Thread: Alec Steele on Youtube

Well holy cow. I'd say he did pretty darn good. Not sure about the type of metal he used, but if it's suitable for razors, I'd bet that thing would hone up and be a great shaving razor.

Again, it'll be interesting to see how his scale making goes.

He used to make videos with a group. Young Blacksmiths or something like that. Making hammers and working on the anvil with 2 guys. All sorts of beginner stuff. He was always the lead and narrator. I thought then he would be doing it on his own someday.

I was a bit worried when he first said that he was happy with the grind, but relieved to see how he fixed it in the end. For someone who (as far as I know at least) has no experience with razors and razor-making, I think the thing has potential.

There was another young German guy in that group (Daniel Lea) who also had some good vids. Not the same production quality, but good info, particularly for making tools such as drifts, etc. Sadly he seems to have stopped producing videos. Ah well...

At 6mm by 20mm It's a bit obtuse for my taste, but he did a great job. Always fun to watch his stuff.

Pretty handy that he had a bunch of pieces of 'Damascus' lying around to choose from.

It's pretty cool that he was getting live feedback on the tempering and grinding through I.T. while he was making the razor. He has a good handle on combining modern technology with the age old crafts of forging and metal working. Good on him!

Originally Posted by HARRYWALLY

Not sure about the type of metal he used, but if it's suitable for razors, I'd bet that thing would hone up and be a great shaving razor.

I think that he makes all of his 'damascus' with 1080 and 15n20, so it should be fine for a razor.

Just watched part 3. He ended up with a pretty wide bevel especially considering his blade geometry. But I still congratulate him. Good on you Alec!

Just finished watching Part 3 myself. I noticed he neglected to use washers with the pinning and also performed the honing using more of a kamisori technique. Still impressive regardless.

Originally Posted by bluesman7

I think that he makes all of his 'damascus' with 1080 and 15n20, so it should be fine for a razor.

That should come out at about .7 % carbon which make heat treatment dead easy.

I like that he protected his edge during etching, but a better way would have been to use tape to mask the blade before applying the nail polish, and then remove the tape. That will give you dead straight lines that perfectly follow the edge geometry.