Thread: F.A. Koch Help! heat damage?

I'm new to the art, and just picked up a F.A. Koch & Co Faultless 116 from an antique store. In the store it looked to be in great shape (though I will be the first to admit, I am no judge of steel at this point). However, when I got home and looked at it in different light, I noticed some discoloration on the blade (possibly from being heated?). I do know that this could be fatal to a blade, but I don't want to toss it just yet. Any second opinions?

The first two pictures are what the blade looked like under the light at the store (or at least what I saw). The next two show the discoloration. Am I just seeing things, or does it look like a problem?




Cheers

Note: My wife pointed out that the camera may have accentuated the discoloration. In normal light/at a quick glance, it's really not that obvious.

If it was on one side I would say it was patina, but since it looks like its in the same spot on both sides it might be heat damage. Try honing it and see if it takes and keeps an edge. I am not experienced with tempering so I honestly can't say for sure. Maybe someone else will know more.

I have a Faultless it is a family piece and my second razor. I had it cleaned and honed by a SRP vendor it is a fantastic razor. Have yours honed up and enjoy it may it give you many years of faithful service.

like others have said...hone it and go from there. If it holds an edge and shaves great, well I guess I would be a happy camper

I once worked with an ebay razor that turned out to have heat damage. In my case it would take an edge but the edge would crumble when put into use. I did the arm hair test with it and actually felt the edge crumble on my skin. A very weird sensation, if your razor's edge crumbles you'll feel it during that test.

I'm guessing that this isn't heat damage. If it were, the area of the blade that got the hottest would be the edge because of the thinness of the blade edge, so any discoloration would be worse there. I do a lot of antique store dumpster diving and I've seen this before. I'm guessing here, but could it be discoloration patina that has developed over the decades? Your blade and others I've seen like this are mint and shiny. On blades like this I've seen an odd rainbow diffraction discoloration. I'd bet anything this will clean up like new, hone keenly and be a great shaver. Let us know how it turns out.

I on the other hand believe it might be heat damage, if you heat up a steel it will start to change color at around 400 F,
it then changes like a rainbow scale of colors until it gets above 650 F where it's just pale gray.
See this chart; Temperature Color Guide
As you can see, yellow is the first color to come and it ends with blue.
If you look at your razor you can see the heat has come from the edge side and it reached above 650 F.
That said I have seen some strange patina coloration in my time, but in your case I'm most sorry to say I believe it to be heat.
Someone might have run it over a high speed polishing wheel...
But still, sharpen it and give it a try, if I'm all wrong about the heat I'm happy!

Originally Posted by Lemur

sharpen it and give it a try

Big +1. Have it honed, let us know how it turns out. We await with bated breath. Good luck, it looks to be a real keeper otherwise.