Thread: Color Case Hardened Blades?

I have always loved the looks of Color Case hardened gun actions, and was curious as to why I have never seen a case hardened straight razor. It would be rather striking with a pair of walnut scales. Is there a reason that this is not a thing? (You can tell that I am extremely new to straight razors.)
Thanks for the info.

Case hardening is a surface treatment that also hardens the metal to a given depth during the process. The variables in the packing materials and heating are almost too many to mention. For instance; Cyanide is a major part of them added other noxious chemicals to various sources of carbon. As such, it was banned from use for razors and cutlery by the first worshipful order of blade-smiths in Sheffield..

Yes, It could be done and would harden the blade and outside of the spine. The difficulty is that the technique for small items is an almost lost art except in industry for wear protecting shafting that bearings run on and prettifying weapon parts..

I have used the new packing materials to area harden/ wear protect a machine part before grinding. I would hazard a guess that the results on a razor would be less than optimal.

Case-hardening
~Richard