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Good find or did I miss something

Was on vacation in Oregon and in a random shop they had 2 straight razors. I picked this one up, camel bone with Damascus steel. Top pin is loose and it doesn’t have an edge but I don’t see any chips. At 119 seemed like a steal, detailing on spine and the tip. You agree or see any issues, feel like i could put an edge and sell for like $500.
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I hate to burst the bubble, but you can get all sorts of Damascus Straight razors that look similar to that one for 20-60 dollars off of eBay.

I am not saying your razor is bad, but it is probably that you’ve been had.
 
Said it was a local smith in town, they had a large amount of pocket knives and kitchen knives in the Damascus that they said he did for them. Seemed plausible to me. Guess it will depend how good he is.
 
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Looks like an RSO but may shave well. You don't know if the heat treat was proper, so may shave well after honing but not hold the edge. As @Matt O says, these are available for a lot less. $119 is a steal, but it is not you doing the stealing. I would stay away from these.
 
Be careful about possible RSO: look for the blade stopping in the scales and the edge not poking through the other side where it'll cut you when you grab the handles
 

Slash McCoy

I freehand dog rockets
Was on vacation in Oregon and in a random shop they had 2 straight razors. I picked this one up, camel bone with Damascus steel. Top pin is loose and it doesn’t have an edge but I don’t see any chips. At 119 seemed like a steal, detailing on spine and the tip. You agree or see any issues, feel like i could put an edge and sell for like $500. View attachment 1548181
You do realize, of course, that the steel in that razor is absolutely not Damascus, right? At best, it is PWS. At worst, it is fake PWS, etched to resemble PWS.

PWS apparently can be made into an acceptable razor, and it has been done by respected bladesmiths. The thing is, to make PWS that is almost as good as a single alloy steel takes a lot of experience and skill. All PWS is, is two or more alloys heated and pounded together. I am sure you can see the potential problems there. Damascus, or Wootz, is a crucible steel that has not been made in a couple hundred years because the particular ore deposits are played out. Al Pendray and John Verhoeven may have created a steel that is both cosmetically and functionally identical to Wootz, but nobody is making razors out of the few pieces that they have made. Good luck getting a billet of it.

I doubt that any western style straight razor has ever been made of Damascus steel. The word Damascus implies both Indian or Middle East historical tradition and Wootz steel, which is a crucible steel and not a pattern welded steel.

Yeah I know, there are hundreds of Damascus razors for sale on fleabay so they cant all be fake. Or can they?

You might have a razor that will hone up nice and shave well, but I am fairly sure that what you have there is what we call an RSO.
 

Legion

Staff member
Said it was a local smith in town, they had a large amount of pocket knives and kitchen knives in the Damascus that they said he did for them. Seemed plausible to me. Guess it will depend how good he is.
I’m afraid they lied to you. That smith was local to Pakistan, and the knives were probably imported in the same lot.

Try to hone it. What have you got to lose? You never know. But we have seen a lot of these in the past.

Since he is a “local smith in town”, ask them for his contact details, just to watch them squirm.

Report back with what they say.

I always thought the bone scales looked kind of nice, and might be worth modifying and repurposing.
 
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You do realize, of course, that the steel in that razor is absolutely not Damascus, right? At best, it is PWS. At worst, it is fake PWS, etched to resemble PWS.

PWS apparently can be made into an acceptable razor, and it has been done by respected bladesmiths. The thing is, to make PWS that is almost as good as a single alloy steel takes a lot of experience and skill. All PWS is, is two or more alloys heated and pounded together. I am sure you can see the potential problems there. Damascus, or Wootz, is a crucible steel that has not been made in a couple hundred years because the particular ore deposits are played out. Al Pendray and John Verhoeven may have created a steel that is both cosmetically and functionally identical to Wootz, but nobody is making razors out of the few pieces that they have made. Good luck getting a billet of it.

I doubt that any western style straight razor has ever been made of Damascus steel. The word Damascus implies both Indian or Middle East historical tradition and Wootz steel, which is a crucible steel and not a pattern welded steel.

Yeah I know, there are hundreds of Damascus razors for sale on fleabay so they cant all be fake. Or can they?

You might have a razor that will hone up nice and shave well, but I am fairly sure that what you have there is what we call an RSO.
I don’t have a dog in this fight just a question about Wootz. What about the properties and appearance of Heimo Rosselis Wootz/Ultra High Carbon Steel that is commonly available?

It doesn’t have that usual layer pattern but an equal distribution of components (sorry bad pic).

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rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
I don’t have a dog in this fight just a question about Wootz. What about the properties and appearance of Heimo Rosselis Wootz/Ultra High Carbon Steel that is commonly available?

It doesn’t have that usual layer pattern but an equal distribution of components (sorry bad pic).
Heimo Rosseli makes steel knives in Finland using steel that he calls "Wootz" due to the pattern displayed in the finished blades, not the steel's physical characteristics. His knife blades are highly regarded by some. To the best of my knowledge, no one has been able to reproduce the wootz steel in modern times that has the characteristics of the steel originally produced in India centuries ago. I believe that this is due to the "impurities" in the ore then used, such ore being no longer available.

Knife steel does not necessarily make for good razor steel.
 
Heimo Rosseli makes steel knives in Finland using steel that he calls "Wootz" due to the pattern displayed in the finished blades, not the steel's physical characteristics. His knife blades are highly regarded by some. To the best of my knowledge, no one has been able to reproduce the wootz steel in modern times that has the characteristics of the steel originally produced in India centuries ago. I believe that this is due to the "impurities" in the ore then used, such ore being no longer available.

Knife steel does not necessarily make for good razor steel.
He now calls it Ultra High Carbon, I guess people were pointing out the discrepancies. Nevertheless any clue how this steel is made? I doubt it’s only a cosmetic surface treatment to dolly it up…
 
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