Third blade finished: Serpent

My third blade is finally finished. Due to various other issues this project was on the back burner for a long while, but now I am finally ready. This one was also made from a scrap of damascus from Mike Blue. Only the lower half of the blade has a pattern. This is also visible in one of the curves of the tang. I guess this is not ideal from an aesthetics point of view, but otoh... it does have a certain something.

The theme for this blade was 'serpent'. The idea popped in my head when I designed the tang, and I stuck with it. I wanted the tang to 'flow' like a snake and transition shoulderless into the blade. I have to admit that I am fairly happy with the blade shape. I also spent a lot more time grinding the blade with my improvised bench grinder. As a result, it is thinner near the edge, and the bevel is a lot narrower. This looks better, and more importantly, makes it a lot easier to hone.

I etched it in FeCl3 which gives a nicer finish than when using pure HCl. It is more grey instead of black. You'll also notice that I left tool marks visible on the blade. This was done intentional. My next project will need that 'rustic' look and I wanted to practice. But as someone told me: just because toolmarks should be visible doesn't mean that they don't have to look right :)

The scales are made from serpentwood which has some nice figuring. It is a hard wood to work. Originally I wanted snakewood, but couldn't get it in the required size. And serpent wood was locally available. It is coated with 3 ultra thin layers of CA. As a result, the coating is smooth and you can still feel the grain of the wood somewhat. I thought about waxing it instead, but the person who has first refusal on this blade lives in a place where humidity is an issue so I decided to go for CA, just to be safe. The spacers are made from purpleheart.

The only thing that was disappointing was that my mark was not etched properly. I just can't seem to get this to etch properly. I guess I'll have to figure out a different way to etch it, or perhaps do something else altogether.

http://onikudaki.be/gallery2/main.ph...2e2a72bc725a41

http://onikudaki.be/gallery2/main.ph...2e2a72bc725a41

Congratulations on a job well done.

Lu

I'll improve the description a bit. This billet is All pattern, although it looks to be only half. The plain looking top is laminated 1095, 13 layers, without any contrasty material between the layers. The bottom half of the billet is 1095 with 15N20 between. Sometimes off-cuts and tail-ends can be interesting stuff.

I think that turned out very nice Bruno, despite my obvious bias in the matter.

Very nice, Bruno. I bet it's a great shaver.

Shaving with a razor you designed and built must be about as good as it gets.

That is a very cool lookin razor; my first thought was "integrated notches." Thanks for sharing the photos and info.

Very nice looking razor I like the shape of the tang a lot. The transition between the blade and the tang is great. I like the way the steel looks the pattern is classy and subtle. The overall look is super.

Charlie

You're getting all fancy on us with your ideas. I like that Bruno. It's very nice looking. The final question will be, how does it shave?

Great looking blade! The shape is very unique I love the clear transition between blade and tang. And actually like that you can see only the lower half is a patterned Damascus with different steels. Really a classy razor though I think some giraffe bone scales or something might work a little better though I can see wanting to stay with something to honor it's namesake "serpent".

Very nice Bruno...this one is calling out to me.

Wow Bruno! You have an eye, it looks great.

James.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Maximilian

You're getting all fancy on us with your ideas. I like that Bruno. It's very nice looking. The final question will be, how does it shave?

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I'll know on wednesday. Because by then I will have had the time to hone it, and enough hair on my face for a decent test shave. Thanks to the lessons learned from making brightnail, I only needed half an hour to set the bevel to the point where it cuts arm hair.

As for fancy... I have to. I have little enough time for making razors that I don't have the time to do the same thing twice. I have more ideas than time to implement them. This is also why I don't work to order, and why the prospective owners have to wait a long time. come to think of it... I must be a high end custom bladesmith because my waiting list is almost a year ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by thehekler

Great looking blade! The shape is very unique I love the clear transition between blade and tang. And actually like that you can see only the lower half is a patterned Damascus with different steels. Really a classy razor though I think some giraffe bone scales or something might work a little better though I can see wanting to stay with something to honor it's namesake "serpent".

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Yeah after looking at it some more, I actually think that this makes the razor better instead of worse. It sort of indicates 'this is the business end'.

Currently I only use wood for scales because it is easy enough to work with manual tools. I'd like to use giraffe bone or mammoth ivory, but that will have to wait for awhile.

Nice lines Bruno. :tu
It reminds me of the classic Porsche 911.

Nice job Bruno! :tu

That looks really great! I have to agree, shaving with a razor that you made and honed yourself has got to be a real thrill!

I love the scales too, they work really well with the shape of the blade.

Whether it was intentional or not those scales really work well with that blade, very nicely done.

Just had a testshave. The steel was hard to hone, but the bevels were narrow so luckily it didn't take ages. The test shave was a mixed success. On some parts of my face, it shaved like through butter. Really smooth.
But on my chin it pulled a bit. I'd say it is now at the point where you'd say 'this needs touching up'. Nevertheless, the ATG pass went without a problem, and the end result was a smooth face and zero irritation.

After shaving with it and honing it, I have to say that of my 3 blades so far, this one is best. The balance is just right, the pivot pin is tightened just right, and my fingers locked perfectly in the flows of the tang.

This one took me a second look, then I started thinking about the transition that you did on the tang too blade and the balance factor you built into it.... I think this might work better and better as you get used to it... I think you have built in a balance point that would work, with giving better control to the user...

I love the pattern you used...

Yeah that is a razor I would like to try shaving :D

:tu Bruno