Thread: Introduction and Forging a Razor from a File

Angle is simple: you know the with of the blade and the thickness of the spine.
You'll want to 'scoop out' some metal before HT, because hollowing out a piece of full hardened steel will be a lot more time consuming.You have about the correct thickness at the edge left for heat treatment.

Also when hollowing out, especially after heat treatment, the diameter of the hollow should be a little bigger than the hollow of the wheel. You rock the blade from spine to edge on the wheel a bit, if you know what I mean. The reason is that that will greatly slow down the heat buildup. If you have a hollow with the same diameter as the wheel, the entire hollow will make contact and the heat buildup will be very fast. I admit I ruined a razor this way. I was regrinding an old wedge, kept the blade cool, but as soon as the hollows became the same, the blade almost instantly flashed blue near the edge.

Btw, if you are still interested in having me look at them after the post HT grinding stage, PM me for address details. I'm traveling the next couple of days so don't worry if I don't answer rightaway.