Thread: Curious freaks of steel, St-Louis Republic 1890.

Originally Posted by Tierdaen

The degree of incredulity toward this old article is surprising.

May I ask why?

Originally Posted by Tierdaen

The degree of incredulity toward this old article is surprising.

Especially when there is zero facts to support that theory

Spoken like an "Expert"!

Originally Posted by mainaman

Especially when there is zero facts to support that theory

There is the fact that steel expand and contract, perhaps someone with a powerful microscope could take picture of an edge and let it sit for a couple months and see if the edge changed.

Sounds like a "fluid steel" razor! He must have gotten that off the internet. OR an old barber told him!

Well the article mentioned the legendary Damascus, which no one actually knows the method of making, or the composition of the final product, and then specifies Swedish steel as the material that is going through this metamorphosis. Perhaps the guys that are paying the high dollars for the Heljestrands know something we don't know ........

Originally Posted by 32t

May I ask why?

Wasn't defending the article...my comment was just an observation of the community. Sorry for the ambiguity.

Originally Posted by Martin103

There is the fact that steel expand and contract, perhaps someone with a powerful microscope could take picture of an edge and let it sit for a couple months and see if the edge changed.

That article is talking about mechanical prearrangement of the structure of the steel, I am not sure that is possible on the level we are working with a razor.
I am not sure what is meant by grain of the steel, for me that would be carbide structure, how does that change orientation with stropping I am not sure. The one thing that changes for sure is the direction of the serrations on the edge but that to me is not the same as changing the structure of the steel. As far as thermal expansion, the temperature range here is practically non-existent, I am very confident stropping does not add big temp change on the edge to change the temper.
A blade can get a lot hotter while buffing it than when stropping it and the temper does not change until certain temperature is reached.


If you want to calculate thermal expansion, take a bevel of witch 0.5mm, the linear expansion over 10C raise will be 0.5 microns, and a volume expansion will be 1.5 microns . I used a coefficient of linear/volume expansion for carbon steel (unspecified) from wikepedia. When stropping the temperature at the bevel is not going up by 10C that is for certain, the speed and pressure of the process is not enough for that to happen. So in the end you are looking at insignificant temperature changes to make any difference in the edge and how it feels on the cheek.

I would appreciate if someone versed in steels chime in and let is know what happens, may be Mike will be able to enlighten us.

Say is this the thread where we talk about which end of the razor is our favorite?

Originally Posted by mainaman

That article is talking about mechanical prearrangement of the structure of the steel, I am not sure that is possible on the level we are working with a razor.

Maybe I'm being simplistic, but considering the time in which that article was published, I am under the impression the writer, if he is at all serious, is talking about a phenomenon that can be seen with the naked eye. So IMO he is referring to the grind lines of the steel rather than the microscopic structure that we cannot see without some sort of high end laboratory microscopes. I am thinking it is a tongue in cheek article because I can't imagine that his theory is possible ? Just IMHO .....