Thread: Re-using Sheffield Steel?

heck yes the forged in fire folks aught to do something besides weapons! razors, kitchen knives, wood axes, decorative projects, structural blacksmith projects, ect......

seems like when I tell folks that I make knives for a living, lots of them get all nervous, like I'm some sort of blood thirsty barbarian. then I tell them that I make mostly kitchen and utility knives, and they are all of a sudden, oh, well I have some of those at home.......

Originally Posted by Cangooner

I wish they would branch out into other aspects of smithing beyond bladesmithing. But I imagine that's where the ratings are.

They could have that Doug guy (who is very likeable actually) shave the ballistics dummy instead of chopping it up. Or he could shave the judge who looks like Colonel Sanders.

I think it would be very exciting.

No disrespect to the FIF people, but I am fairly certain that if they did razors, I'd be yelling at the tv for all the stupid errors they would make.

Originally Posted by Bruno

No disrespect to the FIF people, but I am fairly certain that if they did razors, I'd be yelling at the tv for all the stupid errors they would make.

OK folks, we need to star the campaign here: get Bruno and a few other razor makers on FIF for a straight razor special.

Originally Posted by Bruno

Keep in mind that there is no single Sheffield steel. They had a lot of variations so any mix will have an unknown carbon and alloying content.

Easiest way to make a new old Sheffield razor is simply to start out with an old Sheffield file.

Got a W&B Kamisori blank here. Ready to be ground.
Let's start the bidding at $800??

Regarding F.I.F.: I like watching the smithing, but the competition aspect is mostly just bogus. It boils down to whomever makes the fewest mistakes, under very acute time constraints.

Speaking of time constraints... straight razors being a precision instrument, they would not be very feasible as an episode of F.I.F. due to the international "pressure cooker" setup. Especially if they did some sort of razor for the first act (weeding out portion) of the episode.

Back on topic. In my layman's opinion, I think the crucible method is the best way to go for this project.

So I decided to jump down the rabbit hole today...

I started with twelve razors that were, for one reason or another, beyond repair/salvage.



I have a list out in the shop of what all is in there, but there's a W&B FBU ( honed beyond recognition, poor thing ), a DD, couple Joseph Allens, a Boker, and a bunch of random others. So I strayed from the original post in that they're not all Sheffield blades, but they are all vintage 19th/early 20th century blades. I rejected one of the blades as I didn't like the way it sparked when I was grinding it, so ended up with 11.



To avoid cold shuts where the pin holes were, I cut the tails off.



And ended up with this stack from which I'll form the billet



They forge welded *really* nicely and so I ended up with an 11-layer billet of vintage razor steel.



That has since been cut in half, folded, and welded into a 22-layer billet. I'm not sure how many times I'll fold it as I have no idea if there is a pattern in there that would make many layers worth the effort. I'll do a test etch tomorrow and see how it looks.

So that's the easy part done...

My one attempt at razor making ended when I overheated the blade when grinding, resulting in a crack. So I'm by no means getting cocky that this will actually turn into a viable razor. We'll see. If nothing else, I have some good steel for knife making.

Originally Posted by Cangooner

So I decided to jump down the rabbit hole today...

I started with twelve razors that were, for one reason or another, beyond repair/salvage.

My one attempt at razor making ended when I overheated the blade when grinding, resulting in a crack. So I'm by no means getting cocky that this will actually turn into a viable razor. We'll see. If nothing else, I have some good steel for knife making.

What a fun looking project. If this was mine and I didn't feel 100% on my grinding ability I would send the tempered blade to someone that I knew had a lot of practice. Even that doesn't guarantee results would be much better for this but would strengthen the odds of finding out if this works.

Super cool project brother!

Originally Posted by Cangooner

So I decided to jump down the rabbit hole today...

I started with twelve razors that were, for one reason or another, beyond repair/salvage.

Wow, you are my hero. Very cool!