Just completed this Sheffield style razor this morning, a little personal project. 52100 steel, black acrylic scales, lead wedge, bullseye washers.
Printable View
Just completed this Sheffield style razor this morning, a little personal project. 52100 steel, black acrylic scales, lead wedge, bullseye washers.
Looks great.
Nice work. As far as I can tell the scales look stuffed with blade.
Can you show a pic of the grind shape? What size wheels did you use?
Hope these pics are ok, if not I can take some better ones in the morning. The faces of the blade were ground on a 10 inch contact wheel, but I rocked the blade as I was grinding to create an even larger radius so it's probably closer to something like a 12 inch. The spine is chamfered, the two chamfers come together at the toe and diverge as you go toward the tail; this leaves a flat area for the fingers to grip instead of resting on a peak.
Attachment 326747
Attachment 326748
Attachment 326749
Got a few more of these on the go, finished the grinding today. After hardening all rough work starts out on a 60 grit ceramic belt. Then I progress going over each surface through 120 grit ceramic, 220 ceramic, 400 SiC, 600 Sic, finally ending with a Trizact A16 grade belt which is the equivalent of 1200 grit. This gives a nice glaze type finish, partially reflective with very fine scratches that appear iridescent when viewed through a loupe. On some of the belts I will use a grease to just fine the cut a little and provide cooling and lubrication.
Attachment 326758
Attachment 326759
Outstanding. Very impressive work. Those look very professionally done and the finished product looks like a name brand Sheffield maker's work. I'd love to see as many pictures as you are willing to post. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the compliments. I don't think I'd put myself in the same league with the old boys from Sheffield though haha. I've only been making razors for about 8 weeks or so, I do have a lot of grinding experience however, first in a roll turning shop in a hot steel mill and then working as a dental/surgical instrument polisher/sharpener. I'm hoping to try make a go at selling some razors to help pay the bills as it were, we'll see.:hmmm:
I'm working on some scales atm, some in black or ivory acrylic and some in horn. I'll post some pics tomorrow morning.
Working on some scales today, I like to do all the rough work down in the shop and then complete the finishing upstairs where it's much cleaner and especially at this time of year warmer :)
I have template for the shape of the scales which I trace onto the covering paper that comes on the acrylic sheet, or in the case of the horn I cover both sides in masking tape, the masking tape also helps prevent the horn from splitting/delaminating when sawed. I then saw the rough shape out and then use double sided tape to stick two blanks together, that way a pair of scales match exactly. Next I sand the shape down to size going from 60 grit, to 120 grit, to 220 grit.
Next I use my calipers and set a distance from the edge of the scales and score a line, I also score a line around the edge of the scales, this gives me a guide for filing. I use a double cut file to hog of material to create the chamfer around the perimeter of the scales. After that I use a cabinet scraper to remove the file marks; this tool will greatly reduce sanding time.
Then comes the hand sanding, I progress all the way up to 1000 grit before buffing with compound. The pics here are of hand sanding at 800 grit and a picture of one of the horn scales showing the nice patterning when held to the light. I use mineral oil as a lubricant to stop the wet/dry paper from clogging up too quickly. In the case of the ivory acrylic scales I might not sand past 800 grit to try replicate the look of ivory texture, I am also experimenting with adding a light dye to the ivory scales then sanding back to create a grain look. Will post pics once I have the process down.
(Pics aren't the best, not very bright here today)
Attachment 326783
Attachment 326784
Attachment 326785
Horn scales after polishing.
Attachment 326802
Attachment 326803
Attachment 326804