Thread: What makes razors different from one another?

the thing abought razors is that razors tend to be razors.i have yet to try a vintage razor that didnt give me a great shave . from my 3/8ths sweed to my 9/8 brit there is not much difference in the end result, smooth.some were a bit easyer to hone but thats abought it.as other have said its up to you to find the "best" but that dovo will shave you and your grandkids for the rest of your lifes.

Well, steel composition isn't much advertised on razors, but they're different for sure.

The talk about steels you're referring to is a fairly new thing. think about the time when straight razors were as popular as knives and there wasn't much steel talking for knives either. Of course, you see stuff like 'silver steel', 'cast steel', 'blue steel', 'swedish steel', 'kayser ellison steel', stamped on some razors, but that's pretty much the extent of it.
Puma razors are usually marked with 'best pumaster-steel', but remember puma was a big knife company and they could probably order their steel to spec (Boker and Rodgers could probably too, but most others are too small).

Nowadays the razor production is tiny, so the inexpensive razors are made of whatever steel is cheap and easy to get. You should read the Thiers-Issard's blurb about their c135 steel, they explicitly state they were able to switch steel only because somebody else is ordering large quantities of it on a regular basis. Plus nowadays they are a side business of Sabatier, so they get a big advantage from the knives production, which I suspect, was the driving force for the switch.

Of course, if you're willing to pay hundreds and thousands for a razor you can have it made by all kinds of fancy steels (and more importantly it has to be heat treated properly which could be tricky). It makes a difference - I've shaved with very similar grind razors made by the same maker, just different steel. But for the most part on an inexpensive razor you get very little info about the steel composition.

It appears that the previous posts have answered your technical questions about differences in straight razor blade qiality and shaveability.

I am not an expert in that area. However, if you want to expand your horizons somewhat, purchase a 6/8 hollow ground razor that is either vintage or new. See if you prefer the larger size.

I initially stayed away from larger blades, preferring the 5/8, but as I progressed and improved my shaving technique I found that I like larger blades--6/8 and larger now for variety's sake. My fazorite razors in my rotation are:

5/8 Dovo "BLack Star"

5/8 Gotta 120 "Superfine"

5/8 Boker "Red Injun"

6/8 dubl duck Goldedge

6/8 Bengall

6/8 Otto Busch World-Master

I also come from a Japanese Kitchen knife background. When I think of what steel seems best for razors I think white steel, just plain jane steel. Remember MOST razors out there are vintage stock and the alloy that worked has been the one used for a long time.

Now once you get to custom razors all bets are off and you can get just about any small grain steel out there As for stainless, vintage stainless steels can be a bugger and are aproached on a one to one basis. Again custom builders use modern stainless steels that are far better than vintage in my opinion, but thats with a grain of salt as I really (Strongly) dislike stainless steels

LOL... Chef, you make me think of my fave US swordsmith

"I am an old fashioned rustable carbon steel and hammer kind of guy though, so all stainless is suspect for me at some level." Howard Clark