On Mon, 22 Mar 2010 14:47:33 -0400, "Ed Huntress"
wrote:


wrote in message
...
Is there some abrasive in my beard?
Is the water corroding the edge?

Could they make razors with carbide?

Gillette (one of my former customers) says that an average beard has
machining properties similar to those of copper wire. g

My guess is that it doesn't abrade so much as it overstresses the very fine
and therefore weak edge. The steel also corrodes -- even stainless. They've
used chrome plating and that helps somewhat.

Anyone old enough to remember blue blades knows that they've made a lot of
progress in the years since. They were made of very high-carbon steel,
hardened to within an inch of its life, and it was rare to get more than two
shaves out of a double-edged blade.

My dad had a hand-cranked blue-blade stropping machine. He got dozens
of shaves from a blue blade. This was just after WW II when some
commodities (razor blades, nails) were still in short supply