Thread: Custom Hand File Razor

This is the first attempt in fabricating a straight razor for myself, & from my good friend Tom a.k.a. Sharptonn. We have been calling it Billy Baroo (a homage to Ted Knight in Caddyshack). It was made out of an old bench file.I ground the blade on a Harig 612 & Bridgeport surface grinder. To get the hollow grind I set the blade up on magnetic chuck and with the cross slide dragged the wheel the distance of hollow. I then flipped the blade over on the spine and repeated on the other side. All the while flooding with coolant. My greatest mistake was thinking I could put a stabilizer on it. Big Mistake. Scales were made from ebony which I cracked by the way, and a lead wedge.
Sharptonn did the hard part, he made the lump shave. By honeing his heart out turned my useless hunk into quite a fabulous shaver. He smiled the blade, fixed my stabilizer debacle, repaired the cracked scale, polished, pinned & turned it into a beauty.
Tom is a true Mentor in every sense of the word. And a great friend. Many thanks goes out to him!
Hope You like,
Darl (a.k.a. Tarkus)

Wow!!! I did not expect that when I entered this thread, amazing job you've done there

PS! Nice touch with the etching

Very nice! That's a hell of a first try!

That is magnificent,one of the finest customs I have ever seen.
what is the blade size? lovin the bridgeport also,makes my 90 yr old brown and sharp look like a toy

Its a full 8/8" in the belly. Probably the heaviest blade I ever shaved with. The spine is 1/4" thick which I form ground a 1/8" radius on.

Indeed, Billy Baroo turned out nice! Tarkus and I talked often of design and function. I am guilty of encouraging classic design and fit. The only mistakes made were in the double stabilizer and (possibly) material. The ridge of the stabilizer gave me fits. Every time I thought it was gone, I would put it to the DMT and it would fall off the ridge and I would lose heel. This is why it smiles so! I finally got really aggressive and got it to go. Honing was different. I found that the file steel was super hard, yet brittle. It surely did not like the DMT as it was a literal saw after. A technique of slurrying my Norton 1000 and bringing the bevel in slowly yeilded fine results , Then 4000/8000 and finished on a Barber's hone(did not like a Naniwa 12000 either!). Breadboarded and started over 3 times. Got oversharpened and raspy easily, so the last go was quite mild. It shaves nicely, with a very different sound as it sings! A very heavy shaver, I am glad Tarkus went with the lead wedge! I think this will work with a leather only regimen, but time will tell. Another friend lazer etched the tangs in his spare time at work. A beautiful piece with wonderful scales and a tight fit. A great job of machine work here from a Professional Toolmaker! Me? I am a hammer and screwdriver guy!
Nice work and excellent outcome, My Friend! Super fun working with you, as usual! Congratulations on a job well done!
Tom

That is amazing.! Absolutely beautiful.

Tom You Rock. I never could of imagined it turned out so great. All thanks to you!!

Originally Posted by Tarkus

Its a full 8/8" in the belly. Probably the heaviest blade I ever shaved with. The spine is 1/4" thick which I form ground a 1/8" radius on.

Well, I must add, once you get used to the 8/8,you may never look back,love your razor man,nice job all around.

Gotta say I'm impressed. A really stellar job of work from both of you gentlemen.