Thread: first try at razor from scratch, wrinkles

Here is my first attempt at a razor from scratch. It was going well until the very end when it developed wrinkles on the edge. I am guessing that there must be some internal stresses at work. The blade is ground down to .010 for approximately 3/16 from the edge. Maybe I ground it too thin? Maybe I did something funky with the heat treatment?

I learned a lot during the process and am ready to try again, this time I will buy some steel instead of using an old file.

Charlie

Great job! I think it looks good. Did you make a new forge?

ooooooo like it

For your first attempt that looks great!!!!!!! keep it up man!!!!

That's a beauty, wrinkles or not. Great work on the jimps. Keep at it, man. Very cool.

Chris L

Old files aren't good for files anymore. They can't cost as much as new ones or new steel.

Two things come out of this photo. There were internal stresses in the steel from the heat treatment and that's whats causing the blade to "potato chip." That's easy enough to fix with a few changes in how you are preparing the blade for heat treatment.

Second: It's a very good start.

Originally Posted by Mike Blue

Old files aren't good for files anymore. They can't cost as much as new ones or new steel.

Two things come out of this photo. There were internal stresses in the steel from the heat treatment and that's whats causing the blade to "potato chip." That's easy enough to fix with a few changes in how you are preparing the blade for heat treatment.

Second: It's a very good start.

Wow, coming from Mike Blue, if that was MY first razor, I'd be on top of the world. Seriously.

Chris L

Mike,

Here are the steps I took. What should I change to keep this from happening again?

Heated till nonmagnetic and put in can of lime to anneal

I shaped with hacksaw and files and grinder. The blade never got hot enough to change color during this process.

I heated to nonmagnetic again let set another minute just to be sure than edge quenched in heated vegetable oil (130). I tested with a single cut mill file, it did not bite into the blade edge anywhere along the length.

I then tempered in my home oven at 400 for an hour let cool to room temp. Then did it again.

Then belt sanded/ground blade to shape.

I am thinking that maybe I should have quenched the whole blade instead of just quenching about 3/8 from the edge.

Thanks to everybody for the encouragement.

Charlie

Way to go! I'm looking forward to your next attempt!
Currently I'm stuck in town so it'll be until next weekend before I can do "some grinding" again

Exellent effort ,if thats your first go ,you are a natural .The wavey edge will probably be due to the edge being too thin
when you heat treated it , I leave about 1mm at least ,then finish grind even then there are a few waves that have to be ground out
keep practicing, just quietly I stuffed up my last one so dont tell any one
Kind regards Peter