Thread: 8/8 hammer finish Japanese style razor, western grind

This time I wanted to 'forge to finish' a Japanese style razor like I once saw Charlie make. Western grind of course. Forging to finish is a challenge because not only do you have to 'play dough' to precise measurements (you can't grind away excess material later), while you're doing it you can't excatly hold it in your hand to see how well it fits. Because of this, the handle turned out to be a bit thicker (and heavier) than I had expected. On the plus side, it fits my hands very well. Near the edge, there is a thumb stud which is hidden inside the resting black, and which makes it fit the hand very naturally.

The only grinding that was done on this razor are the blade faces obviously. The edge is very thin. As it is shown here, it is shaveready and still the bevels are near invisible. The nice thing about this is that honing was literlly a job of a couple of minutes from setting the bevel to being shave ready.

As an aside, hammer finish is something you have to apply at the end. Actualhammer finish after shaping is rather flat, on account of the hammer and the anvil being flat. The finish that is shown here was done by using a ball peen hammer for the final shaping and adjusting.

That looks to be a great shaver! Handle seems a bit heavy. Neat texture!

Well done. Like the fact that yu keep experimentig and learning and do not fall into a rut.
love the razor.

Want!

I can't wait for the ones you make when you'll have mastered this technique.

Cheers.

nice work Bruno, I like the tiny bevel you achieved, as it should be! I like in one of Charlie lewis' videos where he set the bevel before finishing the final grinding and used that to guage where he needed to remove further metal. evening up the grind it was such minimal wear on the spine and bevel that I cant figure doing it any other way after seeing him do that, just marvelous! for yours here did you do anything like that to achieve your tiny bevel or did you set the bevel right off the final grind? phenomenal job either way, the forge to finish is on my list of skills to acquire, it must be quite a test of patience getting it quite right. thanks for sharing!

Very nice. A friend of mine makes knives with that kind of finish, but it is "natural". He uses old car springs and simply leaves the years old finish on it.

Originally Posted by silverloaf

nice work Bruno, I like the tiny bevel you achieved, as it should be! I like in one of Charlie lewis' videos where he set the bevel before finishing the final grinding and used that to guage where he needed to remove further metal. evening up the grind it was such minimal wear on the spine and bevel that I cant figure doing it any other way after seeing him do that, just marvelous! for yours here did you do anything like that to achieve your tiny bevel or did you set the bevel right off the final grind? phenomenal job either way, the forge to finish is on my list of skills to acquire, it must be quite a test of patience getting it quite right. thanks for sharing!

It depends on how well I do.

I do a lot of grinding these days, and sometimes, like now, this is what I get right off the final grind. I've learned to recognize a lot of things while grinding. Still, like Charlie, I always set the bevel befor I start the polishing process because it makes no sense to start polishing, only to go back to the grinder if the bevels are too wide.

Initially, this process was a repetitive process which I had to do several times, and then had to grind away hone wear etc. Practice makes better. I know, they say practice makes perfect, but that's a dangerous statement. I always aim for 'better' and try to learn from (making / fixing) every mistake. aiming for perfect means you either don't finish things, or you get overconfident if you think you're there. 'Better' is better

I love this one Bruno. Beautiful work.
Grant

Very nice. Absolutely stunning. I love everything about that one.

It reminds me of the one you sent me Bruno. I haven't used it in a while, I know which razor I'll be shaving with tomorrow.

James