Tool steel?

**JeffE** · 11-25-2009, 05:25 PM

Um, this may be a dumb question, but what is the difference between "tool steel" and high carbon steel, or are these the same thing? Is tool steel the same thing as O-1 or O-I?

Also, does the hardest possible steel generally make for the sharpest blade or best razor?

Thanks!

**Oomjan** · 11-26-2009, 12:01 AM

Hi There

The hardest steel does not give the sharpest edge - some of the hard metals gets brittle when it gets to a thin edge, ands that’s not good. Tool steel will keep a good cutting edge good, but all depends what you are using. I know Bohler Uddaholm sells K110 steel, and you can temper it to about 63 HRC. That’s gr8t but it rusts. The best is to go for something with a high content cobalt, vanadium, tungsten/molybdenum and chrome. It is a bit restricted on the tempering side but the edge keeping is good.

That’s my humble 2 cents worth!

**mparker762** · 11-26-2009, 11:53 AM

O1 is a tool steel, but there are others. Hardness is important both for taking and holding an edge, but brittleness can affect edge holding, as can corrosion resistance, as well as basic geometry issues (angle of the edge). The commercial blade makers have gone exclusively to stainless steel, even though it tends to be softer than high carbon steel in order to keep the brittleness under control. This is because corrosion resistance is so important for edge-holding that it's worth the loss in hardness. With straight razors a properly used stropping regimen helps keep corrosion at bay so this isn't quite as important but it's still a consideration. Some otherwise excellent tool steels are very prone to corrosion, for example, and aren't as good for razors as you might think just looking at their numbers. There are other alloying elements besides chrome that improve corrosion resistance without the negative effects that chrome causes, though they aren't as effective as chrome.

Some manufacturers used to plate their razors in chrome or nickel, but this only improves corrosion resistance on the body of the blade, not the edge, so this process doesn't improve edge retention it just keeps the blade looking nice and the pivot from rusting.

**JonnyAngel** · 11-28-2009, 02:57 PM

O-1 is a fine grained high carbon tool steel which is quite well suited for edged tooled because it is "forgiving" during heat treat and inexpensive. As for hardness, you want a steel that is going to be hard enough to take an edge, but not so hard that its brittle.

**JeffE** · 12-03-2009, 02:36 PM

So if you were going to pick some type of steel as the ultimate for a straight razor, what blend would it be? It sounds like tool steel or O-1 is just a good compromise, so what would you pick if money was no object? And leave out decorative steel like pattern welded Damascus and the like. I'm just talking about functionality. Thanks!

**Seraphim** · 12-03-2009, 02:48 PM

Originally Posted by JeffE

So if you were going to pick some type of steel as the ultimate for a straight razor, what blend would it be? It sounds like tool steel or O-1 is just a good compromise, so what would you pick if money was no object? And leave out decorative steel like pattern welded Damascus and the like. I'm just talking about functionality. Thanks!

Whatever this razor is made of, it is sharp and smooth.