Thread: 1st attempt making a razor

Thanks Randy for HT advice and kind comments.
You pretty much describe and confirm the process as I've go it in my head regarding normalising, though I didn't think to hang the blade and that's a good idea.
The muffle was primarily an idea to disipate and even out the heat for this type of oven, but thanks for the leather tip in the pipe. Ahhhh... the ever elusive goal of obtaining a uniform temp before quenching from a gas forge...yes it can be done but only by gradually increasing the amount of gas entering the forge ( a time consuming PITA). But... it really is not necessary. My focus is only on the bottom 1/3-1/2 of the blade, that's what I shave with and if you could check the HRC of some vintage blades I think you will find that the spine is softer than the blade edge. You will have to experiment with positioning the blade in the forge to adjust what gets hot first.
Regarding decarb, I can run a fuel rich flame if tube dosn't work out, plan b is to remove tube, tube is 2" cavity is 3"? 2"- 3" is more than adequate. Was wondering if I could use a refactory wash to paint on the blade to minimise decarb though I do have about 0.030" left on edge. I have tried using a few different compounds to protect the filework on the spine. Sometimes it can be a pain to remove after quenching. Your best bet is to first do some trial runs.
If the thickness of the edge is 0.03 then you can bet you will lose about 1/16-1/8", probably 1/8" in the width of the blade. Sorry.
Spine and tang work is there, my photography is rubbish. I have something in my hand that looks like a mirror but has the texture of a turd on the screen, think I'll make a light box to photograph the finished product.

I

I thought your filework finish was just fine. I just wanted to reiterate the reason for doing so in case the pic was fooling me and for the benefit of others who may be trying this.