Thread: Make a wedge

I'm a bespoke bushcraft and carving knife maker, and for a while I shaved with a dovo shavette. To say my beard is coarse and thick would be an under statement. So i'm thinking about making a true wedge razor. The threads I read about honing wedge razors talk about restoring old razors as wedges aren't really made now. My knives are all scandi ground, flat bevels so i use a flat grinder not a wheel, no hollow grinds. I get all my knives to where they shave arm hair without much trouble, so i'm thinking this would be the same for a true wedge razor. Am i right about this or is there something i'm missing. Is making my own wedge from scratch and getting it shave ready something achievable by a bearded man who plays with knives, or is this just a pipe dream?
Thanks
EatSticks

I do not believe there are true wedge razors in existence, may be wrong thought.
The only tool that I know is completely flat on both sides is a microtome. Those require some adjustments to hone to a shaving edge.

I think it is possible.
I make some of my own wood chisels, carving knives, and plane irons and I plan to make a straight this winter.
I've shaved with one of my carving knives and it did a good job, but the hair ate the blade which wasn't heat treated.

I'd say try it and see. Worst case scenario, you could turn the botched job into a small froe inlay carving/separations.

I've not got a lot of experience and my honing skills are poor, but I believe the first stage in honing a razor is setting a bevel and at that point it should shave arm hair. There are usually three to five more steps of edge refinement and polishing on wet stones to get an edge worth shaving with.

A true wedge with zero hollow would mean honing the entire face of the razor if you did not use something to increase the angle at which the blade contacted the stone like layers of tape.

I'm not sure why you would make it a true wedge. A near wedge like the old sheffields should be good, unless I'm not following you correctly. !/4 hollows are pretty common amongst custom makers. I would think that might be a little closer to where you actually want to go.

After honing an old 8/8ths semi wedge that had bevel and spine wear to .25 inch /8mm wide, I learned there is a reason for a slight hollow grind. The advantage, as I see it, of a stiff blade is its weight and that makes it easier to control for persons with some tremor. And...I do not deny that they do cut the bristle with nary a whimper from the blade.

I shave with many blades and they from 0.009 thin on Japanese framebacks to the meaty Sheffield's by W&B, Greaves, Wostenholm, and other lesser known makers. Each of them has a special place, in my opinion. Find a Mentor near to you and perhaps try a couple different blade types to find something you will like to use for a longer time.
Bye the way one guy I know uses a 9/8ths and he is 5'6" and 95 pounds with the darndest beard in the nation and it suits hem fine. another is 6'6" and 295# and he likes 5/8ths though his beard is Eastern European and heavy.
Macho has nothing to do with a good shave.
Beard, skin, pre-shave prep, quality of edge or some of the factors to work with.
All that said, Try it and see what you think. This is about learning and doing a happier, simpler job in the future.
Have fun!
~Richard

I'm a knife maker as well playing with my first straights. As mentioned, a true wedge would not be practical as a razor. I had to re-learn a lot of what I knew about making blades.

Shaving arm hair is what we call 1k level bevel set. Taking a true wedge from there to 12k or better is going to be a task that will try your patience if you don't just give up or wind up with the worse case of tunnel carpel in history. 40 strokes on each stone in a 4 stone progression to get to shave ready is about the shortest trip on a bevel that is less than 1/16 wide. Picture your wedge as the whole bevel and refine that? The angle of the bevel is also very important with 17 or 18 degrees being somewhat in the middle. You could try it and maybe 1 other person has :<0) He would tell you about himself but due to his crippled hands he can't type no more.

Not much I can add to the wisdom imparted so far but to say try a 1/4 hollow if you want a more substantial razor that won't take crap from your beard.

Btw, in terms of shaving, a wedge does not have a better edge than a half hollow. They can both be equally sharp and shave well. The difference is weight and the fact that you'll get less feedback. It won't remove hairs any better. And shaving armhair is very difference from shaving facial hair. While your knives will be sharp, they're not in the same league as your shavette blade. One of the reasons for a hollowing in the blade is to make sure that the edge and spine always touch the stone at the -exact- same angle. With a flat wedge this is not possible because the entire side will be the bevel and it will take a gianormous amount of time to remove all that metal.