Newbie from Jhb South Africa
Hello would like to introduce myself, my name is Jerry and live in Johannesburg South Africa I have been a part time bladesmith for around 9 years and hope to one day be able to quit my day job to make knives full time. About a year ago I was asked if I would be able to repair a friend's straight razor, I was a bit nervous at first as I had never even handled such a delicate blade before anyway to make a long story short I repaired the blade and put on a set of new scales. I had never shaved with anything other than a Gillette disposable razor up till then but was intrigued to find out what the big deal was using a old style cut throat razor, we'll I mustered up the courage to give it a go and we'll as I'm sure most of you know the rest is history as they say ,the bug bit I bought a couple of old broken razors online and fixed them up allowing me to get used to look and feel and I used those razors to shave for around 6 months while I learned more on razor repair and making. I have since repaired and restored more than 50 razors and have started making my own custom razors. Having made knives for a while I thought how difficult could it be right ? Well was I in for a wake up call making razors requires is a whole new level of concentration and precision that a I am slowly developing, it has really made me appreciate blade making on a different level. I am planning on specialising in razor making even though I have been making knives for so long the skills I am developing have improved my blade making skills more than I could have ever imagined. Hopefully this forum will help me on my exciting new journey.