Thread: what temperature is safe for a blade?

Hi,

so when you clean/sand a blade, the temperature can potentially get pretty high.
At what temperature does the metal actually start to change its properties
?


Redwoood

It depends on the steel but if you are cleaning and sanding by hand even buffing on a wheel I wouldn`t worry about it but if your gringing I would make one pass and in the water and have it on very low speed
Kind regards Peter

Just one addition to the buffing. If you are using a dremel and go at too high a speed then you can ruin the edge by overheating it. This is quite easy to do even if you are only buffing it.

I polish the blade faces by hand to avoid ruining the edge.

A good rule of thumb is if it is too hot to hold then you chance ruining it but this is overly concervative. I prefer to err on the side of caution.

Originally Posted by vladsch

A good rule of thumb is if it is too hot to hold then you chance ruining it but this is overly concervative. I prefer to err on the side of caution.

But that would mean that even 100 centigrade would be dangerous. A lot of people use boiling water to sanitize their blades. Or is this part of the 'overly conservative' ?


Redwoood

The rule of thumb to use is "uncomfortably hot" .
When it gets that hot then dip the razor in cool water until it cools down. Please note that it takes very little time to get that hot with either a buffer or a Dremel. Do not keep the wheel in one spot, keep it moving along the blade.

Hope this helps,

Now I'm getting really curious. so what about boiling water? is that too hot? I wouldn't think so but you guys are frightening me.

With regards to cooling the blade, is it safe to cool a hot blade in cold water? couldn't the sudden temperature drop warp the blade?

Redwoood