BeNi alloy DE blades?

[ErkRusselReserve]

In the Science.org whitepaper "How Hair Deforms Steel" there is a comment regarding BeNi alloy razors. Apparently some were made in the 70s and they were neigh indestructible. It would be cool if some DE BeNI blades were made! How to make this happen?

By:Sterling N. Augustine

• Former Engineering Designer- Cabot Berylco

In the early 1970's I worked for Cabot Berylco in Reading Pennsylvania. Their main product was CuBe alloys for the electronics industry but a secondary product was BeNi for the wood pulp industry because the crushing plates would wear out slower than any other metal. One of the major razor/shaving companies had us make razor blades out of BeNi which were nearly impossible to sharpen but when the blades were finished the tests were incredible. The blades never lost an edge and you could shave for years with changing them out. The project was shut down when the razor company realized they would go out of business if everyone stopped buying replacement blades.

Source:

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aba9490

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

I wonder if a razor company with a CNC workshop such as Yates would be interested in doing a run of these? Might be cool to have an everlasting Made in the USA razor blade!

 

[Multum in parvo]

Sandrin USA/Italy Home - Sandrin Knives USA - https://usa.sandrinknives.com/ make knives from Tungsten carbide @71 HRC. The owner seems a kind of Tinkerer so perhaps you could approach them for a DE razor blade format.

 

[Lil Cooties]

They where probably developing a proprietary blade, not a DE which has to flex, but if you wanted to use a pre-existing format, something like a AC or injector blade would probably be the best suited.

 

[BigJ]

Great concept! Now where can I get some??

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

They where probably developing a proprietary blade, not a DE which has to flex, but if you wanted to use a pre-existing format, something like a AC or injector blade would probably be the best suited.

You would definitely want to make a blade for a preexisting format if you were a boutique razor company. As they are not dependent on blade sales, this would open up an entirely new business unit that lets them make money off all the other DE/AC/Injector blade razors in existence in addition to getting loads of free promotion and goodwill for their own.

There is also the ethical and environmental aspect of this. If such a magic blade was developed and not brought to market in the 70s, then the millions of tonnes of plastic and steel that has since been used for razors is a tragedy. Yates, Henson or Blackbird have a moral imperative to disrupt the market and produce such a blade. It doesn't even need to be cheap. I would pay $10-$100 for such a blade if it was available and really was as Mr. Augustine claims.

If this was patented in the 70s, then the patent has expired. If there is an active patent, one could invalidate with patent based on prior art. Mr. Augustine could likely even be called as an expert in such a case.

Cmon Yates, Henson, Blackbird et al., make it so!