Process summary: Sharping-Hardening-Edging the blade-Polishing-Coating &-burning-Inspecting

Stainless steel material for razors is processed by pressing machine. The stainless steel material contains chrome, that makes it difficult to rust, and a few % of carbon, that hardens the blade. The thickness of the material is about 0.1mm. This tape-like material is unrolled and after cutting holes with the pressing machine, it is rolled up again. More than 500 pieces of razor blades are stamped out per minute.

After the pressing process, the stainless steel can still be bent. So, it is hardened by heating it in an electric furnace at 1,000℃ and then rapidly cooling it. By cooling it again at about -80℃, the stainless steel becomes harder. By heating it again, the elasticity of the stainless steel increases and the material becomes hard to break, while maintaining its initial appearance.

The process of forming blade edges by grinding the edge face of hardened stainless steel material with whetstone is called "blade edging". This blade edging process consists in first grinding the material with a coarse whetstone, then grinding it at a more acute angle with a medium whetstone and finally grinding the tip of the blade using a finer whetstone. This technique of sharping thin flat material at acute angle contains the know-how that JiaLi factories have accumulated over the years.

After the 3rd step of the blade edging process, burrs (ragged edges formed during grinding) can be seen on the grinded blade tips. These burrs are polished using special strops made of cattle hide. By varying the types of strops and the ways to apply them to the blade tips, it is possible to create, with submicron accuracy, blade tips with perfect shapes for shaving and to obtain the finest sharpness.

Polished razor blades are separated into single pieces at this stage for the first time, then, they are bunched together and skewered. The back of the blade has the typical luster of stainless steel, but on the contrary, the sharp blade tip does not reflect the light and appears to be black. If the blade tips reflect light, it means that they do not have enough sharp angle and that they are defective products. Each razor blade is visually inspected in this way.

Maximally sharpened blades are coated with hard metal film in order to make them difficult to be worn away. This coating has also the purpose to make blade tips difficult to rust. Blades are additionally coated with fluorine resin, in order to allow them to move smoothly across the skin. Then, resin is heated and melted to form a film on the surfaces. This two layer coating greatly improves the sharpness and the durability of razors.