First Japanese Style Razor, Critiques Welcome.

So I've been inspired by all sorts of Japanese cutlery of late and wanted to share a few quick pics of the first of a few razors I have in the works.

The blade steel is 1095, it was water quenched with a clay treatment to give a hamon line. I forged it to the rough shape then ground the bevels, but apparently the hollow ground side wasn't quite hollow enough because I ended up with a pretty wide bevel when I honed it. I left it with a rough hammered finish, but I may prefer a more refined look on future razors, what do you guys think?

Russel

Very nice, Russel. I like it a lot. I'm just reading through the $50 Knife Shop book now........Oh yeah!:tu

Chris L

Very neat. Double beveled or single beveled?

Nice work Russel! I'm not a big Japanese fan but this one I really like :tu

Not that I can/could/should/would spend the $ right now but if this were for sale what neighborhood would it be in?

The razor is very utilitarian looking, I like the way it looks. As for the big bevel you can always grind some more off, but you can’t grind some more on. The clay treatment looks cool.

Very inspiring, it makes me want to get off of my rear and try making a razor.

Charlie

First off, thank you all for saying positive things! :)

The whole process was very different from my usual blades so many of the features didn't come out exactly as I wanted.

Chris, I have so much respect for Wayne and his talents, definitely a motivating book.

RobertFontaine, it does indeed have a double bevel. The "as quenched" rating for this steel is RC 66, and I did a minimal stress relieving temper so I would guess the final hardness at 62-64 (to mimic the traditional Japanese White Steel that is usually tempered to this range). It is so hard that I would still be honing on my DMT"S to get rid of the little inconsistencies that I paid too little attention on the rough grinding stage, so I put a layer of tape on the back and was off and running with a great edge.

clrobert60, I don't know yet, this one was more of an experiment than anything. I have a few more that are on paper/rough cut that will give me a better idea of what they're worth to me (time, materials, frustration etc). But if I do end up making some for sale they'll be relatively more affordable than the authentic versions (hopefully).



p.s. I just got done with the test shave on this razor AND IT WAS AWESOME!!!:y
I had to get used to the whole one sided thing but that was pretty easy and then it was just smooooth razing from then on out. I couldn't be happier with the edge this thing took.

Nice to hear it shaves well! I think it looks like a great razor, if i ever have the money ill be making my own too, hopefully they come out that nice.

That razor looks awesome! Congratulations! :tu

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Originally Posted by Russel Baldridge

I had to get used to the whole one sided thing but that was pretty easy and then it was just smooooth razing from then on out. I couldn't be happier with the edge this thing took.

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Does that mean you left one side without a hollow? I was expecing whoever would post the first japanese style razor here would go ahead and grind both sides. :)

In any case, it's looking really nice. Are you planning to put on some scale/handle material?

Not bad at all Russel.

I'm not sure if its about the way they are ground or its balance, but when you rest a Japanese razor on a flat surface, the edge stays centered. That is to say, it doesn't want to go toward the flat surface, nor does it want to be spine heavy having the edge up in the air.

I figure info, may be of some use to your further development of Japanese style straights.

Beautiful razor ! Very Wabi-Sabi.
I think I have a new variety of RAD now.
Where does the buyers cue start ?

Os

i would be very interested in this or one like this. i love the handle. very primitive, but functional. there are a few that would be interested if you were to sell it, or loan it out for a few test shaves!!!:w

good job.

vgod

THats very nice Russel .Its ashame that there are no UK knife makers Iv'e spoken to so far that wantto try their hand at making razors.Paul

A really good job. It must have been very satisfying for you. i think the blade looks fantastic in that sort of raw state.
To my mind razors should be either raw or mirror finish. I also like a good patina on an old blade. What I am not keen on is the halfway house blades that are trying to be mirror but didn't quite make it.

WOW!

Thank you all for the compliments, you really don't know how much it means to me.

...here's a sneak peek of the newest one...

Bjrn, yes it has the traditional asymmetrical grind. And I have temporarily wrapped the handle in a strip of leather, but I'm not sure if it is any better with it this way.

Russel,

One thing I've noticed is that the width of the bevel is less dependent on the size of the wheel than on how thin you take the edge before honing. A .003" edge will have a much narrower bevel than a .010" edge. My first razors had edges in the .010" to .020" range, and they had very wide bevels and were a nightmare to hone.

I grind to about .020", heat treat, then grind as thin as humanly possible right at the edge. That makes honing much easier. My last razor was sold unsharpened, and it took the owner less than 20 minutes to have it shave-ready.

Keep up the good work!

Josh

Yes, I corrected that on the second razor, kind of tricky and something you wouldn't normally think about.

Thanks though, great to be able to compare numbers. I have been heat treating at ~.05 because I've been doing water quenches and would rather grind a little more than warp or crack the blade. But I've never really tried to see how thin it could go and still work. ...great now I have to try it, thanks Josh... sheesh. :D

Very nice! I was hoping someone would begin experimenting with this style, and this is a fine specimen indeed. I really like that it's basically a chunk of steel :) Glad to hear it shaves well too!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Russel Baldridge

Yes, I corrected that on the second razor, kind of tricky and something you wouldn't normally think about.

Thanks though, great to be able to compare numbers. I have been heat treating at ~.05 because I've been doing water quenches and would rather grind a little more than warp or crack the blade. But I've never really tried to see how thin it could go and still work. ...great now I have to try it, thanks Josh... sheesh. :D

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Russel,

Yeah, I realized after I posted that that you were water quenching. I'm not brave enough for that yet. :) You probably will have to leave the blade thicker than I am right now.

It's worth experimenting with, though. Even if you ruin several blades in the process, in the long haul you'll recover that time by minimizing how much hardened steel you have to grind through.

I have some W1 that is going to get a water quench one of these days. It hardened just fine in quenching oil, but I think the hamon will be nice once I get my satinite to do a clay treatment....

Josh

Where did you get the W-1 and the Satanite?

I've just been using some generic refractory mortar from a brick/rock supplier in town as the clay for the clay treatments. Seems to work just fine. I just stir up the contents of the bucket, apply it to the blade and fire it up, no need to dry first (does Satanite need to dry? maybe I'm mistaken).

Yeah, I've used oil quenches, bacon grease/oil/paraffin quenches and now water quenches and I just like water the best so far. Gives the best hamons at least. You should try it if you have a bit of free time to mess around (I use the hottest water that'll come out of the tap, supposed to decrease chances of cracking a little).