Thread: My first razor nearly ready for heat treat.

Well here it is!

Please go easy on me since this is the first time I have ever made anything out of metal.
I have had some experience with wood before but really only building speaker boxes.

I made the razor out of 1/4" thick 1084fg steel.
Blade width is 9/8

I rough cut the majority of it with a hacksaw
I used an 8" bench grinder to shape it before griding the hollows on the same grinder
File work was done with a chainsaw file and a triangular needle file
The thumb grip was made with a dremel
The jimps were done with a hacksaw

So what does everyone think?

I still have to fix a few filing mistakes and clean it up with some sandpaper before the heat treat but I'm pretty happy with it.
Oh and it will be set in some scales, but I'm not yet sure what material I will choose.

Dang gutsy to attempt. 'Not qualified to tell from a pic, but It looks alot better than I'd ever guess on a first attempt. Bravo!

Ah thanks pinklather

The grind is not perfectly symmetrical at this point with one side ground about 0.5mm deeper than the other. This will obviously be rectified following heat treat since to do so beforehand might make the edge too thin and cause warping. At least from what I gather from others here in The Forge. The grind is approx 1/4 hollow and 0.4mm thick at the edge.
I'll take some more photos once it is fixed up a bit and heat treated.

It's got style that's for sure. It looks hungry too :<0). I bet you can hardly wait to use it. I see you just signed up not to long ago, have you been using a straight with a smile like that ? I would try one but it seems you have to make it or spend the big bucks to get one made. Keep at it and lets us know how it shaves. Your doing great so far it looks like.

Thanks

Well I have a french Gelle Freres frameback with a smile that's nearly as big and I love it. The reason I made such a large blade with a big smile is specifically to get ATG on my neck, since the hair there grows straight along the jawline, from ear to chin. It's a tricky grain to work with so the smile and round point makes it possible to get this area without putting the razor on a dangerous incline.

I'll definitely keep you all posted on how it performs.

Looks great, very nice work.
Dont forget to drill the pivot hole before Heat Treat.
Grant

Does the curvature of the spine match the smile of the edge?
Because otherwise you will either have trouble honing it, or it will develop very uneven (and unpleansant looking) bevels.
A small tip: try to hone it now, before HT, and see how the bevel develops. If that is unsatisfactory, you might need to reshape the edge a bit.

Before HT you still have the opportunity to easily fix this. Once it is HTed, you will be much more limited.

Originally Posted by baldy

Looks great, very nice work.
Dont forget to drill the pivot hole before Heat Treat.
Grant

Thanks Baldy, I won't forget

I'll be very happy if the first razor I ever try to grind is half that nice looking. Thanks for sharing!

Originally Posted by Bruno

Does the curvature of the spine match the smile of the edge?
Because otherwise you will either have trouble honing it, or it will develop very uneven (and unpleansant looking) bevels.
A small tip: try to hone it now, before HT, and see how the bevel develops. If that is unsatisfactory, you might need to reshape the edge a bit.

Before HT you still have the opportunity to easily fix this. Once it is HTed, you will be much more limited.

Yeah the curvature matches for most of the length and being no stranger to honing wedges I know exactly where you're coming from.
I know it is unusual to see the blade curve shallowing towards the heel but it is not without precedent.
I do have a razor that shallows in the same way, though it is a frameback.

But I love your suggestion to pass it over the hone a bit before heat treat to see how the bevel forms, it could save me a lot of trouble.