Hello all! I've been shaving with a straight blade since I joined the Army six years ago and I've been wanting a custom for some time now but just haven't been able to justify the cost. Recently though, after the birth of my second son I realized that I wanted to pass on to my two boys what has become the most important ritual of my day. I have decided that on their 16th birthdays I'm going to present them each with a custom straight razor, and that I'm going to make the razors myself.

I'm in the process of building a No Weld Grinder but I probably won't be done with that for some time (for cost reasons). In the meantime, I want to practice a bit. I ordered a 10" x 1.4" x .18" piece of annealed "Damascus" (patterned) steel, 1080 and 15n20 (250 layers). I'm going to cut the pattern with a metal jigsaw, sculpt it with files and sand the finish (haven't decided yet if I want to attempt to mirror polish it). Anyway, I have a couple of questions I was hoping maybe someone here would be able to answer.

- Does anyone know of someone who I could pay to heat treat it once I'm finished with the shape? Preferably someone who has dealt with heat treating this kind of patterned steel before.

- How difficult is it to hollow grind on a bench grinder? I know it's not the optimal solution, but it's what I have access to until I finish the NWG. Side question, is a 10" stone wheel going to be too big to do a 1/2 hollow on a 7/8 blade?

- I'm using Bloodwood for the scales, what is the best way to treat the wood once I'm done shaping it to seal it from moisture?

Any help would be much appreciated. I know I'm in over my head, but I have a goal and I have to start somewhere right?