Thread: Worked back Wapi

Next up in my continuing series on taking crummy razors out of my discard bin and screwing around with them to make them somewhat interesting with a minimum amount of effort is this Wapi.

This was one of the warped ones. From the second pic you can see there was a region where it would not even contact the hone. So, into the dungeon drawer it went....

After I felt it had paid its' debt to society (and after I ran out of money for new razors...) I let it out into the light and immediately gave it a thorough bevel re-set on 220 grit sandpaper.

I was not gentle.

While I was at it, I gave it a little smile too, cause I roll like that....I believe the razor lost about a 1/16 in width during this process...

Next up, the dremel cutoff wheel and grinder attachment thingamabobby. I put 7 little dimples along the back to give the plain jane Wapi a lil pizzaz...I pretty much eyeballed it. Some of them are not quite even....but what's the worst that can happen? The Wapi may lose its value?! HA!

OK, so while I had dremel in hand I also decided to make the razor a sleek, sophisticated shoulderless grind. OK, it's a barely noticeable difference, but I like the concave on the heel there.

Not much else to say about it. I freed the razor from those accursed communist bloc stainless steel boat anchor monstrosities. Threw on some black plastic scales I gave a sateen finish to. Feels nice and light and nimble now.

I'll hone it up and give it a shave.

O couple of "before" shots, and then the newly revised version...

Very well done and interesting to say the least. Great work and imagination.

Sterling stuff. Thank you for sharing!

Very creative!

do you get that famous wapi shave out of it now?

Kool Kustom.
Quite like the shiny bevels.

After your modifications to your Japanese style razor, I'm a little surprised you didn't throw a few notches onto the Waip too.

I really like the worked spine; I think they look great in general.

Way to take something the seemed like a piece and transform it. A warped Wapi? Really? I thought only five or six warped Wapis existed..............and that I own every one of them.

I am very surprised that when you ground on the heel like that (nice job and look BTW) the blade at the edge level didn't flake off and fall away like pieces of store bought fish food. I had one do that during a simple and delicate honing process!

Chris L

Originally Posted by Chris L

Way to take something the seemed like a piece and transform it. A warped Wapi? Really? I thought only five or six warped Wapis existed..............and that I own every one of them.

I am very surprised that when you ground on the heel like that (nice job and look BTW) the blade at the edge level didn't flake off and fall away like pieces of store bought fish food. I had one do that during a simple and delicate honing process!

Chris L

My luck with Wapis was 50/50. I bought two, one was fine, the other (this one) warped.

With all the talk of teh Wapis being 1/4 grinds etc. I never agreed with that assesment, as the very edge, as it comes is actually very flexible, like a full hollow. Attached is a pic I've shown before of the edge deflection when using light pressure against the edge of my desk.

In my 220 grit "regrind" it seems all of that thin, pliable, floppy steel is now ground to dust in the workshop floor. I just gave the razor the same test, and there is no discernable flex to the edge any longer. I imagine it was that thin section that fell off your razor when you were working on it.

Also a pic of the razor shining in the morning sun...

I agree the tip is thin, I was practicing with my flap wheels on the less expensive blades, on the w&b no problem, on the wapi I got a slight wave to the very edge. I'm sure it will be easy to take care of but I too thought the edge was too thin.

Red

damn, that's pretty good looking, i'm going to try that on old double arrow i have sitting around that i never did anything with.