TIL my grandfather's straight razor was sharper than my modern one

I got his old straight razor from 1957 appraised last week at a shop in Portland. The guy told me the steel was tempered differently back then, and after a proper honing it actually took hair off my arm with zero pressure. My $80 modern blade needed three passes and still tugged. Has anyone else found older tools outperform the new stuff in ways you didn't expect?

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umamoore4d ago

Honestly I used to roll my eyes at people claiming old tools were better. But hearing that about the tempering and how yours glides with zero pressure makes me want to dig out my dad's old plane and see if it's the same deal.