Thread: Straight razor blank plans (vector or CAD)

Originally Posted by JDM61

You say that like is a bad thing.

For PRC, i don't think it is. Their "thing" is a razor somewhere between a dovo/Boker and a custom. Their product appeals to me more than a Hart.

The guys at PRC have introduced a lot of new folks to the art of S.R. shaving. They sell a nice razor at a great price point. My hat is off to them.

Their pricing is certainly appealing. I'm not sure how long they will be able to hold the line though. Making nice stuff costs money.

Originally Posted by Thisisclog

For PRC, i don't think it is. Their "thing" is a razor somewhere between a dovo/Boker and a custom. Their product appeals to me more than a Hart.

I don't think it is a bad thing. It just depends on what they are gunning for.
My goal is to build a business around making custom razors by hand that are at the same time functional razors and art pieces, and my prices reflect that. I have no use for things like this because I like to do everything by hand, and since each piece I make is unique, there is little time to gain by making templates.

Their business seems to be about making affordable mass market razors. that means everything is repetitive, and they can spend time and effort on cutting seconds from the process. You can see that in their razors: a handful of selections for scale colors and material, all pre-cut and waiting to be used. All straight blades, no smiles. All the same tang shape and pivot hole location, quarter hollow grinds on big wheels by default, etc. Every feature chosen to cost as little time as possible.

Of course, they have to optimize for mass production, because their razors are fairly low in cost at retail price, and they have personnel to pay. I wish them luck and hope they succeed. More people shaving increases the pool of people who will want to upgrade to higher end razors. And that will be good for me too. And from what I have seen so far, their razors look better made than HART and Grim.

I just meant that optimizing repetetive tasks for reduced time only makes sense for mass production, not for one offs. They are not competition to me, because we have different target audiences.

All good points, Bruno. As for comparing them to other razors, they do appear to do their handle scales in the traditional manner using pretty nice materials and still maintain that lower price point. One hopes that they can continue to do that, but I think at some point, they will have to raise the prices a bit, but perhaps not to the level of some of their competitors in that range.
As for your razors, they are in a very different class. One does hope that people who initially buy the more reasonably priced razors will catch the bug and eventually decide upgrade their collection. I see these guys as purveyors of a type of RAD "gateway dug."

what size are you looking for? I have a few different ones I could vectorise to be cut.

Just to add my 2 cents worth....
You can find many vintage straight razor adverts for sale "online".
Print 'em out, use a sharpie to outline the general shape,
then enlarge or reduce 'till your happy



Alternatively, look for an overhead photo of a straight you really like
and do the same thing :


Speaking personally though, why not be original and make a blade that's "your own" ?

Good luck, and let us know how it works out.

Bongo.

I posted some write ups of my fixed blade razor build on my blog, with links to a DXF. Feel free to use/modify/whatever. Here is the cad file:

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B-J...HluX3d0bDYxMFE

Here are my writeups on building my first two razors:
Tooling Up: First homemade straight razors - out for heat treating
Tooling Up: First two razors finished and in Use

Waterjet would be pretty nice for cutting blanks, especially if the shape were more complicated than mine.

Sent you a message.