View Poll Results: What is the rockwell hardness on a carbon steel razor

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  • 35 ~ 45

    0 0%

  • 45 ~ 55

    4 17.39%

  • 55 ~ 65

    18 78.26%

  • 65 ~ 75

    1 4.35%
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  1. 12-06-2006, 04:52 AM #1
    urleebird
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    Default How Hard Are The Vintage Blades

    Yesterday was the best day to find another something to do...
    Last edited by urleebird; 12-21-2006 at 12:53 AM.
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  2. 12-06-2006, 05:10 AM #2
    ToxIk
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    Very interesting inquiry, Bill. I'm quite curious to know the results myself. What I think would be equally interesting is to have some sort of metalurgical analysis done on a few blades. So we can see exactly how much of each element when into the steel. Unfourtunently, as I understand it, such analysis would result in the destruction of the blade.

    About the poll: Isn't a range of 10 HRC kind of wide? If I recall, when I was looking at some knifes, there were almost all within 5HRC of each other.
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  3. 12-06-2006, 05:27 AM #3
    urleebird
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    Yesterday was the best day to find another something to do...
    Last edited by urleebird; 12-21-2006 at 12:53 AM.
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  4. 12-06-2006, 05:45 AM #4
    mparker762
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    I know nothing about metallurgy so I don't have any face to lose, but I've always assumed the vintage sheffield blades were 57-60, the pumas and swedes were 59-62, the americans were 60-62, and the friodurs were 61-63.

    Edit: Some guys have PM'ed about this. This is just a guesstimate. Puma knives are hardened to 57-59 accd to info I've seen, and I've always heard that 65+ is essentially unhoneable due to hardness and brittleness. Since I use an arkansas stone on both my knives and razors, I'm interpolating between these two extremes based on how they feel on the hone -- this may or may not be reliable. Puma tests all their knives for hardness, at least all of mine have a little indentation from where the diamond pressed into the steel, and all of my Puma knives have a very consistent feel on the hone that is similar to how my best sheffields feel, so I really doubt that the vintage sheffields are much lower or higher than this.
    Last edited by mparker762; 12-06-2006 at 04:36 PM. Reason: explication
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  5. 12-06-2006, 05:56 AM #5
    FiReSTaRT
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    I was thinking of the ballpark of 60 as someone mentioned it here earlier. I'm glad my assumption was correct. A better question would be "how hard would be too hard to hone with our gear, within a reasonable amount of time?"
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  6. 12-06-2006, 10:04 AM #6
    superfly
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    Id say pretty soft, 45-55. But maybe even lower...

    Nenad
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  7. 12-06-2006, 03:39 PM #7
    wvbias
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    Out of pure ignorance I will say somewhere
    around 60. A good middle ground for
    baby bear - not too hard and not too soft.

    But then baby bear doesn't shave....



    Terry
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