Thread: Eskilstuna SSA in ebony

A blade I found in the wardrobe at my grandpa's place, with broken scales but otherwise in nice condition. Pretty much unused, and probably never honed. Handsanded the blade up from 400 up to 5000 grit.

The wedge is in ebony as well, lined with aluminium. In retrospect I find the scales and the wedge a bit on the heavy side. Will try to keep it slimmer the next time. The ebony is soaked in boiled linseed oil, and have a little beeswax on them.

The blade is a full hollow grind, with a little belly. Honed up nicely on the Naniwa SS, and finished on a yellow-green Thüringen. Shaves very smoothly.

Thanks for looking, and keep your projects coming!

That was a good heirloom find and turned out very well. The first and only set of scales I made turned out to be a little heavy also being a bit too thick. It is surprising how thin they have to be. The small 4/8 SAA razor I bought locally has the same grind as yours and shave like the dickens also. If I ever come across a bigger SAA blade I'll be sure to give it a new home.

Bob

That's beautiful. The aluminum is a great touch. I found it hard to make ebony thinner only because it is such a beautiful material.

I think the whole thing is very handsome and the lined wedge really does set the scales off. As Bob said, scales need to be in proportion and about 2.5mm thickness is recommended. Personally, I would stop at about 3mm with ebony - and it will take a bit more of a wedge without splitting.

I LOVE Ebony, in case someone didn't know that by now...

Turned out really nicely Sedell!

thanks guys.

indeed, my ebony blanks are 5 mm thick, and while thinning them out they felt thin enough after a lot of sanding, somewhere around 3.5 mm at the middle. Also, I could have placed the blade a bit higher (more visible spine when closed), thereby getting a thinner wedge. On the other hand, the chunky scales lies nicely in my hand and is well balanced.

I see we had similar ideas Hart, nice work and I like the shape of your scales!

Originally Posted by Sedell

thanks guys.

indeed, my ebony blanks are 5 mm thick, and while thinning them out they felt thin enough after a lot of sanding, somewhere around 3.5 mm at the middle. Also, I could have placed the blade a bit higher (more visible spine when closed), thereby getting a thinner wedge. On the other hand, the chunky scales lies nicely in my hand and is well balanced.

I see we had similar ideas Hart, nice work and I like the shape of your scales!

I think a thicker wedge end had its own appeal, just as a well tapered one does. They are two different styles. If you want a thinner wedge end and still have the blade sit low in the scales then you have to use a sharper taper on the wedge to create a greater bow in the scales. Ebony being fairly stiff, I don't know how much flex it could take.

Originally Posted by Hart

Ebony being fairly stiff, I don't know how much flex it could take.

It's quite flexible - take a look at the razor below which has quite a reasonable wedge shape.