Thread: Help me forge a razor

Excellent info here from all who posted. Thanks.

Originally Posted by KristianSestoft

I got a frequency convertor to mount on my grinder so I can grind the blade very slow, avoiding to heat the blade to more than hand warm. I will never get to tempering temperature and risk ruining the heat treatment by using this method.

-Kristian

Don't be too paranoid either.
Temper termperatures are way beyond what you could hold in your hand without blistering.
Thinner surfaces heat up quicker, but on the whole, as long as you can touch the razor with your fingers and not burn then, the steel will be just fine.

Yeah I guess you are right about the mirror finish. Now I just have to learn how to make it.

I can get belts up to grit 600 on my new grinder, and by using the frequency converter I'll be able to finish at the grinder at a quite high polish. The rest can be done by hand. But how high should I go on the fine sandpaper / polishing paper? The finest I have easy and cheap access to is grit 1200.

How should I polish a blade? I think I want a mirror / near mirror finish.

I usually finish up to 2000 grit by hand, followed by a buffer and jewelers rouge. I personally feel that the buffer is the most dangerous tool in the shop, over the bandsaw, table saw, or miter saw. Don't let it snatch whatever you are working on out of your hands.

When doing the hand work, I found a piece of radiator hose that was about 1 1/2" in diameter. I cut it to about 6" long & cut a tree limb that would fit in it tightly. I use this to help sanding the hollow by hand. Works great when working with 1/4 sheets of sandpaper.

That's a nice idea, using a limb and a radiator hose.
But isn't the hose much smaller than the wheel of your grinder? My contact wheel is 18 cm in diameter (7.1 inch)... you mentioned the hose to be 1 1/2" in diameter... I would guess that by using a smaller guide for the paper, you are able to make sure where you sand instead of using a paper 'holder' in the same diameter as the concact wheel?

And how hard is the buffer? like this:

Or like this:
Or maybe like this:

In very general terms, of the wheels shown, in order, the first black ones have more stitching and will be stiffer = more resistance to pressure against the wheel. This provides for more cutting. These are best used for larger grit compounds to remove larger scratches. The yellow wheels have less stitching = medium to soft, less resistance. With a finer grit these are very good for blending contours. The white wheels have very little stitching and are good for the final grades of polishing to a very fine surface. I'd recommend, as others do, keep one set of wheels for each compound you use. Trying to remove a heavy cutting compound like black from a wheel and then attempting a high polish will leave heartbreaking scratches and more work.

And, because the buffer is the most dangerous tool in the shop, the looser the wheel, the more likely it will catch something and fling it somewhere. Preferably not into soft biological bits.

2 things that are done for razors is that the grinding is done in 2 stages, before HT & after HT.
Before HT the grind is left approx 1/16" thick at the edge and 1/8" wider than the desired end result so that any decarb can be ground off. After HT the final shaping and grinding/polishing is performed.
Hope this helps,