Anyone want to help me analyze some steel?

[JoshEarl]

In another thread, I mentioned that I have collected a bunch of vintage straight razors and am planning to get them analyzed for chemical composition. I'm hoping to get this done for as little as possible (free would be great :thumbup. The results will be shared freely with anyone who might be interested.

The reason I'm doing this is to find out what made different razors shave the way they did and maybe find modern steels that would approximate the vintage ones. One notable example of the different shave qualities inherent in steels: Razors made of Sheffield steel are almost universally acknowledged to have a soft, velvety feeling on the skin. They hone easily but don't take quite as fine an edge as some of the German or Swedish steels.

Anyway, I'm wondering if anyone has access to equipment that would allow these razors to be analyzed, and if you do, whether you'd be interested in helping me test some of the blades. I was hoping to have up to 50 different blades tested, but I'd be happy with any assistance that might be offered.

If anyone has some suggestions as to where I could get this done, I'd appreciate the advice.

Josh

 

[richard j]

matt doyle does steel testing. truthseeker does too. he told me in order to test the steel it has to be scratched up with a certain grit stone which might ruin the finish. i'm not sure if all tests require this to be done or not.

 

[Larrin]

In many cases the steels used may already be known.