I made a video about this, but I think perhaps some of the negative opinion on stainless razors comes from trying to treat stainless steel like carbon steel. As you know, I inspect edges and test them with a pretty high level of OCD. If you sharpen stainless with synthetic stones (Al2O3 abrasive) most stainless edges can be refined to the same keenness as carbon. In my view, when this is done, they perform as well also.
To my surprise, I haven’t fallen into the natural stone rabbit hole (yet), so I’ve never really seen that issue with stainless steel razors. Your suggestion sounds plausible.
I’m thinking it could also just be a question of timing. The heyday of straight razor use is just before the era of high quality affordable stainless steel. All the legendary straights that were mass produced are carbon steel, and there’s only a handful of manufacturers who survived until the stainless steel era.
I haven’t fallen into the natural stone rabbit hole (yet
Refinement on a natural stone tends to be slower, and the stones, themselves, are inconsistent. The feel can be marvelous, and the natural stone scratch patterns will impart a different feel to the edge. Definitely fun to play with, but time consuming. Also, and most relevant to stainless, is that while all of the natural abrasives have Mohs hardness that is greater than stainless steel as a material, not all the abrasives have Mohs hardness greater than the chromium carbides within the metal matrix. Aluminum oxide, OTOH, does.
Ah yes. I remember your excellent comparison.
I made a video about this, but I think perhaps some of the negative opinion on stainless razors comes from trying to treat stainless steel like carbon steel. As you know, I inspect edges and test them with a pretty high level of OCD. If you sharpen stainless with synthetic stones (Al2O3 abrasive) most stainless edges can be refined to the same keenness as carbon. In my view, when this is done, they perform as well also.
To my surprise, I haven’t fallen into the natural stone rabbit hole (yet), so I’ve never really seen that issue with stainless steel razors. Your suggestion sounds plausible.
I’m thinking it could also just be a question of timing. The heyday of straight razor use is just before the era of high quality affordable stainless steel. All the legendary straights that were mass produced are carbon steel, and there’s only a handful of manufacturers who survived until the stainless steel era.
Refinement on a natural stone tends to be slower, and the stones, themselves, are inconsistent. The feel can be marvelous, and the natural stone scratch patterns will impart a different feel to the edge. Definitely fun to play with, but time consuming. Also, and most relevant to stainless, is that while all of the natural abrasives have Mohs hardness that is greater than stainless steel as a material, not all the abrasives have Mohs hardness greater than the chromium carbides within the metal matrix. Aluminum oxide, OTOH, does.