Thread: First Straight Razor Build (A learning Process)

Well I fired up the forge and was able to harden the blade. My wife wasn't too happy with me using the forge considering all the wild fires in Washington State right now, but I'm happy to say that none of them were from my forge. The blower worked great and it was easy to control the flame with it. There were no flareups when I quenched the blade in the oil either. I polished off the scale and reshaped the tail a bit. Also, I ground the blade a bit thinner now that most of the risk of it warping is behind me. My wife is baking cupcakes for a wedding reception so I'm going to have to wait to temper it in the oven.

Wrap it tightly in aluminium foil before putting it in the oven. that will prevent smoke and smell from the oil.
Best not to annoy the wife when using 'her' oven

Originally Posted by Bruno

Wrap it tightly in aluminium foil before putting it in the oven. that will prevent smoke and smell from the oil.
Best not to annoy the wife when using 'her' oven

I wish that i had read this a few minutes earlier.

Amen to that.

Originally Posted by Bruno

Wrap it tightly in aluminium foil before putting it in the oven. that will prevent smoke and smell from the oil.
Best not to annoy the wife when using 'her' oven

Wow, holy cow... This last week has been overwhelming. Besides the worst fires in Washington State's history and everything going nuts at work, we had a horrible storm. 70 mile an hour winds and funnel clouds at my house as well as thunder, lighting and BUCKETS of hail and rain. We were without power for a few days. We lost over 30 trees on our place in 15 minutes. So needless to say, I didn't get much razor making done. Today was much quieter though and I was able to spend some time in the shop.

First off my oldest boy is turning 15 and the fuzzy lad needs to learn how to shave, so I turned these out as his gift.



The str8 razor is done and ready for scales. The blade is fully ground to what I would call one quarter hollow. The tang has been re-shaped a bit so that it will sit down inside the scales and looks better IMO.



I hope to get it completed this week. We will see though. There is still a lot of clean up that needs to be done around the place. Yesterday we had a clean up party with 15 people, 8 chain saws and two tractors.

What wood is that? it looks really good.

and i like the shape of the razor. it is really coming along.

Thanks. I believe that the wood is Bocote also known as Cordia. I purchased some a few years ago for knife handles and found that it turns really well on a lathe.

Originally Posted by DVW

Thanks. I believe that the wood is Bocote also known as Cordia. I purchased some a few years ago for knife handles and found that it turns really well on a lathe.

Sure looks like bocote to me. It never seems to disappoint, giving beautiful grain every time. And those are some great looking handles.

Your straight looks good. I have a question as it could be a optical illusion, is the edge of the straight razor "straight"?

Originally Posted by shooter74743

Your straight looks good. I have a question as it could be a optical illusion, is the edge of the straight razor "straight"?

Thanks, it has a bit if a smile to it that matches the spine of the blade.