Thread: Custom Mahogany Razor

Hello everyone! Here is a razor I built within a 10 week period. Within those ten weeks I learned as much as I could of the craft as well as started to build it. Not enough time at all to learn all of the skill needed but enough to get me by for the senior project that this was for.

The blade was cut from 1084 bar stock using a band saw to get the over all shape of the blade. I then reduced the overall thickness of the stock using an end mill to a thickness which if I remember was roughly .16 inch. Because I did not have access to any kind of grinding wheel in my schools shop I had to use files and sand paper to do a straight wedge grind.

The scales are made of mahogany and backed with galvanized steel for two reasons. 1) The mahogany flexed quite a bit because of the small thickness. and 2) It creates a barrier so no moisture from the blade can deteriorate the wood.

It is pinned with nickel/silver rod and washers.

Unfortunately I did not get it heat treated because of time which I had little of and resources.

The angle is roughly 12 degrees because that was recommended by many on the forums.

Any questions, comments, or feed back would be greatly appreciated.

Keep in mind this is my very FIRST blade and I have little experience in the craft yet and much to learn.

Thanks,

Ryan

Nice way to learn!!! The Brush compliments it well. I know it will still need Heat treatment, but watch out for that shoulder when honing. Tell us how it strops up!

Very cool! Congrats!! And neat work!

Outstanding work!

Beautiful work, Ryan. I find the lines of the scales make for a very clean and different look.

Looks nice! scales are way cool!

This probably would go a bit against the grain, but we should remember we're a shaving forum for straight razors, not objects resembling razors.

Originally Posted by DentonSupply

Because I did not have access to any kind of grinding wheel in my schools shop I had to use files and sand paper to do a straight wedge grind.

If you ever manage to properly heat treat the steel you will find out that you won't be able to properly hone this thing. You can use a shim to get around this, but as it is with the current 'design' I will bet good money that you won't be able to get a good shave out of it.

Originally Posted by DentonSupply

The scales are made of mahogany and backed with galvanized steel for two reasons. 1) The mahogany flexed quite a bit because of the small thickness. and 2) It creates a barrier so no moisture from the blade can deteriorate the wood.

Both of these reasons show that you have no idea what you are doing. If I were your professor/committee I would not have accepted such project and given you an F, for not doing proper research.
The scales are supposed to flex, and there should be no moisture whatsoever trapped on the blade/inside the scales.

Originally Posted by DentonSupply

Unfortunately I did not get it heat treated because of time which I had little of and resources.

Which means this is not a razor, not even close. Just a decorative object resembling one.

Originally Posted by DentonSupply

The angle is roughly 12 degrees because that was recommended by many on the forums.

You're not the first person to make such a mistake, but you made it after you supposedly researched the matter, another reason for my F grade. This angle is way too acute and you are gambling with the steel being able to take a shave-worthy edge (if you heat treat it properly).

As far as the shape, it is very unergonomic. If you had looked and studied the factory production razors you would notice that they don't have such an odd mass distribution. However, even without that, I assume that you have taken a basic college level physics/mechanics/engineering class, so you have no excuse for such bad ergonomics. (Yes, I am aware that I haven't seen the razor in person, but I learned the Newton's laws in high school, and can tell it's bad just from the picture

Originally Posted by DentonSupply

Keep in mind this is my very FIRST blade and I have little experience in the craft yet and much to learn.

As I said, in my view your project was a complete failure. You didn't do adequate research and made fundamental mistakes which were completely avoidable, had you done your job right.

I appreciate the constructive criticism! I understand there are a multitude of things wrong with the razor. It is not perfect by any means and I never said that it was.

I had roughly 3 weeks to research which in my opinion is the most crucial part as I am sure you would agree. 3 weeks is not nearly enough time to learn a craft that is perfected over years even decades. And you can only learn so much from reading forums and books, getting in there and building these things is where 90% of the learning takes place. When I started to delve into my research I was shocked and had to take a step back because of how much I realized goes into such a simple object.

If I had more time, keep in mind I only had 10 weeks to turn in a complete project from start to finish, I would have spent at least 2 months researching and interviewing experts. But the build had to start so that I could complete the final model on time.

I understand that the grind of the blade is nearly unable to be honed. It is possible, a friend of mine has a system that will do it but I am sure that it will be nowhere near the quality shave of a hollow grind. I spend close to 24 hours filing that blade to shape and quite honestly even though it may not be perfect I am damn proud of myself for shaping the entire thing by hand. And by hand I mean nothing but files and sand paper. The amount of sweat I put into it is alone an accomplishment in my eyes.

