Thread: Good steel for razors? looking to make my own - aren't we all...

Hi guys,

Just wanted to ask you who know all about metals and blade-making, what your thoughts are on a tool steel I've got access to, to make my own razors. It's called Bohler k110 tool steel, here is the chemical composition: C=1,55 | Si=0,25 | Mn= 0,35 | Cr=11,80 | Mo= 0,80 | V= 0,95

And here are some of it's recommended applications:
High-duty cutting tools (dies and punches),blanking and punching tools, wood working tools, shear blades for cutting light-gauge material...

I can get it in pretty thin plates, so I'm looking at making a set of custom framebacks (being somewhat simpler in theory to construct than hollow ground blades) and Bohler - the company making and selling me the steel - is also one of the best heat treatment facilities here in South Africa, and they can vacuum harden and vacuum temper the blades to a final hardness of between 61 and 63 Rc.

Just want to know what you guys think of the steel and the methods of hardening and tempering - does this sound like I'm on the right track? I plan to final grind and finish the blades myself after heat treatment - is this the correct way to do it?

Thanks for any input.

That steel is pretty close to D2, as I know it. It will make for a very fine razor, knife, cutting tool if heat treated correctly. If you have access to the parent company of the steel, they would know the most about how to get it right.

Grind your blades first. You may have to fiddle with the edge thickness you send to the heat treater, but 0.100 inch is a good place to start. If you made a few edges at 0.050 and they came back straight and clean, you could try thinner the next time. Then do the finish grinding/polishing after heat treatment, don't use gloves, if you can feel any heat in the workpiece, keep everything dipped in cool water.

My two cents anyway.

Hey Jasper good luck with your entry into making custom razors but no we all don't want to make our own. I have great admiration for someone who will hold a sharp blade to a buffing wheel spinning at 3,000 + rpm but it's not for me. I'm looking forward to seeing your razors once you get going.

Thanks Mr. Blue, thanks Jimmy.

Mike, the blade portion is actually gonna be exactly 2.2mm - about 0.100 inches - when I send to get heat treated so thats good to know. My plan is to slot 0.100 inch blades into a 0.2440 inch frame and tang. Then heat treat the whole piece and final grind just the edge with the right geometry/cutting angle. The whole blade portion doesn't need to be really thin, correct? Only the actual cutting edge needs to be ground to a fine point - right? The angle from the frame to the edge will always be consistent - though I guess the razor as a whole will be a bit heavy is all - but I don't really mind a bit of heft.

I'll post a profile pic of what I'm talking about, maybe you guys can give it the nod or not.

The only downside I suppose to this kind of construction, is a 7mm bevel - is this a downside? is there a real problem with a wide bevel apart from a bit more metal touching the hone and being abraded??

You can make the spine whatever thickness you want within reason. That and the depth of the blade from spine to edge would determine blade angle.

I have no idea about all the technical aspects, but I do have a question. Since the bevel is so wide, at 7mm, it should take a lot longer to take away the metal at the edge than it would where the hone contacts the spine, right? (Because the corner on the spine that is in contact with the hone might be 1mm after some honing/grinding?) That would mean that you are in a constant battle with removing material at the edge while trying not to remove as much material at the spine. Eventually the edge would not touch the hone and you would get a rounded bevel. Unless you use a very hard metal for the spine that would not wear as fast or go through a lot of tape or something else while honing to protect the spine. Does any of that make sense? Or would you eventually just have to keep grinding/honing to find an equilibrium/angle that creates a bevel along the spine that is greater than or equal to the bevel at the edge?

Thanks Crazycliff - very insightful comments - and you're right, without taping the spine, the corner of it would wear away and make getting a nice edge more and more difficult. So my plan was to simply tape the spine...

But I'm not too crazy about the appearance of the wide bevel, so I'm rethinking things somewhat. I'll go with the steel choice and the heat treatment methods, but I think I'll go with just attempting to grind them quarter hollow and then final grind after heat treatment..

Thanks guys for your thoughts on this. Will report back once I get this going..

- I spend far too much time thinking about razors......

I looked at a couple of other framebacks and they seem to have small bevels in comparison to the spine.

You might go through a lot of tape in a hurry that way if that corner isn't flattened. Just a guess, though.

You might be able to make the spine thicker and then grind that corner off so that it's wider than the edge. Or, if you make a single piece that folds all the way around the spine, and grind both sides so that it matches up with the edge, then that may solve your problem. That would add some depth to the spine.

My eye for common sense says that the spine of the frameback would not have to be heat treated, just the blade/cutting edge. Don't put more work into the project than required. It will be hard enough to get a straight blade without adding the movement and potential problems trying to mate up a hardened spine. There is nothing wrong with your choice of steels given the proximity to the supplier and heat treater.

There's nothing to say you couldn't do a small hollow grind along the corner represented by the bevel. It gets that material out of the way of the stone and reduces the size of the bevel portion that will be dragging along. Less material to remove in honing too.

Looks like a good project though. It'll be interesting to see what you learn.