"MY" Japanese Style Straight Razor

"MY" razors made in Woolwich ME, in the traditional Japanese style are composed of W2 tool steel forge welded to a 99.8% pure iron backing. This particular melt of W2 steel has a composition of :
C - 1.00
Mn - .23
P - .010
S - .004
Si - .20
V - .18
This alloying composition makes it comparable to and as clean as Hitachi White steel in terms of its, low impurities of Sulphur and Phosphorus but with the addition of Vanadium as an alloying element. Vanadium in these amounts aids in forming a fine grain structure. A fine grain in steel makes for strong steel and a keen edge. The pure iron body with very little carbon, .(005 %) aside from giving a ductile backing and support to the hard steel cutting edge also has the benifit of being a more corsion resistant metal than mild steel. After the forging, hardening, tempering and grinding stages, each razor is hand honed to an edge, through a progression of sharpening stones finishing with a 30,000 grit Shapton water stone, ready to be stropped to the users preference for their shaving edge.
In 1986 Muh-Tsyr began his apprenticeship to swordsmith Michael Bell, student of Nakajima Muneyoshi.16 years later Muh-Tsyr had the opportunity to journey to Japan to visit the shops of swordsmiths and toolsmiths to further his understanding of the Japanese metalsmithing tradition. Muh-tsyr is a graduate of the Rockport Apprenticeshop , a school for traditional wooden boatbuilding. It has been a natural progression for him to combine his experiences in the boat carpentry profession with the sensbilities of traditional bladesmithing to manufacture laminated steel cuttin tools that work.