Hello,
I have been wanting to make straight razors for some time now, and I am in the process of designing a few models. However I have a few questions for those of you who have some experience, if you are willing to share.

I will be buying a 8" contact wheel to begin with and a 4" wheel later on, so I am planning on making 6/8, 7/8, 8/8 inch wide razors at first. I have been reading as much as possible about what goes into making a straight razor, and I have also watched videos on youtube.

I came across some information regarding the ratio between the width of a blade and the thickness of the spine, and it was 3,5:1 or 4:1 depending on the source. I'm thinking that such a ratio is not a fixed rule but more of a guideline since there can be variations in spine thickness between different models of straight razors with the same blade width, and hone wear will also have an impact over time.

I live in Sweden and the steel that I have easy access to, (that has the most varied stock thickness), is RWL-34.
So if I understand it correctly, in order to determine how thick my blade stock should be, I simply divide my intended blade width, 6/8" or 19.05 mm with 3,5 or 4, which should give me the optimum thickness... A 3,5:1 ratio gives me 5,44mm, (.214 inches) and a 4:1 ratio gives me 4,76mm, (.187 inches).

The stock thickness closest is 5,2 mm, (.204 inches) would this give me a correct edge angle?

Should I try to stick to one of these ratios when I am designing a razor, or could I just ignore it and go with whatever stock thickness I have access to, or might this compromise the razors ability to take a keen edge?

Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.
Kind regards
Max