Gorgeous!
Thank you.
Please feel free to share any and all creations you have made.
We love good photos, creativity and quality.
Thank you.
Please feel free to share any and all creations you have made.
We love good photos, creativity and quality.
Damascus steel razor - a curiosity question
- Thread starter q345
- Start date
That brush in the first photo looks familiar.
Is that the same razor that Bruno posted on SRP?, or at least the same brush?
Is that the same razor that Bruno posted on SRP?, or at least the same brush?
I'm just going to come out and say that I am sitting here having a complete nerdgasm over your talk about metallurgy. No, it's not something that I have any knowledge about, but I'm an absolute glutton for learning new and obscure things. So, thank you for all of the in-depth information and analysis, as well as the pictures that you just posted. All of those razors are absolutely breathtaking.
It's interesting (but not really surprising to me) to hear that modern alloy steel is easier to maintain and has at least as good if not better performance (not to mention better price point) than PWS and Wootz. But damn, PWS can be pretty to look at!
- Thread starter
- #45
Bruno, thanks a lot for answering my questions and providing a lot of information about Wootz steel and also about suitability of alloys for razor. It's not boring, the opposite is the true, it' fascinating!
And examples of your work are stunning! Publish more!
Few more questions with regards to what you wrote.
1. If I got you correctly, having Wootz ingot is a necessary piece, but it's not enough. You need to forge it / process it / Polish it in a very specific way to expose the patter. If something got wrong you don't see the subtle floating pattern.
2. Regarding hardness/carbide : what I got is that the hardness alone is not enough. So that, blade forged from pure wolfram might be keeping the edge forever, but will not necesserg provide an elusive smooth BBS shave. Am I correct?
And your explanation about 'orange Peel ' effect preceded mg question why not to make razors from the modern alloys.
3. PWS. Just to make if clear, regardless how many times you fold and twist it, it will NOT cause formation of carbon nanotubes, correct? By appearance, the pattern might somewhat resemble the 'true' one ,but it will be only external resemblances. No dendrites, no 'real floating water' , just smaller folds.
I got fascinated with the subject and in a last week try to read more about the Wootz steel. I must confess that people like Al Pendray not only invoke a huge respect but plain envy. He dedicated many years of his life to crack the se,ret and manage to achieve it. Hard to imagine what he felt when he saw the 'real' pattern first time, after lifetime of efforts! I guess it's acompletely different feeling than let's say winning a big sum in lottery.
Best regards and thanks for your tine It took to write your posts
And examples of your work are stunning! Publish more!
Few more questions with regards to what you wrote.
1. If I got you correctly, having Wootz ingot is a necessary piece, but it's not enough. You need to forge it / process it / Polish it in a very specific way to expose the patter. If something got wrong you don't see the subtle floating pattern.
2. Regarding hardness/carbide : what I got is that the hardness alone is not enough. So that, blade forged from pure wolfram might be keeping the edge forever, but will not necesserg provide an elusive smooth BBS shave. Am I correct?
And your explanation about 'orange Peel ' effect preceded mg question why not to make razors from the modern alloys.
3. PWS. Just to make if clear, regardless how many times you fold and twist it, it will NOT cause formation of carbon nanotubes, correct? By appearance, the pattern might somewhat resemble the 'true' one ,but it will be only external resemblances. No dendrites, no 'real floating water' , just smaller folds.
I got fascinated with the subject and in a last week try to read more about the Wootz steel. I must confess that people like Al Pendray not only invoke a huge respect but plain envy. He dedicated many years of his life to crack the se,ret and manage to achieve it. Hard to imagine what he felt when he saw the 'real' pattern first time, after lifetime of efforts! I guess it's acompletely different feeling than let's say winning a big sum in lottery.
Best regards and thanks for your tine It took to write your posts
Correct. Imagine the ingot as a piece of sod from your garden. The roots from the grass are an analogy for the wootz carbides. If you forge the ingot out into a bar, you will introduce directionality in the pattern which is why in my pictures, you'll see an overall orientation in the same direction as the edge.
You'll also see clusters of 'dots and curls' this is there there was a cluster of carbides converging or simply be oriented in a different direction to begin with. How you forge, and at which temperatures you forge, has a significant effect on the resulting pattern. Then there is the thermal cycling and heat treatment required to make sure those carbides are still there at the end, and with a good boldness. It is certainly possible to mess this up and takes some experience to guide along the road from A to B. Part of the learning curve is that you need to do the opposite from normal SOP. By default, a smith will work to a) avoid forming carbides and b) get rid of them when they form. With wootz you want to create them, grow them, and nudge them along safely.
I have messed up several times, and they are expensive mistakes. Learning wootz is a commitment that requires a significant amount of time, and a decent monetary investment up front. That's why so few people do it, and why those who do tend to be passionate about it.
That is correct. Objectively, a Feather Pro blade is 'sharper' than a freshly honed razor, but it won't give you a smoother or more comfortable shave.
Folding and twisting tool steel will do absolutely nothing if you do it right (*), and degrade the steel if you do it wrong. A Dutch blacksmith I know once was commissioned to make a replica of some historic norse blade and the customer had access to authentic blueprints and information. The steel had to be 'wootz like'. If I recall correctly, it was folded to have a total of 5000 layers which provided an effect that 'kinda' looked like wootz without being it. Although I have not seen it myself so I will not judge on how well the resemblance was.
(*) I would not classify Tamahagane as PWS. That is a completely different thing and there the folding does have important reasons.
Slash McCoy
I freehand dog rockets
Pretty don't shave. But it is pretty. Some guys think pretty is worth paying more for and that's quite understandable.
Someone asked pics of the 2 pendray razors in progress.
Very cool, thank you.
A Wootz Straight Razor Made by Ulrik
„Koraat“
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