Thread: carbon vs stainless steel razor material

Originally Posted by wyldr

i suppose a harder stainless edge would deform less severely and thus give a better shave longer. It might also require more stropping to bring the edge back

I'm pretty sure stainless is not harder than carbon steel; it may actually be softer, or at least act softer. Stainless is more resistant to abrasion. JoeD, to who I turn for metal advice, describes it as gummy.

Originally Posted by holli4pirating

I'm pretty sure stainless is not harder than carbon steel; it may actually be softer, or at least act softer. Stainless is more resistant to abrasion. JoeD, to who I turn for metal advice, describes it as gummy.

Could you go into this more? I've heard from others that SS isn't actually harder than CS, but that seems contradictory to the fact that SS takes longer to hone but will hold the edge longer.

It seems to make more sense that if it takes longer to hone, but holds the edge longer that it would be harder. If this isn't the case, I'm very curious why.

You'll have to wait for a metal expert to say more for sure.

My understanding is stainless gets sort of gummy, like an extremely viscous material. This means that it resists abrasion and tends to move and tear (on a very small scale) while being honed. I have no idea how this affects edge retention, but I would think it would improve as the steel would be less brittle - that is purely a guess.

Hardness and "hard to hone" are not the same thing. It would be hard to "hone" (or file) gum, but gum is very soft. Wood is easier to "hone" (or file), but it's definitely harder than gum.

This is just what I've picked up from listening to JoeD.

it really depends on the composition of the steel i've worked with knives for thirty years and good carbon steel is much better than good stainless in my opinion, carbon blades take an edge quicker to a certain point but when it comes to polishing that edge stainless polishes quicker,carbon will sharpen to an edge no stainless blade can get near not sure why just does,i've also found carbon blades hold an edge a lot longer that can depend on the edge geometry though and once a carbon blade oxidizes properly it's as rust resistant as stainless,it all depends on what you prefer too both can be great or crap there is just too many factors to state which is better

Originally Posted by Alucard73

it really depends on the composition of the steel i've worked with knives for thirty years and good carbon steel is much better than good stainless in my opinion, carbon blades take an edge quicker to a certain point but when it comes to polishing that edge stainless polishes quicker,carbon will sharpen to an edge no stainless blade can get near not sure why just does,i've also found carbon blades hold an edge a lot longer that can depend on the edge geometry though and once a carbon blade oxidizes properly it's as rust resistant as stainless,it all depends on what you prefer too both can be great or crap there is just too many factors to state which is better

Great knowledge and experience. Thank you for sharing.

You can have both carbon steel and stainless steel at the the RC hardness, but carbon steel is generally tougher. There is a difference between hardness, toughness and abrasion resistant. Stainles is fairly abrasion resistant and that is what makes it take longer to hone as it is resisting the abrasive affect of the hone. SS is generally more brittle than Carbon, which has the tendecy to flex out of and back into shape if pushed to flex at all.
As has already been stated, there are many factors involved in just how a type of steel acts and reacts, much of which is due to individual chemical composition.
That's as layman as I can make it.


Mick

You guys are doing just fine working out the similarities and the differences in plain language.

Originally Posted by markevens

Could you go into this more? I've heard from others that SS isn't actually harder than CS, but that seems contradictory to the fact that SS takes longer to hone but will hold the edge longer.

It seems to make more sense that if it takes longer to hone, but holds the edge longer that it would be harder. If this isn't the case, I'm very curious why.

IMHO there are many characteristics to a steel that define its sharpening and edge holding behavior.
Hardness, toughness, heat treat, carbide size etc.

you can read about those characteristics here if you want:
Steel And Metallurgic Terminology Glossary

There are stainless steels and semistainless ones that are on par or may be even better than carbon steel in terms of ease of sharpening and edge retention.
Those more "exotic" steels are more popular with custom makers though and may be some of the guys here Butch for example, might chime in and give us more insight on stainless vs carbon.

From my experience all Fridours I have honed are just as easy to hone as a carbon. The one I had a little bit more work to do was a Dovo, but it was a single case .

Originally Posted by mainaman

From my experience all Fridours I have honed are just as easy to hone as a carbon.

+1. I have honed only one stainless Friodur, but +1 is +1.

I realize this is a long time after the last post, but........Here I goes;

I bought a folding knife about 4 years ago. It was custom made from a "High Carbon Stainless Steel" that was fused, or blended, with several alloys. Barium, Cobalt, and something else. The "nomenclature" (metal's identification) was a string of characters, about a foot long, and included numbers and letters!!! This blade is kinda' "off-colored"....looks like a pewter toned color. NOW....this thing sharpens easily......stays sharp.....etc.! The maker, W C Graves, had an ad that showed how they had "loaned" a number of these knives to guides on the YO Ranch. They were to use them for skinning, etc., but NOT to sharpen them. They were to return them when they "thought" they needed sharpening along with a list of how many and what kind of animals they had worked on. One of these knives, supposedly, had skinned/caped, in excess of 12 med to large game animals. I spent a LOT of money for this knife. It was worth it!

Bottom line is this, I would love to have a razor made from that material.....if I only knew what it is! Any ideas?