Thread: stock thickness

I have a couple of German razors that are in the 6/8 range. the bigger one is more like 9/16. They have a spine thickness of around .175-.180 for the smaller one and .200 at the thickest part on the larger one. In the experience of the makers on here, are those good stock sizes for making modern custom 6/8 blades? I ask because I talked with the US sales guy from Voestalpine Precision Strip, formerly Bohler-Uddeholm Strip, yesterday and he told me that they will be shipping AEB-L in .175 and .198-.200 to one of the knife making suppliers in January. Could be fun.

I buy nothing but .250 x 1 stock for my razors. If I want a larger razor I will just draw out the blade a little. I use a gas forge, so all I mess with is 1095 & O-1. I did order some 15n20 with my last shipment about 6 months ago for when I feel industrious and want to try a laminated steel. Still sitting is the "stock corner".

Unfortunately, .200 or, actually, .1965 is about as thick as they can go on the AEB-L. Forge welding that stuff, even to itself, apparently has a bit of a learning curve. If you are interested, the guy also said that they are talking about 15N20 stock in sizes up to 6mm (.243) maybe this coming summer. Voestalpine's strip steel division is not set up for super thick stock for obvious reasons, but their new mill in Austria can run this moderately thick stuff. it handles the bigger stock while the Swedish mill primarily produces the razor and thin bandsaw stock up to mourned .065.

Originally Posted by shooter74743

I buy nothing but .250 x 1 stock for my razors. If I want a larger razor I will just draw out the blade a little. I use a gas forge, so all I mess with is 1095 & O-1. I did order some 15n20 with my last shipment about 6 months ago for when I feel industrious and want to try a laminated steel. Still sitting is the "stock corner".

Can you weld it? A couple pieces of .200 would end up ok after a little hammer time

Yes, but the problem is that the few guys who are really good at forge welding stainless like that tend to be a rather tight lipped about their process. The only tutorial that I have seen is by a guy from Argentina and he was using lower carbon stuff to make damascus jewelry IIRC. You don't have the huge amount of info out here like you do for forge welding carbon steel. There is some info about how to make san mai with a carbon core and low carbon stainless cladding like 410 or 416, but it isn't an easy process from what I have read.

Originally Posted by shooter74743

Can you weld it? A couple pieces of .200 would end up ok after a little hammer time

An hour of trying is worth more in terms of learning experience than multiple hours of talking about it.
It's steel, after all. Heat it and beat it.

Originally Posted by JDM61

I have a couple of German razors that are in the 6/8 range. the bigger one is more like 9/16. They have a spine thickness of around .175-.180 for the smaller one and .200 at the thickest part on the larger one. In the experience of the makers on here, are those good stock sizes for making modern custom 6/8 blades?

What would make you think that the bevel angles would be different for 'modern' razors?

I have seen some folks using full 1/4 stock for some 6/8 and 5/16 for 7/8 custom blades, so I am not sure what the current trends are. The wider old German blade that I have is actually tapered from about .200 at the toe to like .180 above the heel, so it is a bit confusing.

Originally Posted by bluesman7

What would make you think that the bevel angles would be different for 'modern' razors?

Originally Posted by JDM61

I have seen some folks using full 1/4 stock for some 6/8 and 5/16 for 7/8 custom blades, so I am not sure what the current trends are.Unless the grind goes all the way to the top of the spine, those examples would be approaching wood chisel angles. I've seen people shave with wood chisels and plane irons, even axes, but these are not proper angles for razors IMO The wider old German blade that I have is actually tapered from about .200 at the toe to like .180 above the heel, so it is a bit confusing.

What is the distance from the edge to the top of the spine wear at those two places on the German razor?

Right around .69-.7. Max width of the blade is around .8. It has a round spine. The smaller Wilhelm Mandt razor which is .175 thick is like .69 total width with the shorter rounded spine and like .625 from the hone wear. It has less wear so it may be a better benchmark.

Originally Posted by bluesman7

What is the distance from the edge to the top of the spine wear at those two places on the German razor?