Thread: Putting an 'edge' on a blunt 'blank'

Hi all,
I purchased 4 Dorko 444 blade blanks, as I know that Dorko has a high quality metal and I thought I could put an edge on these and create some great scales. However, putting an edge on these has been problematic. For those that don't know what a 'blank' is, it's a blade that has not had any work on putting an 'edge' on it. Basically a virgin that is waiting for that grinding/honing miracle! The edge is rounded and harmless. So what I am looking for is not someone who can put a nice edge on a 'dull' blade, but someone who can actually work to 'finish' a non-existent edge. I can put a great hone on any blade. I need to get to that point.

Anyone know someone who can do this for me?

BTW, I have proceeded myself through a 200, 400, 800, and even put it up against my coarser grinder to set the proper 'edge', with no real luck. I've gotten one kind of close to actually doing some cutting, but don't want to F-up the rest until I run out of options!

Thanks all!

Originally Posted by aleximus

Basically a virgin that is waiting for that grinding/honing miracle!

I'm sorry, but I'm not clear on the state of your blanks. Are they fully ground and just need honing, or do the need more grinding?

Also, if you "have proceeded myself through a 200, 400, 800," then you no longer should have an edge that is "rounded and harmless." I say this because the point of honing is to make the bevels meet to form and edge and there would be no reason to progress up grits unless you had achieved some semblance of an edge at each step.

For a while there were a ton of Dorko 444 and other blades available, often in lots, that went for what seemed like pennies. The people that I know of that bought them all had the same thing to say about them. They had all been heat treated and still needed to be finish ground. I do not know of anyone who finished them off, but with all the people here and the number of blanks being sold at the time, I am sure someone has finished some up and will chip in at some point. Making the first bevel on a razor can be a bear.

Originally Posted by RezDog

For a while there were a ton of Dorko 444 and other blades available, often in lots, that went for what seemed like pennies. The people that I know of that bought them all had the same thing to say about them. They had all been heat treated and still needed to be finish ground. I do not know of anyone who finished them off, but with all the people here and the number of blanks being sold at the time, I am sure someone has finished some up and will chip in at some point. Making the first bevel on a razor can be a bear.

experience to put the 'first' bee on these blades. That
is what I am hoping someone can do for me. I can take it from there. Maybe there is a post that goes through this process, but I have not found that as of yet.

As I hope I made clear they are not in any way 'finished'. I pulled one blade and tried to go through whatever but it is still not what I hope for these blades. Yes, I did try and go through the process from 200 to 800, but it did not get me where I needed to be. I am hoping someone has experience to go from a 'blank' to an edge I can work with.

Yes, I progressed somewhat through the grits, but did not get the grind that I needed from the beginning. Therefore this particular blade is not set up to produce a fine hone, which I am capable of. What I need is the process from blank to 'honorable' blade. I did a trial and error, now I want to start over and learn the true process.

That would be 'honeable', not honorable! damn auto-correct!

I am curious how thick the blade is at the edge. When a blade is heat treated it is quite a bit thicker than it would be when you sharpen it. If it was ground to the finished thickness before heat treat, during the heat treat process it would crack ever time. They are left thick, heat treated and then finish ground. So I am wondering if your blade is ground down enough to warrant honing. It could need to be taken to a belt grinder and the finish grind put on it to get it ready. At this point with out knowing more I am kind of shooting in the dark. There is a thread called restoration honing that you may want to read through. Where are you? If your blade has not been finish ground and you try to put a bevel on it, you could be honing for a very long time in order to get the full bevel on it and the bevel is likely to be very very wide, and you should use tape or there will be nothing left of the spine by the time you get to an apex.

Yup. Pre-heat treatment the edge is somewhere between the thickness of a dime and a nickel.

They are called Blanks because they need to have the finish grind done

Some like the old Herder Blanks needed final Temper also

You need somebody that does Re-grinds or that makes Razors, the price of doing a final grind or a re-grind makes buying blanks a prohibitive adventure unless you own a Belt grinder and know how to use it...

Yes you can grind the crap out of the edge and perhaps get to a shaving edge, and keep in mind I am answering WITHOUT a pic, much like shooting without aiming I might be off target


PICS help get accurate info