I have been pretty traditional in my thinking for razor materials (good ole carbon steel is great).

However, I have been watching stainless steel in the cutlery industry evolve in recent years. In the last 5 years it has come miles from where it was.

Sure there are lots of cutlery steels that have huge carbides and make great knives, but producers are realizing that there are afis that appreciate a super fine grain and ultra fine edges.

Now I know that common conception around here is that when someone starts talking knives, you can walk away because they don't speak razor. I get that. When I started honing last year I thought I would know it all due to my knife experience. However, the truth seems that the lines between high end knives and straight razors are getting pretty blurry these days (from a honing point of view).

I got plugged into a circle of high end knife afis and have been sharpening/finishing their blades for them. I'm many cases they expect as much as shavers do from these edges...and they must look beautiful.

Anyway, back to the point.

After working with some of these super steels for the past few years, it occurred to me (actually it occurred to a few high end razor makers) to try some of these modern stainless materials.

Let me just say this. Some of these materials fair QUITE well as razors and have me really re-thinking the notion that SS cannot past muster like CS.

In some regards, I think it's better (and I'm not just talking about being rust resistant).