The grind and the hardening is an easy fix if I can get my hands on the proper tools but I did the best with what I had. Christopher Columbus didnt have gps, but he had the stars. He just did the best with the tools he had available.


And the biggest concern that you have is the ergonomics. Yes I stated above that the balance is a bit off. I have read that when opened to 110 degrees it should be fairly balanced. This could all change with the more ideal materials I will use in future designs such as stainless steel or a more dense wood such as ebony. But the actual feel of the blade is quite nice. Its not really something you can sense without actually picking it up and trying it. I agree because of the hard angles it does look uncomfortable but it isnt. When you put it in your hand you find yourself rolling your fingers over the edges (which are actually chamfered and not hard 90 degree).

I agree with you that this is nothing like a "factory production razor" that is why I posted it in the custom built section. Custom in my opinion generally means specific to a person or different form current trends. And the one thing that I did find in my research is that a lot of razors follow the same cookie cutter design. Why? These are beautiful object, passed down through the generations. Why would you want the same razor as the one your neighbor has? That is why I made such a unique design. If you are upset that I did not go the complete traditional route then I am sorry. But if people never broke tradition we would still think the world was flat and witches caused our crops to fail.


As for the flex of the scales Id like to ask why they must flex? Im curious because I may use this information in my future designs. Also what do you recommend as a good angle? I had gotten a multitude of answers and I just picked the average.

I appreciate all of your feed back as I think you are the first person to give me some usable info haha. If you want to give me a grade of F that is fine, but you are not my professor and I received an A on this project. The one thing I would ask you is to recognize that I have a passion for this craft and I am willing to learn. I could have taken the easy route and just given up or chose not to do this all together but I didnt. So while your criticism matters to me and trust me I can take negative criticism, I would ask that be a little less harsh on new comers because the attitude, at least what I perceived from your response was pretty negative.

I would expect an admin in this community, like yourself, to be a little more welcoming not ready to pounce on the new guy as soon as you get a chance.

He pointed out the truths because nobody else was,,,

Your Craftsmanship is excellent...

But you didn't build a Straight Razor, Form must follow Function,, Many custom guys make the same mistakes..

If you simply had taken one day with an actual Vintage Straight Razor, looked it over, and possibly even had it honed to shave with, all your questions would have been obvious...

BTW 12 degrees is NOT the average but don't feel like the Lone Ranger Hart Razors produced their first razors at a very low 12-13 degrees and recieved very harsh comments from this forum too...

Take the advice and learn from it

Well, you may have gotten an A, but if you apply for a job with me you wouldn't be invited for an interview. The point of going to school is to learn not to make basic mistakes like yours because in real life they are very expensive. So, given your grade and the lesson it taught you, I would say you are currently overpaying for your schooling.

As far as me being negative, this is not because I am not welcoming to new guys. It is because you are not a 'new guy' and I have watched you dismiss the learning opportunities you had right here on SRP. Only you know if you come here with a genuine interest to learn, or with a genuine interest in marketing, but either way you put your work for critique, so I am offerring something that can actually help you (and not only you, otherwise I could've written a PM).

I understand that you have put a lot of low-skill work into filing a piece of steel, but the reality is that this is not what you go to college for. At a college level you are supposed to demonstrate college level competence and skills. Again, may be this is hard to hear, but if it is, you are in for much harder lessons once you're out of college.

The problem with your ergonomics is that the razor is not going to be well balanced. Even if you make the scales lighter, in the normal shaving configuration you will have way too much torque on your fingers, which is bad ergonomics (and yes, this is very easy to estimate from a picture with a simple back on the envelope calculations if I must use my high-school knowledge). And that's a direct result from your thick grind and skinny shank, i.e. the 'design' that you see as a 'positive deviation from the beaten path'. It is not, not the least because you don't even know or understand the 'beaten path'.

So, if you have a passion for this craft, get a real razor that shaves, preferably half a dozen or so from early 1800s to early to mid 1900s, with at least one of them in shaving shape and try to get the others restored to shave properly. And if you shave with a straight razor for a month or two you will probably be in a position to recognize and admit that your 'design' is flawed due to poor ergonomics.

I'm sure you can figure out the scale flex part yourself, spoon-feeding you the answer is much less useful and satisfying than if you take the pointer and use it to learn something by thinking yourself. I already gave you a hint, as well.