Thread: Custom wedge blades for lather catchers

Unsexy for sure and little room to make your own style. Half the length of a standard straight but in some ways very much more restrictive than a custom straight. If I try to make a custom 8/8 and I make a mistake then end up with a 7/8 unless I tell you you won't know. With these to narrow won't work.

Just throwing out some numbers for thought but $400 USD for a custom razor would be cheap in my mind. Nothing special in the steel or scale material. Say the blade is worth 3/4 of that for sake of argument. Take that blade in half and you have $150. Not a whole lot of money if any for the maker at these prices.

I searched a little and these razors are say $40 and 7 day set in a box $150. I can't see much of a market for $150 dollar blades. Especially when a standard SE will at least work.

With that being said as a hobbyist I would be interested in the exact dimensions to make one for the sake of saying I did.

I think that someone must have make modern versions of these for themselves and fun but I don't see a market to support a reason to do it if profit is the point

Originally Posted by 32t

Unsexy for sure and little room to make your own style. Half the length of a standard straight but in some ways very much more restrictive than a custom straight. If I try to make a custom 8/8 and I make a mistake then end up with a 7/8 unless I tell you you won't know. With these to narrow won't work.

Just throwing out some numbers for thought but $400 USD for a custom razor would be cheap in my mind. Nothing special in the steel or scale material. Say the blade is worth 3/4 of that for sake of argument. Take that blade in half and you have $150. Not a whole lot of money if any for the maker at these prices.

I searched a little and these razors are say $40 and 7 day set in a box $150. I can't see much of a market for $150 dollar blades. Especially when a standard SE will at least work.

With that being said as a hobbyist I would be interested in the exact dimensions to make one for the sake of saying I did.

I think that someone must have make modern versions of these for themselves and fun but I don't see a market to support a reason to do it if profit is the point

You're pretty spot on with regards to how much these razors cost, although I've seen an uptick in prices as of late, eBay bidding is a frenzy.

I just picked up two sets for a ridiculously cheap price from a seller overseas and each comes with a multitude of blades which leaves me in an interesting position as I started this thread in need of blades and now I no longer need any (I might even sell a few to those who need them).

My original plan was to have Bruno make one blade and assuming all goes well, I'd be more than happy to have him make me several but since I no longer need blades, I'm not sure if it's worth the trouble to make just one, especially without compensation for the hard work.

I'd be really interested to see someone take a stab at recreating these wedge blades (even if just one). Sexy? No. But I'd still love to see a modern blade to fit these SE handles... Especially because in the past I have painstakingly restored several of these wedge blades and I've still never gotten a good shave off of one. It would be interesting to see if a modern edge by one of the skilled bladesmiths here would provide a better shave overall. Something like making and grinding one of these wedge blades is far beyond my skill level, but I've been able to get existing ones in fair condition to a sharpness I call "shave ready" and still leaves me wanting.

On a separate note, it really makes one appreciate how much time and skill had to go in to creating each of these little guys. Especially the the items like the common 7 day sets had to involve some very serious work!

Originally Posted by 32t

Unsexy for sure and little room to make your own style. Half the length of a standard straight but in some ways very much more restrictive than a custom straight. If I try to make a custom 8/8 and I make a mistake then end up with a 7/8 unless I tell you you won't know. With these to narrow won't work.

Just throwing out some numbers for thought but $400 USD for a custom razor would be cheap in my mind. Nothing special in the steel or scale material. Say the blade is worth 3/4 of that for sake of argument. Take that blade in half and you have $150. Not a whole lot of money if any for the maker at these prices.

I searched a little and these razors are say $40 and 7 day set in a box $150. I can't see much of a market for $150 dollar blades. Especially when a standard SE will at least work.

With that being said as a hobbyist I would be interested in the exact dimensions to make one for the sake of saying I did.

I think that someone must have make modern versions of these for themselves and fun but I don't see a market to support a reason to do it if profit is the point

All of the above.
For the moment I'm doing one just for the sake of it and because I am curious.

In terms of making them, there is no way to make them in a style that is mine, and as you say the dimensions need to be spot on.
The pricing argument is correct as well, and these will not take whole lot less time to make. My time is generally measured in $/hour for custom work. The same rates will not hold for what is essentially production line work.

The one thing where I may make a difference is making them in damascus steel, and making tooling for my press so that I can press them out almost at finished size.
Depending on how much time I need to make a run of x pieces, it may be economically viable.

I really don't think there is going to be much of a market in the price range I normally work in.
Even with tooling, there is no chance I'll start working at the price of whatever these things are worth on ebay.
I think that even with tooling, the only way for this to even have a chance of catching on is using specialty steel,
where a maker could basically tack on the difference between a damascus blade and a carbon steel blade.
And then it will depend on whether that demographic cares for such steel.

It could also be a place to use up bits of steel that are basically too small for other blades. If you had the tool no for your press set up and once’s a month used odd pieces of Damascus and made a few blades and never saturated the market it could work.
I have several sets of the Rapide made by Henckels. I’d like to find a Rapide made in France before Henckels bought them out. I have never seen one. If my memory of the history is correct, Rapide of France was the first company to patent a safety razor and it was in 1876, and the wedge razor was born.

Yesterday I went to buy a Valet SE, and the guy threw in a Wilkinson SE. From what I’ve found it’s an Empire, but not from a 7 day set. Anyways, it needs a bit of cleaning and the blade probably needs honing, but I was doing research to just figure out how the heck it works. Interesting razor!!

Originally Posted by BobH

I do like SE razors and have collected some over the years. Your mention of the Darwin jogged my memory and I had a look see at what I had in the SE line. Sure enough a Darwin turned up. IIRC I bought it at one of the local antique stores. I really should try it out sometime. They are very nicely made compared to the Rolls razor or even the Wilkinson 7 day set I have.

Bob

LUCKY! They're beautiful razors. Apparently the entire razor and blades are made of cobalt steel. The ingenuity of the whole razor is amazing when you realize it was made in the 1930's.

Originally Posted by joelkerr

Yesterday I went to buy a Valet SE, and the guy threw in a Wilkinson SE. From what I’ve found it’s an Empire, but not from a 7 day set. Anyways, it needs a bit of cleaning and the blade probably needs honing, but I was doing research to just figure out how the heck it works. Interesting razor!!

Welcome to the club Joel! I know Badger & Blade has a whole section for SE razors, you might want to search there for more info on the Wilkinson.

I've got some old SE's...have to dig some more of them out.

BobH, great find on the Darwin!!! LOL!!!

Here's my Wilkinson 7 Day set, remember Bob we talked about how to hone those blades up....took me awhile, but beautiful with an Escher edge.

Originally Posted by Phrank

Here's my Wilkinson 7 Day set, remember Bob we talked about how to hone those blades up....took me awhile, but beautiful with an Escher edge.

Was that conversation on this forum? I'd love to know how you managed to hone those tiny blades!

I used one of my Weck razors as a blade handle and flipped it end for end when I felt I was likely half way when I honed mine up. Oddly enough mine have an Escher finish too.