received by their makers. My reasoning is help the steel recover just by using freezer like temperatures.