Thread: Failed at hollow grinding

Hi, first post here for a long time lurker. I recently attempted my first razor and thought things were going well until I ended up with tin-foil tip. Not sure of the proper name but an entire quarter inch of my razor is flexible. Let me know if your thoughts. I really appreciate them.
Thanks

So much involved there, I think. Trying to do too much at a time is not good, I would expect.
I have never ground, much less made a razor, but have had a few good ones in-hand and inspected them closely.

Sizes, grits of wheels and proper use seems to be key along the way as well as not overheating the steel. Go up to the search-box at top-right and type in various topics as they come to mind.
Lots have experience and have posted it.

I think the one person that is produces a thin hollow grind my hand is bluesman7. I am not a maker either. If you go search some of his posts you will see what I am talking about.

Admire anyone that even attempts to make a razor. Hollow ground are my favourite, but may be a bit ambitious to begin with.
There are some very accomplished custom razor artisans here, and plenty of info. No doubt some of them will chime in, best of luck.

If it helps, i was using a 120 grit belt post ht on a 4in wheel on a 6/8 blade. To clarify, I wasn't going for a full hollow grind. Thanks for the replies. Any other advice is much appreciated.

I admire you for even attempting to produce a hollow ground razor. That is an exceedingly difficult thing to do.

Many of the world's true hollow and extra hollow grinds seem to come from Germany where they grind razors on dual wheel grinders. The characteristics of the grind are determined by the diameter of the wheels and the separation of the two wheels.

Most of the modern USA razors are quarter ground. They are ground on a sanding belt with a contact wheel approximately 8" in diameter. Deeper grinds can be made using smaller diameter contact wheels. Making a true hollow grind with a single contact wheel would be a lot more difficult than using the dual grinders. It would take a highly skilled craftsman with lots of patience to produce one. As the blade become thinner, keeping the blade cooled so you do not lose temper becomes a challenge.

Brian Brown and Jerry Stark are two US artisans who make deeper grinds, yet neither are true hollow grinds. They are more of a belly/bellied grind.

Scroll down to the "Widths and Grinds" section here

http://straightrazorpalace.com/srpwi...ths_and_grinds

Tell us which of the grinds you were going for and what did you actually get.

Bob

I was going for a quarter but may have almost achieved a half. I can't seem to get the photo function to work.
* I guess I can get it to work. Here is what I was referring to earlier as well

Originally Posted by Bronzie

If it helps, i was using a 120 grit belt post ht on a 4in wheel on a 6/8 blade. To clarify, I wasn't going for a full hollow grind. Thanks for the replies. Any other advice is much appreciated.

A 4" wheel on a 6/8 razor is what I would use also. This will result in a grind that stays thin 1/4" back from the edge. What is your spine thickness and how close to the top of the spine does your grind come?

3/16 spine width. Originally was going to go for a 5/8 but thought t would be fine on a 6/8 as well. It sits about .05in from the spine. I have bent the razor playing with it so the following pictures have some holes but I think they help explain the problem some.