Thread: Spare time project - Vanadis 23 & Titanium

This thread can serve as a build diary of sorts for something I've wanted to make for a while:



More to come as I have the time to work on it.

If that is going to be the thickness of the blade, it is going to be much too thin. The angle should be around 15 degrees.

Agree. It's .125 in that sketch. Thinking .187 at the spline. What do you think. It will be a wedge grind. Of note, even a .187 on a 9" oal fighting knife is very stiff. The material I'm using for this is vanadis 23 which I've already heat treated to 64Rc.

Starting out with pre-hardened steel? No way I would want to start out with some .250 flat stock that was already hard, especially the stock removal for the hollow...

Originally Posted by shooter74743

Starting out with pre-hardened steel? No way I would want to start out with some .250 flat stock that was already hard, especially the stock removal for the hollow...

Shooter is dead on correct.
I once made a razor out of an old hand file. I never annealed it. Must of been in the 60's Rockwell. Not only did it take a lifetime to grind, I was always sweating bullets trying to keep the bloody thing from burning up, and loose temper. Especially when I was getting close to the finished thickness. I could barely keep up keeping it cool, and thats with having a coolant flooding system hosing it down .

I have Wire EDM machines to use (will cut through the hardest material like butter) and surface grinders with magnetic sine vices that pour coolant on the work. Work hardening won't be an issue. It's also a wedge grind so I'll be able to surface grind it with a magnetic sine vice set up. Made multible dies out of pre hardened tool steel, and I prefer hardening blocks vs profiles for the way it through hardens evenly. I made the die this offcut is from the same way, and it's designed for 1 million cycles shearing .125" stainless. Don't worry, leave the metal work up to me

But yes, working with vanadis this hard by hand would be nearly impossible, as I even have to redress the grinder's wheel every pass. This isn't o1 or even D2 for that matter. This stuff is extremely difficult to work with at this state and not reccomended for beginers. O1, A2, etc is a cake walk compared to this stuff. But, it makes an incredible edge and I hope what I make from it works out well.

Any suggestions for pivot bearings/bushings? Do people normally like a stiffer pivot or something that rolls on it's action fairly smoothly?

Would be great to see some pics of the process you will be using.

That's the plan. I have a bunch to learn form you guys on this topic, and I hope to be able to help with regards to metalurgy and manufacturing process in return. This will be a 'spare time' project, for which I have barely any spare time for, so please excuse the slow rate of work as I get commissioned to work on stuff outside of my day to day job. At any rate, I think with the pool of knowledge I can come up with something that will make you guys proud.

Originally Posted by AFisher

Any suggestions for pivot bearings/bushings? Do people normally like a stiffer pivot or something that rolls on it's action fairly smoothly?

A razor's pivot has to do both for the razor to be functional. Try taking apart some vintage blades, and you'll see how it's done. Same goes for all the geometry of the steel, as well. There's a reason they've all looked so similar for so long.

And since you mentioned knives in a previous post, the sooner you can put aside your knife stuff and focus on the idea that this is a razor, the smoother the process will go for you. You can't fill a cup that's already full.

Originally Posted by holli4pirating

A razor's pivot has to do both for the razor to be functional. Try taking apart some vintage blades, and you'll see how it's done. Same goes for all the geometry of the steel, as well. There's a reason they've all looked so similar for so long.

And since you mentioned knives in a previous post, the sooner you can put aside your knife stuff and focus on the idea that this is a razor, the smoother the process will go for you. You can't fill a cup that's already full.

I hear you, but I get paid for my other work and the knives are for actual special forces guys, who will use them in action, so that takes priority.

Here's a belt I made using primary edm. Made from 316 and titanium:


Titanium nitrite coated:


EDM: