Thread: Heat damage?

Excuse me, but this is the workshop forum, not the good news feel good show. You have made a mistake, as we all did sometime. You learn from it and move on. This is not salvageable. No point in sugarcoating it.

The temper of that razor is shot. Kaput. That is heat damage. And a lot of it. The color progression white ->blue->purple -> bronze ->straw is an unambiguous telltale sign of a piece of steel that has gotten way past tempering. Where it is straw to bronze, the temper will still be ok. purple to blue is still good enough for a pocketknife. And near the edge where it has turned white again, the hardness will be gone.

We're not talking about a razor that has a spec of blue due to a buffing mistake. That blade has gotten hot enough to be used as a brand, along its entire length. The color is on the surface, but the temper will be ruined throughout the entire blade. And it won't be brittle. Quite the opposite in fact. But the edge is nowhere near 60 HRc anymore.

So if you fix up this razor and hone it, please don't sell it here (or anywhere else for that matter) ever, without explaining clearly that the temper was blown. Because otherwise the next person will buy this blade expecting a properly heat treated razor, but getting something that is functionally just a pocket knife.

Btw, you can still see sever rust scarring, but not a trace of rust anymore. I'd be willing to bet dollars to pennies that the blade has been pressed to a buffer by someone who doesn't have a clue.