Thread: The razor steel question

I just acquired my fifth and sixth Gottlieb and Hammesfar, and noticed something I've never seen before. One of the razors is marked Nirosta, which is the steel that the gargoyles on the Chrysler building are made of. I know this as the Chrysler building was just on Modern Marvels today and it seems there is something special about this steel, I don't remember exactly what it was but I noticed this razor was harder to hone then the other five. Does anyone know of any other razors made with this and is this something special? After honing it seems to be very sharp, and I will find out tomorrow. Just how well it shaves.
Thanks
Griz

Nirosta is a high Nitrogen content Stainless Steel.

It was developed for outstanding corrosion resistance to Salt Water. It is also very hard as I believe you have discovered.

They used that type of steel on the Chrysler Bldg because it's an art deco type structure with ornamentation which over time would tarnish and corrode exposed to the city air and humidity. This provides excellent protection to keep it looking new and obviously it has worked.

I never heard of it being used in a razor before.

Nirosta was a trademark for stainless steel made by the German company Krupp. Today it belongs to the -ThyssenKrupp Nirosta GmbH-.
It is a acronym for NIchtROstender STAhl - non rusting steel.
It was and still is used for any kind of stainless steel made by this company.
However for the Crysler Building Krupp delivered an austenitic stainless steel called "Enduro KA-2".
As this steel contained a maximum of 0.15% carbon it can´t be used for making razors, it is simply much to soft.
The word Nirosta on your razor indicates that the steel used is stainless steel and was made by Krupp but it is surely a totally different steel than that used on the Crysler Building.

Originally Posted by docholiday

Nirosta was a trademark for stainless steel made by the German company Krupp.
As this steel contained a maximum of 0.15% carbon it can´t be used for making razors, it is simply much to soft.
The word Nirosta on your razor indicates that the steel used is stainless steel and was made by Krupp but it is surely a totally different steel than that used on the Crysler Building.

I just googled Nirosta. The page I went to mentioned several times how hard the metal was and how much harder it became after being worked cold. I didn't see any mention of hardness number though.

This is basically the same as a 300 series austenitic stainless steel. They are not intended to harden as in heating and quenching. The addition of nitrogen to this alloy does improve hardenability as does cold working the material. I'm not surprised though, probably back in the day, they were trying out all sorts of new fangled alloys to see if they made good razors. Not so different than some things going on around here.

Well thanks for all the input,but all I can say with certianty is that its much harder than the other five G&Hs that I have ,and this is the only one marked with the Nirosta name on it, I'll post a picture soon, I just wonder how it will shave,and if its as good as the others.
Thanks
Griz