Ultimate Straight Razor

okay so i am ordering the steel for the ultimate straight razor. it has finer grains than 01 tool steel and will have an hrc of about 70. it is cpm rex 76 hss. any suggestions for optimum blade length, hieght, scale material

If I were you I would pick a razor you really like to shave with and use it as the base for your new razor design.

Charlie

70! Wow, i bet thats gonna be a battle.

Maybe you should send some to charlie to test first ;) haha.

Rockwell 70? I think that's harder than the kamisori and Japanese plane blade edges.

What kind of steel is this?

charles

PS -- I'm a little out of my depth here . . .

Is the 70 at full hardness or after tempering back ? Don't be bamboozled by max. hardness.

If you can get 65-67 HRC without microchipping you have steel equivalent to Iwasaki tamahagane. If you have chipping it's just hard steel.

I was thinking 70 seems a little hard.......maybe a lot hard.

70?

Well, I can only wish you good luck. So Yamashita told me that even the most insanely hard Japanese blade tops out at 67. And it is prone to chipping because of it.
How old are you? It would be a shame if you didn't have enough time left to put a bevel on it :)
I'd shoot for 62 or 63 max. And even that will be quite a chore to get honed.

As for your questions: pick a razor you really like, and use that for inspiration.
Other people cannot answer that for you. We all have our preferences, and they are all different.

Looks like the stuff will top out at 70Rc from what I just read. Machine like D2 maybe???
Stress relieving after rough machining looks like a recommendation. (600 to 700 C) I would.

HT (salt bath recommended)
3 stage preheat 450 – 500 °C / 850 – 900 °C / 1050 °C (mandatory I assume)
Then rapidly heated to 1150 – 1205 °C
Not quite sure what I am seeing on the quench looks like 550 C oil recommended then 40 C

Immediate triple tempering at 550 C to 600 C for 2 hr each then room temp each time.

Thats to much work for me.

Please keep us posted. I for one am looking forward to your progress.

Just curious, is this your first build?

Jeff

I wouldn't make a razor out of it, or wouldn't buy one. A razor around 70HRC will be near impossible to hone, and I suspect that at the edge fineness a razor needs, it will microchip a lot. This steel is good for the purpose it was designed, for industrial cutting tools, but I don't think it is useable for anything else.

There is a reason why everyone is making razors from low alloy and high carbon content steels. Because they reach around 60HRC easily, they are fairly easy to sharpen, and take a very fine edge.


If you insist to use that steel, make sure you get a good 2x72" belt grinder with a half dozen or so 36 grit ceramic belts. That steel is about 45-57HRC in the annealed state, thats about as hard as some steels already hardened. I fear that finish grinding will take a few days and a lot of belts.

Also...

Have you made razors before? If not, you really should not start with specialty steel.
Learning to make a decent razor can be challenging enough. Your first attempt will not go as planned. It would be a shame to destroy an expensive piece of steel in the process.

And as if that is not challenging enough, you are going to work with a steel that is seriously challenging to work with and a real pain in the ass to give shape.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TURNMASTER

Just curious, is this your first build?

---

These guys have pointed out some very good points and they have reasons. Functional straight razors, even though a simple tool, are a bit tougher to make than a standard knife. None of the questions or comments are meant to discourage, they all are meant to help you. You obviously researched your steels to find something really hard, but there is a balance on most steels on hardness, abrasion resistance/toughness, and brittleness, especially when it comes to razors. You will notice that most of the successful veteran razor makers primarily stay with the more simple steels like 1095 & O-1...but they do dabble in the exotics & laminates from time to time as well. I still send my stuff out to a professional to HT & use the stock removal method personally. I have so much to learn that I feel like I'm still on a pacifier....jump in, the water is fine.

Nane, I hope we didn't scare you away. Keep asking questions. Ask Charlie about his turkey in the oven speech regarding how to start making razors. :D

you guys are right. i think some 01 tool steel will work just fine

You are still here that is good to see. O1 good choice, not the only good choice but good choice.

Jeff