Thread: Brian's First Blade

Good luck with the cleaning up. Keep the progress pics coming.

Got most of the smiling wedge profiled today and 90% of the knife. Didn't even start on the square tip. I desperately need a vise. I'm searching craigslist tomorrow!

One of the blanks and one of my current setup.

I'm taking back my harbor freight files. What pieces of absolute shit! I don't like to cuss like that, but they are horrid!! Five minutes and dull. My US made Nicholson is still goin' strong, but the HF junk is going back! A super false economy!! Junk!! I'm spending twice as much and buying good stuff. It is worth it.

Brian... if you want good files go to sears.... craftsman is hard to beat....

Thanks Brian. I will have to check them out. Sears opens at 10, which is kind of a pain, but I think we are going to the mall on Saturday, so maybe I can wander over there.

My wife does her best to keep me away from the Sears tool section...I don't know if I have ever left there empty handed.

Originally Posted by shooter74743

My wife does her best to keep me away from the Sears tool section...I don't know if I have ever left there empty handed.

My wife refuses to let me go into HF without an escort. I end up with $30+ of $2-5 items. Just fun stuff in there. I found this little book the other day. It's really freaking neat and has all sorts of stuff in it!
Amazon.com: Pocket Ref (9781885071002): Thomas J. Glover: Books

Moving right along, the work looks good +1 on the HF files.

Jeff

Ok, time for an update. Tuesday after work I'm picking up my new used vise. It's about time. $30 off craigslist.

Got my new Craftsman files, a 12" mill bastard, 6" round, and a 10" half round bastard. However, they are all single cut, which is taking forever! There is a Fastenal about 10 miles north. I may check there to see if they have a magicut file there to help speed up shaping a little bit.

I have one side of the smiling wedge flattened about 80%. Just takes time I guess.

I will now be starting a series of 6 straight 96 HR weeks due to starting a new job and finishing up at the old one, so I have a feeling not much is going to get done in the next month and a half. Hang with me folks, it's gonna be wild. Lol.

Wow! Where has time gone!!?! I've been working non-stop 48 hrs on/24 hrs off for the past month, so no shop time. Tonight was the first time I'd even touched the steel blank that will be my first razor. It was just where I left it!

By my count, it's been 37 days since I updated this thread and almost two month since I started my razor-makin' journey. I'm gonna shut up now and get to the pics!

Shown are the show side, back side, tip grind detail, top down, and bottom up.

I tapered the tang WAY too much, but can't put steel back on now. I rounded the top and bottom of the tang. It is very comfortable to hold.

This thing is going to need MASSIVE scales to balance out. It is incredibly heavy in the hand. It's so cool!! Lol. It's late and I'm excited.

The grind isn't too far off, but by no means even close to perfect. Not too bad for free handing most of the grinding.

And yes, before anyone asks, that's blood on the blade. Sometimes you have to give a little to the steel to make it happy.

And one more with an old set of scales pinned on just to show the dimensions of the pivot point.



Honest opinions solicited gentlemen. Seriously, throw it at me. If I don't get a whole lot of bad points thrown my way, I'm going to clean up sand the piece and send it to Mike Blue for HT. Edit: forgot to say that I have to hollow it first. Going to try a sen, but if not, I'll have access to a grinder in a week or so.

Now, what about scales.......