# Titanium razor blade? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 24, 2003, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/titanium-razor-blade/183993 "2003-06-24T11:19:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Swoop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b77776/32.png) [@Swoop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swoop)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/titanium-razor-blade/183993/1 "2003-06-24T11:19:29Z")
I once heard a story that someone had invented titanium razor blades - would stay sharp forever, never need replacement. The story followed that Gillette bought the patent to it, and that was that (for obvious reasons). Any truth to this? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/titanium-razor-blade/183993/2 "2003-06-24T11:32:43Z")
Sounds bogus to me; titanium is harder than steel (generally), but that wouldn’t make it stay sharp forever. ---
**Author:** ![Tarantula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e274bd/32.png) [@Tarantula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarantula)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/titanium-razor-blade/183993/3 "2003-06-24T12:29:47Z")
As far as I know (not too far), the blades don’t get blunt as such. They bend or warp out of shape on account of something… so it’s not a sharpness issue… Anyhoo, that’ just what I read - pretty sure it was in the “playboy advisor”… sorry I can’t give you a cite… ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/titanium-razor-blade/183993/4 "2003-06-24T12:38:23Z")
This came up a while ago regarding ceramic razor blades. I don’t know whether it’s true for titanium as well, but the problem with the ceramic blades was that they were just _too_ hard, and carved chunks out of the faces of those that tested them (well, nicked them anyway). ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/titanium-razor-blade/183993/5 "2003-06-24T12:47:14Z")
I’m pretty sure that isn’t correct **Tarantula** - the sharpness of any cutting tool is determined by the edge radius - the thinner the better, but thinner edges wear more quickly as they are composed of a relatively small amount of material. I can’t find the pictures I was looking for, but a new razor blade looks like a sharp, thin line; a worn one looks like a frayed piece of card. ---
**Author:** ![Tarantula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e274bd/32.png) [@Tarantula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarantula)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/titanium-razor-blade/183993/6 "2003-06-24T12:50:14Z")
You’re probably right \*\* mangetout\*\*. After all, the “Playboy Advisor” isn’t the bastion of scientific knowledge that you would come to expect from socio-political porn… LOL. I stand corrected… ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/titanium-razor-blade/183993/7 "2003-06-24T15:52:47Z")
- - - Making anything out of titanium isn’t the problem, it’s how much the stuff costs: about 30X as much as steel or aluminum, typically. The main cost involved is electricity used for producing it, so there’s no way to “make it cheaper”, and there won’t be anytime soon (it has to be electrically melted out of white sand, and using any sort of burning fuel contaminates the process). It can be harder or softer than steel, depending on how it is alloyed. The pure material is only used for chemical purposes; for structural use all the metal you’ll find is alloys. The main use of Ti is because of its structural resistance to fatigue–it can be alloyed soft enough to be easily welded, yet it can still be flexed a lot more than most other metals without cracking. I’m no engineer but I don’t see how that would help much with razor blades, really… The major use if structural titanium in the US is for hydraulic lines in passenger jets, it would probably work well but it’s just too expensive to use for making the whole plane. The F-14’s center wing section is also Ti (the “shoulders” where the wing hinges are)–but not the outer moving wings, and there aren’t any major pieces in any other aircraft I have heard about. The Russkies used it for the floor of their biggest cargo jet (An-225? I tinks), but they didn’t even make the whole plane out of it. The stuff cost too much, even in socialist Russia. - As far as the “being too sharp” issue, I say BS. The next big thing in shaving is supposed to be _diamond_-coated blades. You can already buy pure synthetic single-crystal ruby blades (the #2 hardest crystal), not particularly for shaving but of similar size and shape, at a couple hundred dollars each. One use is for cutting loose/unplasticised composite materials such as kevlar and graphite fabric. And they do not last forever, they are said to last ~10 times longer than steel blades in that use. ~ ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/titanium-razor-blade/183993/8 "2003-06-24T16:13:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DougC \* > \*\* - As far as the “being too sharp” issue, I say BS. The next big thing in shaving is supposed to be _diamond_-coated blades. You can already buy pure synthetic single-crystal ruby blades (the #2 hardest crystal), not particularly for shaving but of similar size and shape, at a couple hundred dollars each. One use is for cutting loose/unplasticised composite materials such as kevlar and graphite fabric.~ \*\* BS? Whatever. [http://www.mingspantry.com/kyoccerkniff.html#q21](http://www.mingspantry.com/kyoccerkniff.html#q21) > [@](#): > > **The peeler is great! How come you don’t make a shaver?** > Too dangerous! A metal razor blade has a relatively “rounded” edge (under the microscope) which prevents the blade from cutting into the skin. A ceramic razor blade, however, does not have a rounded edge and slices into the skin. Thus, a ceramic shaver would be too dangerous to use. Several engineers in Sendai who tested prototypes can confirm this painful fact!