Thread: Re-using Sheffield Steel?

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.