Thread: Hollow Grinding help?

Absolutely true - You'll only learn by doing, and better to learn on the soft cheap stuff - you will learn a lot about how to get the grind you need, and how easy it can be to be uneven. Your body will teach itself with some practice, study, and more practice.

Wow baldy!!!!!!! what a piece of artwork you created!!! And might I say some of the best blade photography I have seen!!! You will have to teach me your photo secrets. Well done mate! A real craftsman!! AAA+ Thanks for all your help to! I see you live in coffs. Some really good mangrove jack down that way.

Thanks Blue! Heaps of help that will keep me thinking. I have been doing a bit of research I think the spine to blade depth should be 1:6? Also found out some scooping stuff about hollow grinds. Narrow blades easy to manoeuvre and heavy wide blades less effort to push feel better. I saw a kami with a funny hollow grind that was like a convex concave. Cool. The japanese nearly always like to sharpen one edge only on a blade and I assume that was what this design is for? Any who thats a little off tangent. I have got the Heat Treat side of things sorted.

Good point by everyone to shave with one first. I am really excited to start shaving with one! I will start to follow skips advice on practicing on a sacrificial piece of steel first.

The reason for the steel choice is because my friends razor that is only a couple of weeks old has pretty bad surface rust even though he is careful to dry a oil it everytime. I only want to worry about sharpening.

Damnit...I have to get me a grinding wheel instead of a flat platen so that I can finally make my own razor.....every time I see a thread like this I'm annoyed.

Why don't you make a jig for your belt wheel?

I applaud your enthusiasm, but strongly encourage you to learn to shave as well. And buy a couple of older sheffield and solingen razors on ebay, just to study them. A razor has a surprisingly complex geometry, and there are some subtle things that you will never think of if you never honed a razor and never took a couple of them apart. I see this with knifemakers who start making razors without having shaving / honing experience. The end result will look like a razor, but have several issues.

Also, practice on mild steel first. Or buy some old files and anneal them before you try your hand on more complex steels. Your first n attempts will fail. You will make mistakes, whether they are grinding mistakes, design mistakes, or other mistakes. Wasting good steel on those mistakes is pointless.

Originally Posted by Nicko

Why don't you make a jig for your belt wheel?

Usually, the motor or the construction get in the way for grinding in one side.

Which aspects of making a razor are geometrically complex? Is it weighting it right with the handle scales? Or the grinds/shapes? Sorry if I sound dumb just trying to understand so I don't make mistakes. Regards

Originally Posted by Nicko

Which aspects of making a razor are geometrically complex? Is it weighting it right with the handle scales? Or the grinds/shapes? Sorry if I sound dumb just trying to understand so I don't make mistakes. Regards

I'm not trying to be unhelpful, but you really need to get some experience shaving and taking things apart.
There is a certain width / thickness ration to observe. You need to make sure that if you hone the razor, there is continuous spine and edge contact. You need to make sure that the bevels are even and symmetrical on both sides. The bevels need to be very narrow. You need to make sure that if the razor is honed 50 times and metal is removed over the years, you still get good spine contact on the hone instead o funeven contact. And these are just the first things that come to mind.

And it is not enough to tell you this. You have to understand this so that you know what you are doing along the way, and why you are doing things in a certain way.

Btw, you say you don't want to make mistakes: you will make mistakes. And some of those mistakes will be really big. You can't avoid making them. Learning to make a razor by asking questions without learning the skills is like learning to replace a crank shaft by asking questions without having any knowledge about cars whatsoever. Both your razor and your car would have severe issues.

Got another question on some razors I see a double plunge cut? What is the purpose of this?

Originally Posted by Nicko

I have been doing a bit of research I think the spine to blade depth should be 1:6? .

Nope !

Try reading this to start.....

http://http://straightrazorpalace.co...ral_Manual.pdf