Thread: new member

Cool stuff!

I'm also in the process of making a razor. I bought a piece of 01 carbon steel, have annealed it in a homemade furnace (metal bucket, gravel, ashes, kitty-litter and a motorcycle exhaust as the downpipe with a tube for forcing the air from a hairdryer into). It worked wonderfully well. From what I've been reading it sounds like you did a decent job of annealing it. And if you have heated it up again to cherry red and quenched it in oil and then hardened in your oven for a few hours you should be good to go. I'm not finished grinding mine yet...

Good luck! I'm sure some guys with a lot more experience than me in working metal will be able to give you some great advice.

G'Day and welcome, John.

I'd have to agree with Hirlau - it's never too early to get started.

When you get your razors and if you can't find anyone in NZ to hone them for you, I'll do one or two gratis if you want to post them to me with a return envelope.

I think Eisenfaust will probably be able to help you though. I know there are other New Zealanders here - I just can't think of their usernames ATM

Let us know how you go

Originally Posted by Havachat45

G'Day and welcome, John.

I'd have to agree with Hirlau - it's never too early to get started.

When you get your razors and if you can't find anyone in NZ to hone them for you, I'll do one or two gratis if you want to post them to me with a return envelope.

I think Eisenfaust will probably be able to help you though. I know there are other New Zealanders here - I just can't think of their usernames ATM

Let us know how you go

Hi Havachat45.

Nice to hear from the neighbors across the ditch.

like the bike,what is it.

I ride a 97 XJ900(diversion).
I'll plod on with advice for now and if I can't produce a shaving edge may take you up on that offer(much harder to sharpen than swords and knifes)

BMW K1.

They're not harder to hone - just different.

I wouldn't have a clue about the heat treat and whether that is the culprit - odds are in favour of that I suspect but I am not in any way an expert on it.

I'm more interested in what you mean by a touch up on very fine natural stones. I'd have thought that razor would have required some serious grinding on some very coarse low grit synthetics. And what exactly are you using in the way of the natural stones?

What bevel angle did you create with that razor?

There are many things that could be the reason for it not shaving: heat treat, bevel angle, insufficient honing, shaving technique. In fact, I would say with this razor you have hit the mother load in terms of potential variables!

James.

Originally Posted by Jimbo

I wouldn't have a clue about the heat treat and whether that is the culprit - odds are in favour of that I suspect but I am not in any way an expert on it.

I'm more interested in what you mean by a touch up on very fine natural stones. I'd have thought that razor would have required some serious grinding on some very coarse low grit synthetics. And what exactly are you using in the way of the natural stones?

What bevel angle did you create with that razor?

There are many things that could be the reason for it not shaving: heat treat, bevel angle, insufficient honing, shaving technique. In fact, I would say with this razor you have hit the mother load in terms of potential variables!

James.

Goodmorning James,


I spent an hour lastnight flatening my 3 hones and putting a bevel on all edges and went back to scratch on the razor.

Started with my coarse hone of about 1200/1500 grit to establish a bevel.This angle was about 6 to 7 degrees

Moved to my fine hone(no idea on grit but does an almost mirror polish) then onto the superfine hone.

This hone is a light maroon colour and feels like a Jasper to me(I'm a hobby Lapidary) which explains the hardness. 5"x2"x 1/4" thick.


Once again,no idea on the grit but it is very hard and extremely fine-my guess is that somewhere in the 4000
+ range.

Razor now shaves but a little rough.

I also visited an antique shop and picked up a dirt cheap French razor that was in pretty good nick.
Had to remove the pin and scales to clean up around that area and the handle.
Blade has some minor discolouration on it that I will have to polish out when I get a buff.

I honed this on the fine hone and shaved with it last night-a little rough but a big improvement on the non functional edge that was on it.

I will go back to the shop tonight and see if they have any 8k hones or antique hones in the shaving "junk" pile.


I have watched a few vids on youtube on razor use and use my shavette and get a fair result but not as quick as in the vids.
I make 2 or 3 passes as recomended in most of the vids but am real careful and slow around the nose.

I think that is just an experience think and the fact that the razor still scares the heck out of me.


Cheers John

You'll find it difficult to get a good shaving edge off a 4K stone.

If you have any CrOxide "honing compound" -- used for plane blades and such -- try stropping the razor on a pasted strop. That _might_ get you to "shave-ready".

. Charles

Originally Posted by Fenian

Cool stuff!

I'm also in the process of making a razor. I bought a piece of 01 carbon steel, have annealed it in a homemade furnace (metal bucket, gravel, ashes, kitty-litter and a motorcycle exhaust as the downpipe with a tube for forcing the air from a hairdryer into). It worked wonderfully well. From what I've been reading it sounds like you did a decent job of annealing it. And if you have heated it up again to cherry red and quenched it in oil and then hardened in your oven for a few hours you should be good to go. I'm not finished grinding mine yet...

Good luck! I'm sure some guys with a lot more experience than me in working metal will be able to give you some great advice.

Hi Fenian.

Thats a cool looking blade.
I love your approach to home heattreat.
A man by the name of Tai Goo runs a primitive blade forging group and website that you might like.

I tried O1 many years ago for a small sword but got it a bit to hot and it crumbled(red short) so I don't use it now.

I prefer simple 10XX series steels as they are very forgiving.

I'll post pics when finished.

Cheers John