Thread: Advice for a newbie

I ended up making the holes bigger in the examples I posted pics of to accommodate barrel pivots which are 3/16 I think. I ensured theres a nice snug fit with them when I was drilling.

Thank you for the recommendation of Peters! I'll probably send a batch off to them.

I see some razors are "edge" treated/hardened. I'm wondering whether this might be easier to do myself with a torch, can of canola and a toaster oven? Obvious issue with only the edge being hardened would be that sharpening would lead to rapid spine wear which could be solved simply enough with some tape on the spine. Figured I'd see what you guys thought about that?

Thanks again!

It's going to be very hard to do so reliably. The spine will continuously suck heat out of the edge, while you are trying to bring the edge to an even heat with a moving heat spot. And you will want to respect soak times as well.
And on the flip side, you're going to have to be very careful not to significantly overheat the edge.
On top of that, edge hardening is a process that can easily lead to cracks.

I'm not saying it can't be done. But the success factor is going to be hit or miss even for experienced people.

You'd be much better with a couple of soft refractory brick and make a small mini forge. Costs only a couple of $ but at least you'll have a chamber with a more or less controlled heat, allowing you to heat the entire razor evenly.

NickyJ

I see you live somewhere in the Boston area. Pete (petercp4e) also lives in the Boston area. He has a wonderful collection of custom straight razors, including one he made himself from a block of steel and a block of wood while attending a meetup in Texus last year at Charlie Lewis's shop (see LewisRazors.com web site). I am sure Pete can give you some pointers. He is a great guy. I met him at the recent Wisconsin meet at Rolodave's place.

Send petercp4e a private message and see if the two of you can arrange a Boston meet.

Some other posts have give some good advice.

Since you drilled the pivot holes larger than might be desirable, you can always use a bushing to reduce the size of the hole to fit a thinner pivot pin. Considering the mass of your "choppers" I can understand why you wanted to go with something larger than 1/16". Perhaps you could use a bushing and a 3/32" pin. If you go much bigger than that, you might have an issue peening the pin evenly, but an alternative is to use screws for the pivot rather than brass or nickel silver rod. Although screws are not traditional, some custom makers use them so the scales can be removed for blade maintenance without damaging the scales.

Hello NickyJ

If there is anything that I can help you with I would be more than happy to do so, just let me know.

I live in between Worcester and Springfield out in the woods.

I did forge my own razor in Texas, but it was under the direct guidance of Charlie, Bruno, Victor, Scott and Joe. All I did was follow their instructions and luckily everything worked out. This was indeed my maiden voyage. The razor is actually a testament to how well they teach. I still am very much a fledging student in the art of forging and probably can't offer much advice on it's intracasies.

Pete <:-}