Thread: Stainless vs. Carbon Steel

Originally Posted by indoko

I took the razor to a man who sells knifes in his little shop in Valencia (Spain). He is used to sharpen knives throughout his life and told me that Filarmonica´s steel was the good one.

I would recommend getting in touch with one of our other European members who is known to be a profiecient honer. Your razor has very good steel, and should hone up very well in the hands of someone with experience honing razors.

Originally Posted by John Crowley

The hardness and edge holding qualities of carbon steel are related to the hardening and tempering process - not the steel itself, (generally). If high carbon steel is not hardened properly it can remain soft or become so hard it is brittle. When hardened properly it can remain brittle or if mis-tempered can become soft again; having said that - the same is true of the 440C used in Solingen INOX razors. 440C is a high carbon stain resistant steel that can be hardened to the Rockwell C range that is perfect for a straight razor but the same holds true about mis-tempering it. All things being equal except the 13% or so chromium added to the 440C - the carbon steel will take and maintain a marginally better edge. However; if honed properly the difference isn't great.

Well naturally the tempering will make all the difference in the quality of the blade and the edge it would take. When talking about razors, I think one should be able to assume that the blade smithing is done by someone who is professionally trained, ensuring the best quality blade the materials will provide. Although this may not always be the case, saying " I feel high carbon steel makes this best blade when it is tempered properly" sounds as silly to me as saying "burger shake has the best cheeseburger around, assuming the cheese is fresh and the meet is cooked."

If you have to question the tempering of the steel in a blade, you probably shouldn't buy from that company.

Originally Posted by freyguy

Well naturally the tempering will make all the difference in the quality of the blade and the edge it would take. When talking about razors, I think one should be able to assume that the blade smithing is done by someone who is professionally trained, ensuring the best quality blade the materials will provide. Although this may not always be the case, saying " I feel high carbon steel makes this best blade when it is tempered properly" sounds as silly to me as saying "burger shake has the best cheeseburger around, assuming the cheese is fresh and the meet is cooked."

If you have to question the tempering of the steel in a blade, you probably shouldn't buy from that company.

Heat treating and tempering are 20% science and 80% black magic. There is not a single 'correct' way... there is a way to get maximum hardness out of a specific steel, and a way to soften it...

But how hard to treat it, and how much you anneal it is a 'recipe' of sorts that any given blank maker can do differently. This means that there are many *perfectly* produced razors out there with very different feels in the steel... causing the lines betwen HC and HCS to get blurry if they're hardened and tempered in a [right] certain way.