So, how 'hard' are some of the vintage straights?

I was wondering today about how hard are some of the vintage carbon steel straight razors?

What got me to thinking about this was that I have an antique W Rose leather knife from the late 1800s. It is some of the hardest carbon steel that I have ever dealt with when trying to give something an edge. When I originally got the knife it had one of the corners chipped off and I tried to use a file to reshape that edge and quickly found out that the knife was a harder steel than the file I was using. I had to go to some nice hard, high carbon steel files to even get them to work that steel at all. One thing about that knife, it that it took a LOOONG time to get the edge worked up compared to softer steels in other blades, but that edge is scary razor sharp and stays that way for a very long time with just stropping with white rouge.

So with that that, did a lot of the vintage razor makers go for a higher carbon content to make the steel harder to keep the edge longer or did they go with lower carbon content to have the steel more soft and easier to take an edge but not keep the edge as long as one made of harder steel?

Are there some brands that are known for being harder steel that other brands?

Let's block ads! (Why?)

So, how 'hard' are some of the vintage straights?