Thread: 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!

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

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!!!
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!

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.

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.