Thread: 1st go at a razor - work in progress

Last summer I picked up a bar of 1/4 x 3/4" O1 steel, and started to play around with turning it into a razor. After a few hours, I decided to set it aside and work on polishing my forging skills on other projects before coming back to it. In the last couple of days I finally got back to work on it, and am part-way through what I hope might become a functional razor.

The goal is a 1/4-hollow(ish) ground, 8/8, French/Irish point razor in a mid-19th century Sheffield stylee. A bit of a mashup of my two favourite razors: a W&B FBU with a round point and barber's notch (aiming for that size and grind) and a Wheatley Brothers "Round Point" (for the style of the point as it is slightly confusingly what we would now call a French or Irish point).

There remains much to do on this blade, including final shaping of the tang and tail, cleaning up the transition from the tang to the heel, a hell of a lot of grinder mark removal, and crucially heat treatment. The edge is actually about 1/4" longer than I want but I will wait until I do a mockup of scales and get an idea how it handles before deciding whether to shorten it from the toe, or reduce it at the heel end.

I think the biggest challenge I've had with it has been trying to work with a bog standard benchtop 4x36" belt sander rather than a proper grinder, but I think it will work out OK. I can sure appreciate why bladesmiths invest in proper grinders though.

Anyway, here are a few pics. Feedback and suggestions are more than welcome. Wish me luck...