Hey everybody, I'm here on request from my father who wants to get into shaving with a straight razor and has asked me to build him one.
I have experience making knives (Mostly handling them from blanks). I've taken a blacksmithing class and forged my own knife, so I understand some heat treating and grinding, but I don't have a lot of equipment in that regard and I am bad at sharpening and honing.
So, I am thinking of cutting out the blank for the blade and shaping it before sending it off to a maker for final grinding, heat treating, sharpening, honing etc. so that it still has a home made style to our specifications but has a blade put on it by an expert.
The wood we've already bought. We'll be using Mexican Cocobolo with a Kingwood wedge. I have worked with the Kingwood before, and while it is a bit of a pain to work, it is really beautiful and takes a polish well with a little wax.
Questions I have:
What do I need to be aware of with straight razor design that might be different from a common knife?
What is a good steel? It needs to take a good, sharp edge. However, he'll also be learning honing and sharpening for the first time on it, so it should also be durable and fairly easy to sharpen. I'm sure that's a unicorn steel but I'm still curious what the recommendations are.
Who can I find that would put a finish on a blade and what might I expect to pay for such a service?
What is a good thickness of steel to work from? I'll be shaping the blade but let whoever I send it to grind it to the final bevel and put the edge on it, so what would both be easy for them to work and result in a good blade profile?
Are washers usually used in the pins to keep the blade moving smoothly? I plan on using brass pinstock and peening it before grinding it flush.
Also, if it matters, I will be using stock removal versus forging.
Thanks in advance. Already I can tell this is a very helpful community!