Thread: ~16th Century replica

Well after a lot of talk here and discussion with my knifemaker buddy (and waiting on him to build his new grinder) We have finally begun.

The idea is to make a razor based off of possible (can not confirm any documentation on them) historical examples and images from period wood cuts. Apparently sometime between 1500 AD and 1800 the style of razors changed drastically. Earlier folding razors were half open at 180 degrees instead of the 270 that we use today and can easily trace back to Victorian times. Now admittedly my research has been into early to mid 1500s and not really much past that so I can't be sure when the swap took place or why, but that isn't the focus right now. Some of you might recall some of the images I compiled in this thread

Three of the images first shown are very similar so that is the shpe my buddy Rob and I are going with at first.




So with that in mind we got started with some 1095 steel he had sitting around. First I worked out some basic designs.

Now these have little tang due to begin used fully open. The idea is to put either a pin ot to close the back of the spine so that the small tang can catch on that and hold itself open against the motion of travel used.

I spent the next hour or so cutting the rough shapes out with the bandsaw


Now here I must apologize as my phone died on day 2 before I could get shots of the work done. I think it was due to him being out in the boonies and the phone constantly searching for a solid 3G connection. I will update the post with the fully shaped images of them in their current state as soon as I get back up to grind out the partial hollow in them. Instead I will treat you with a pic of the grinder we are working on and a link to the album I will be posting up future images to Grinder has the flat, glass platen in place for angles before the hollowing work

Cool stuff Earl! I can't wait to see it finished.

I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of this.

Looking great! Can't wait to see it done.

Today I worked on hollowing out two if the blades I had from the great water jet experiment and did not have time to work any more on theses guys, but here's the pic of them shaped and ready for hollowing.

You can see a bit of a shape cut into the lower one on the left. That is the area that is going to be hollowed out on that one. So the hollow will be a straight swath through from the edge up leaving a spine that thickens to the tip. Probably just on the 8" wheel for a very minor cut. We are debating doing an angle off the top of the spine to give a single spine line even with the edge, but that is still in debate. The other blade will get hollowed out to match the shape. Hopefully both will work well, but the two methods should give us some backup.

I know is probably late but have you seen this?
Historical Razors in Bone and Horn |Tod's Stuff

Originally Posted by adrspach

I know is probably late but have you seen this?
Historical Razors in Bone and Horn |Tod's Stuff

I actually have an ongoing discussion with Tod right now about his sources and such. Really cool guy.

When I saw your project I thought just try to show him. Perhaps it would help or not.
Is great that somebody tries projects like this.
Good luck. Looking forward to see the progress.

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

The guy in the first picture doesn't look like he is enjoying the shave. But if he was having a medical procedure done that required shaving his head first, I'm sure he wasn't in pain for too long.