Thread: ~16th Century replica

I am excited about the razors you are making. The designs are great. I am waiting to see pics of the next step..

Charlie

Originally Posted by ignatz

Muirtach;

I am led to ask just why you have chosen to give the form of your razor a completely straight cutting edge.

I grant you that a straight cutting edge tends to make production of the razor a little simpler when using modern machines and flat honing stones. However, with the exception of the razor on the site of "Tod's Stuff", all cutting tools he has recreated from that period seem to have some curve to them to one degree or another. To the ancient craftsman, the beauty of the curve would have been important and he would have doubltless seen no extra work in the sharpening of a curved edge as compared to a straight edge.

As additional evidence, all of the engravings you have posted show the razors having a gentle curve to the blade.

And now, having made these observations, let me also applaud your efforts in making this recreation.

- Ignatz

Good question actually. We decided to go with a straighter edge than most of the extant historical (which Tod bases his stuff of of) examples as they had been in use for some time and also suffer from various levels of damage. Most of them I have been able to find have a relatively flat edge and the curvature could easily come from honing like some that we still see. If you look at the first two images on this thread (the ones we are trying to replicate actually) you can see that though they are curved it is very minor as well, which lends to the thought.

That said we are looking at trying other variations after we get theses ones dialed in.

Knowing a lot of SCA members and re-enactment buffs.. I may need to see about getting one of these to wave in their faces.. or if you are looking to make and sell more drum up business for you.

Well life has been a bit busy, but I got back up to my buddy's place today and got the blades ground out. Used a 4" wheel for the hollow on both. Took a bit of creativity to get an even grind due to the angle on the spine. Ended up grinding out a wood rest for the blades that sat it at an angle making the edge parallel to the rest.

here is the first blade after hollowing with the 32 grit resting nest to the other blade.



both blades hollowed and polished to 240 before heat treat


And the important one. After heat treat (quench is a mix of beeswax, bacon grease and atf fluid to cut down on the smoking). no potato chipping and a all set for tempering....excpet for one small issue. Can you pick it out?

I think you forgot the pivot hole. But apart from that it looks fantastic.

Originally Posted by ndw76

I think you forgot the pivot hole. But apart from that it looks fantastic.

ding ding.
tossed them back into the forge and are letting them air cool right now so we can remedy our oversight.
I'd say we were in a hurry to get inside and have dinner, but dinner isn't ready so....yeah

Been a while since I last updated. The mark 2 razors had some design issues (mainly using a tang curl like we do now did not allow firm control during use) that led to work on mark 2. The main difference was shifting the pivot point to off center and making the tang stick out at a slight angle as well as widening it with a few hammer blows so that it engages on teh scales giving a firm hold while shaving. I have yet to take any images, but here is a video I shot on friday of the first shave with it.

Mark 3 will be a bit smaller blade as this one is a bit difficult to use while shaving other people. I should be able to get some photos of it soon.

Nicely done!
Respectfully
~Richard

I did a look up on Wikipedia, and found that the style is called Navaja. It is a word from the Latin Novacula ( Razor) The Navaja has a ratchet built into the pivot area to hold it in the open position. That could solve the problem for the mark 3's.
Navaja - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Also I now know why the best USA natural hones were called Novaculite!
Respectfully
~Richard

thats a cool razor, im sure your great great great great great great great ........... grandpa would be proud to see you using a razor of that style.