Thread: Be kind ... first attempt at a blade reprofiling

I got a small lot of 4 razors to play with off eBay. For some reason the seller showed the three here, and then another photo of just the 4th. The middle one in this photo and the other one not shown looked like they may be a total loss (once I had them 'in hand' I learned I was correct) ... The bottom was missing scales and actually looked like it could be a shaver again ... and the top looked like it could be a candidate for a shorty - blade re-profiling.


So here is my first attempt at a blade re-profiling into a french tip shorty.



I took it out of the scales (and broke them be accident doing it - gotta be more careful - I may have been able to re-use). The blade was certainly sharp enough to slice me up, despite not being anywhere close enough to shave with. So I covered the blade on both sides with 1.5" masking tape. that gave me something to draw on. I drew on a profile of what I wanted the blade to look like.
Holding the blade by hand, I used a cut-off wheel on a dremel and cut - cooled - cut - cooled - cut - cooled .... never letting the blade get too hot to hold in an attempt not to ruin the hardening and tempering. Once I had the blade cut to a bevel - I used the belt sander (again a really light touch and frequent cooling) to round off the tip.

I'd like it to be 'shave-able' again at time point ... but the reason for the purchase was to experiment and play around. I'm not even sure that I didn't ruin the temper .. but I'll try to make some scales for it next and see how those turn out.

Holy cow my man... You took QUITE a bit off of that!
I try and save as MUCH of the original blade as I can when shortening them.
Nothing wrong with what you did though.
Sounds like you at least kept it cool.
Plus if it is usable again...I call it a success!

When reshaping I wrap the blade in a wet paper towel to keep from overheating. I use a dremel and cut off the bad part. In this case I would have made it a square point as it would only be one cut. If you don't like square points then you can round it off easily at this point.

To answer your question. Not bad for a first try.

Originally Posted by Chevhead

Holy cow my man... You took QUITE a bit off of that!
I try and save as MUCH of the original blade as I can when shortening them.
Nothing wrong with what you did though.
Sounds like you at least kept it cool.
Plus if it is usable again...I call it a success!

I sort of did that on purpose. My intention was to make a razor with a 50mm to 60mm blade length. ... but thanks ... I don't know if it's a success or not at this point. I need some stones - I'm really just getting into all this. So my intention is to learn about blade construction, geometry, honing and stoning ( and stropping too) on 'junk' ebay and yardsale blades ... and not ruin or hurt a 'good' blade with bad technique. I don't know if that is the 'right' way or not ... but one of the things that has caused my to shy away from straights in the past has been blade maintenance. It's easy to drop in a new SE or DE blade and toss it when it's dull ... but there's a lot more to keep a straight in shaving condition.

It's not THAT difficult to keep a SR in good Shaving shape.

Why would you make the spine radically shorter than the edge? The spine is your guide for both honing and stropping. That angled-back point just makes no sense to me.

Originally Posted by sqzbxr

Why would you make the spine radically shorter than the edge? The spine is your guide for both honing and stropping. That angled-back point just makes no sense to me.

I'm still learning ... and I can always re-shape it. My intention was a 'French point' and the ones I've seen have had a spine slightly shorter than the cutting edge ... and perhaps I got carried away ... but like I said ... still learning

I kind of think I would have left it a little longer, however you had a plan and a reason. Your slope back to make the French point seems a little dramatic. It was a blade that was otherwise already dead, so anything you can learn, even if it is what not to do, marks some success. I think we all have or have wanted to do this sort of thing just to save a blade. So far it looks like you have found success. You may be able to use the old scales even though they broke, they do after all need to be shorter now anyway.

i would make the middle one into a Kamisori. maybe wrap the tang handle with some raw hide or string.

Originally Posted by tintin

i would make the middle one into a Kamasori. maybe wrap the tang handle with some raw hide or string.

Ohhhhh - good idea. I hadn't thought of that . It is a Crane too ... good steel. I'll have to take a second look at it.