Thread: India steel

Hey guys another question:

Can any body tell me what is the deal with India steel? What exactly is it? What, if any, are the benefits?(I assume it is high quality or at the least a little harder to find, based on the price.) Many English razor makers use India Steel, which I guess makes sense because India/Pakistan were British Colonies at one time.

Conversley, why does Pakistani Steel have such a bad rap? India and pakistan are just an imaginary line apart.

I've often wondered the same thing and your question prompted my google search which turned the answer up here. I'll appreciate my India steel W&B more since reading it.

It is advertising course.
All known "Damascus Steel" is Indian steel.
"Damascus Steel"(really Wootz Steel) is from India(1100-1700 AD).
And Wootz Steel is a steel with the high maintenance of carbon (up to 2 %).
The legends about "Damascus Steel" were very popular at the beginning of 19th century after romantic stories of Walter Scott ("Ivanhoe" ...).

And Pakistan was founded in 1947.

I asked the same question some time back...

http://straightrazorpalace.com/gener...ors-india.html

After talking to Indians and others who have traveled to India, and my reading, I think the Indian steel industry is quality. I could not find any reference to Indian straight razors though. Straights with disposable blades are used on every street corner it seems. Find a video of some "barber" working on the street in the most backwoods place, and they will be using a straight with disposable blades.

India Steel. Its all part of the comparative advantage theory, Economics 101. Tomorrow, the steel could be coming from some where else. Is it better, same, or worse? Only the experienced customers can tell over time.

I just have a few great quality straights razors, but I have not ventured over to India steel yet.

Pabster

As I understand we speak about old razors. When Sheffield makers marked razors "Fine India Steel", they are wonderful razors.