Thread: My first forge/ attempt at making a razor

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Originally Posted by Swerve

I was just wondering have any others had trouble with finding good steel stock? I only ask because I can't find any 1090 steel.

It doesn't have to be 10xx if you have trouble finding that.
O1 is an excellent razor steel as well, and should be available pretty much everywhere that sells steel in the US.

FlatGround.Com - Precision Flat Ground Tool Steel Stock and Drill Rod in O1, A2, D2, S7, and Low Carbon. is where I get my O-1, just got in a tube of stock in a few days ago.

01 is great razor steel, but its a lot tougher to ht than 1OXX steel, especially with a forge where the temperature is constantly changing.
I believe 10xx is prefered by forge/torch ht guys, correct me if I am mistaken.
Eric

You are going to want to line the bottom with some sort of refractory barrier. Ordinary clay, like the kitty litter (bentonite), or the good old ball clay like the school kids use. Coal and charcoal are not good insulators. You do not want a hot charcoal or coal fire burning directly on the steel. If it gets hot enough, the fire will burn holes in the wheel and you'll have all sorts of problems, like the bottom of your forge falling apart. The steel in that wheel is not capable of resisting the heat a charcoal or coal fire can generate.

This all comes down to a very simple problem. You want heat, but you want to contain it to control it. This means a box or a shape, often built specifically for the job at hand, that contains the fire in a working area so you can get what you want done with it. Your forge needs to capture that heat and direct it. It's not as simple as filling a container that allows the fire to blow in unwanted directions. That wheel has a lot of slots that your heat will escape in a direction that does not add it to the work you want done. It will also eventually affect the other working parts of the forge causing damage and then you have to rebuild or redesign things (but I would expect that anyway, it's not unusual to have to reline forges).

There are any number of good steels readily available from the sources already listed. If you're fixated on 1090 you will be frustrated. 1084 is a good steel, close in carbon content and fairly foolproof to heat treat. I'm willing to be wrong, but if you're just beginning, you want things to be simple.

Good luck

Originally Posted by epd

01 is great razor steel, but its a lot tougher to ht than 1OXX steel, especially with a forge where the temperature is constantly changing.
I believe 10xx is prefered by forge/torch ht guys, correct me if I am mistaken.
Eric

I've found O1 to be nearly foolproof. Very easy.

Call me a stickler, but following these steps (modified for thickness)
http://buffaloprecision.com/data_sheets/DSO1TSbpp.pdf
will ensure (in my mind) that I have reached the steels full potential, It is because I failed with 01 on a torch and a makeshift forge, that I bought an evenheat oven.
Bruno, how do you keep the forge's temperature controlled? I had considered a pyrometer controlling a variable speed blower. But wasnt going to waste any time and bought what I needed.
Eric

Not.

Or rather, nothing fancy. What I do is I flatten a coffee canand insert that in the fire. Then the knife slides into the can. the flattened can will prevent air from blowing over the piece and as a result the temperature is much more even. It also makes it a lot easier to take out the piece and put it back without having to rustle through the coals and accidentally bending it.

I regularly check whether the piece is still magnetic, and if it isn't, I leave it at that color for a minute and then quench.
I also try to remember the color it had when the magnetism disappeared. If after the additional soak the color is brighter, I leave the piece to cool for just a second or 2 until it is the same again, and then I quench.

I don't use pyrometers or anything else. If a smith could eyeball it 100 years ago, so can I. Sometimes I get it wrong, but in that case I just redo it and get it right.

If you use a paper showing the different colors of hot steel... don't hold it to close to the glowing metal!
I'm speaking of my own experience!

thanks guys this helps a lot. also could a man use a railroad spike for a razor?