That is awesome thanks for sharing.
The Gillette Yellows and Blues seem to look the best visually.
The Gillette Yellows and Blues seem to look the best visually.
Scanning Electron Microscope Blade Edge Images
- Thread starter Evil4blue
- Start date
Steve...this is a quality investigation,fantastic work,thanks a million for this !
Eagerly awaiting your future scans. Fantastic work and thanks for sharing this with us, it's greatly appreciated.
Travis.
Travis.
Awesome stuff. Can't wait to see more.
Amazing images. Great stuff. Cannot wait to see more. How about a feather.
Great thread 
Very interesting! 
- Thread starter
- #51
That's a tricky question. The sensitivity of the instrument is pretty high ~ +/- 0.5%, but the results are affected by a ton of variables. In this case, I'm relying on the razor blade having pretty good homogeneity of it's composition, but I'm sure my results would vary a bit depending on where on the blade I do the analysis. The actual numbers are less important than the relative ratio of the elements in the blade to each other. Does that make any sense?
Basically, you want to see how tall the Cr peak is compared to the Fe peak (for stainless steels). Or if other elements sneak in as either a feature of the blade (like platinum) or an impurity (like high carbon or silicon).
That said, blades from the same plant should look similar if they use the same recipe for their stainless.
Hey Steve,
Thanks for doing this!!! I have always wondered what the different types of blade edges looked like, I'm definitely subscribing to this thread!
Justin
Thanks for doing this!!! I have always wondered what the different types of blade edges looked like, I'm definitely subscribing to this thread!
Justin
I also subscribed. I hope to see Voskhod, Sputnik and Polsilver SI appearing here one day.
Thank you Evil4blue for doing these tests, I look forward to seeing the results for Feather and Atra promised next week! I have subscribed to this thread and I hope I may be able to provide an obscure blade or two for testing further down the line. This website and its posters are so awesome!
Evil, I have some vintage Gillette Blue blades (carbon steel) if you would like to test these.
This is great. Can't wait to see more pictures and results.
- Thread starter
- #58
Edited the first post to add some new photos and scans. You can now see Personna Lab, Red, and Med. Crystal, Feather, Voskhod, Polsilver SI, and Sauper-Max Titanium.
No, I did not mix up the Meds and Labs. Both blades were fresh from the package and to my eye, the Lab blade edge looks much cleaner than the Med blade. I was surprised by this.
Other things of note, the Voskhod blade appears to have a bevel area about 2x wider than every other blades I've looked at to date, you can also see how smooth the telfon coating make the blade edge look.
The feather blade is the only blade with a double bevel that I've seen to date. The primary bevel looks really rough, but the secondary bevel looks very smooth bit not very wide. This may be why some people claim than the longevity of the feather blades aren't great. Once that initial edge is dulled, the blade is very roughly finished.
The persona red looks like it has a lot of scale on the surface of the bevel. It looks like heat treat scale, but I'm not sure.
One last thing, if you look at the EDS scans, you'll see some blades so the presence of Si. This usually comes from one of 2 places: the grinding material when sharpening the bade or the heat-treat process. Like I said above, the Reds look like the Si comes from heat-treat, but the other blades that show Si present appear to be sanding residue. In some of the photos, you can actually see some of the sanding material left behind, it usually looks like little salt crystals on the surface of the blade.
Ok, now I feel like I'm rambling, I'll process another batch of blades soon. If you have any questions, fire away.
No, I did not mix up the Meds and Labs. Both blades were fresh from the package and to my eye, the Lab blade edge looks much cleaner than the Med blade. I was surprised by this.
Other things of note, the Voskhod blade appears to have a bevel area about 2x wider than every other blades I've looked at to date, you can also see how smooth the telfon coating make the blade edge look.
The feather blade is the only blade with a double bevel that I've seen to date. The primary bevel looks really rough, but the secondary bevel looks very smooth bit not very wide. This may be why some people claim than the longevity of the feather blades aren't great. Once that initial edge is dulled, the blade is very roughly finished.
The persona red looks like it has a lot of scale on the surface of the bevel. It looks like heat treat scale, but I'm not sure.
One last thing, if you look at the EDS scans, you'll see some blades so the presence of Si. This usually comes from one of 2 places: the grinding material when sharpening the bade or the heat-treat process. Like I said above, the Reds look like the Si comes from heat-treat, but the other blades that show Si present appear to be sanding residue. In some of the photos, you can actually see some of the sanding material left behind, it usually looks like little salt crystals on the surface of the blade.
Ok, now I feel like I'm rambling, I'll process another batch of blades soon. If you have any questions, fire away.
That is GREAT!!!!
On the Personnas: Reportedly, the difference between Labs and Meds is the Meds get washed or sterilized and the Labs may still have a trace of oil from manufacturing. Perhaps, if true, the Meds are afflicted with some sort of microscopic corrosion that is protected on the Labs by oil.
Your Feather analysis also potentially explains why most people only get 1 to 3 shaves out of a Feather while a few people can stretch a Feather for dozens of shaves. They wear off the initial edge and feel that initial edge gone, but those who get lots of shaves continue and get decent shaves out of the stronger remaining edge.
Don't worry about rambling, everything you've posted so far is fascinating.
On the Personnas: Reportedly, the difference between Labs and Meds is the Meds get washed or sterilized and the Labs may still have a trace of oil from manufacturing. Perhaps, if true, the Meds are afflicted with some sort of microscopic corrosion that is protected on the Labs by oil.
Your Feather analysis also potentially explains why most people only get 1 to 3 shaves out of a Feather while a few people can stretch a Feather for dozens of shaves. They wear off the initial edge and feel that initial edge gone, but those who get lots of shaves continue and get decent shaves out of the stronger remaining edge.
Don't worry about rambling, everything you've posted so far is fascinating.
I would like to see an original Super Iridium compared to the Polsilver.
Steve, would you consider doing this if I sent you an original SI?
Thanks,
Justin
Steve, would you consider doing this if I sent you an original SI?
Thanks,
Justin
