Thread: My first two blade regrinds, a Spanish to Spike and Round to Spanish

I have two razors with broken toes. A Henckels Spanish point 7/8 that the buffer caught while I was putting a final shine on the scales and pins. It got ripped out of my hands and thrown into the garage floor breaking the swell off the bottom of the Spanish point. The other is a Dorko with a fancy spine in round point 7/8 that had a hairline crack in the toe of the blade. Both razors are/were new stock.

So I set up my knife cutting outfit and went at the Henckels to start with. I taped the blade where I was going to cut and marked the cut line using a carpenters square to make sure the cut line was square to the spine. Once marked I turned on the water (constant cold water trickle to provide lubrication and heat control) and gently started cutting the blade with a diamond cutting wheel. I have said it before and will say it again; these blades are made from some hard steel. It took me nearly an hour to cut the new blade tip and grind/sand/shape it.

you have to go slow and pay particular attention to heat management. The blade never got warm during the entire process. I cut the new spike tip with the diamond wheel, then a ceramic grinding stone to even out and square the tip. You also have to roll the edges and bevel the corners to keep everything smooth. After that it is sandpaper working up to 800 grit, then the buffing wheel. I am quite happy with the way it turned out. If you did not know it use to be a Spanish point, you would think it was factory.

Tomorrow it goes into a set of oil finished olive scales. It should be a heck of a looker.

Up next was a Dorko 7/8 round point that had a hairline crack in the toe. This particular razor has a nice engraved spine and is a darn good looker. The crack actually curved inward so I was going to have to cut it down by nearly a quarter inch. So I was sitting there, soak and wet from having finished the Henckels, thinking about what to do. Why not use that curve to my advantage. Instead of squaring the point, make a Spanish point and follow the contour of the crack.

So like the Henckels, I taped the cut point, used the square to mark the cut line and then drew in the curvature for the Spanish point. On goes the water, spin up the diamond wheel and start cutting. The Dorko has noticeably softer steel, it cut much quicker.

Once I had square cut the tip I put in the grinding stone. I slowly ground in the Spanish point. Once it was finished I rolled the spine and beveled the edges then final sanded the cut and took the blade to the polishing wheel. A couple hours of work and I have a truly custom Spanish point fancy engraved spine Dorko. I have not decided what to scale it in yet but I do have a set of Madagascar rosewood scales sitting on the table.

The sun had set so I had to use the flash on the camera so the photos are distorted. Tomorrow I will get these scaled and update the thread with some finished photos.

So how did I do?

Well, that seems like a dumb question but I'll answer it.

Ya done good!

Nice saves there.

Beautifully done.

Awesome work!

Not only did you do well, you're a lucky guy too (with the crack being near the toe, as opposed to being near the heel).

Very nice work!

Verrrrrrrry nice work!

Originally Posted by bjrn

Not only did you do well, you're a lucky guy too (with the crack being near the toe, as opposed to being near the heel).

Yes, I was lucky. That Henckels was scaled and ready to ship but I thought I would give the scales one last pass on some white rogue just to add some extra bling to the scales and pins. You can imagine how I hollered when it hit the ground.
I had to order a new blade and start over. The Dorko was a freebee because it was cracked.

It was actually not that difficult, just time consuming. You have to go slow or you will overheat the blade and game over. If you see sparks while cutting, back off. I was soaked by the time if was finished with both blades. That constant water drip and the flying water from the cutting wheel gets you wet.