Thread: A couple of Blue Steels chase the shaving blues away

Here is a pair I picked up along the way. A Kinfolks USA Blue Steel, and a Bemmerer & Son Blue Steel Special from Germany. I got these separately off of the bay a few years ago. Googling "blue steel" yielded a wiki reference on the metallurgy to 'martensite' . These are the only two I've run across but it appears a number of makers dubbed their razor by that title. As most of the vintage USA and Solingen razors I've run across,
these are great shavers.

Lovely razors, Jimmy.

I have a 'blue steel' stamped Cadman Bengall somewhere, but I really don't know what the 'blue steel' mark on it means. I fancy that I can just make out the remnants of a blue coating on it, so it probably just refers to the blueing process in this example.

Spring steel is also called blue steel, but that has a relatively low RC hardness rating so I don't think it refers to that.

Some Japanese high-carbon steels are referred to as 'white steel' and 'blue steel' and interestingly the stock is wrapped in either white or blue paper. These are high purity steels that achieve a high RC rating of around 61 and they are used for cutting tools. The white is considered better while the blue keeps an edge longer due to its chromium and tungsten content. Some people say it has vanadium in it too. Who knows? It seems that these steels are only relatively recently known, so I doubt that those razors have that steel (made by Hitachi?) in them.

'Blue steel' has been cited for a long while, particular in respect to firearms, and from what I can gather it is an 'almost' stainless steel that is less corrosion resistant than stainless steel, the alloying agents (probably chromium, vanadium, tungsten, molybdenum or some concoction of that sort) increasing its corrosion resistance above that of tool steel and giving it that characteristic colour that gives rise to the name. I would think that those razors have some sort of steel like that in them.

I guess Mike Blue would have the definitive answer...

Regards,
Neil

I'm a major cheerleader for New York razors in general and Kinfolks in particular. I love how those Blue Steel Specials hone, they just seem to get sharper and sharper when other razors have reached their limit. Enjoy.