Thread: Project Fun

Howdy,

Living in Australia has its advantages, but obtaining good steel with the desired thickness for 8/8 razors is difficult.
I could order from the USA, but i'm impatient.
So i've been looking for steel to use and found a couple of guys having made razors of files, specifically older style files.
Luckily I found some amazing industrial style ones on the classifieds.

It almost seems a shame to use these as they look to have been well crafted.
I've also got minimal access to heating equipment so i'll be going down the hard grind path.
I'll update with some progress pictures.

For now i'm off to buy a workbench/Vice/Grinder

That's one way to get some sheffield steel!

I look forward to seeing what you make out of them

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I'm going to try and keep the Manufacturers stamp in tact if I can.
Also I believe the ratio of spine width to blade width is 1-4, can anyone assist with this?

More or less, depends on what you prefer the angle of the bevel to be.

ok i've just done a mockup.
Let me know your thoughts

Hello Zimbyzim
I once fabricated a razor from hand file (without annealing , and re-heatreated) but leaving steel hard throughout the process. And I have to say it was ridiculously hard, being that a hand file steel is extremely hard and difficult to work without putting any heat to it to change its temper. I was lucky to have a machine shop at my disposal that had coolant spray and even that was tough to keep cool.
Here are a few links of the project.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...bilizer-2.html

http://straightrazorpalace.com/custo...ile-razor.html

Another thing about doing this without annealing and reheattreating is that being that the steel of a file is extremely hard with a Rockwell hardness well into the 62+ range. The edge of my razor was really brittle and that making and keeping an edge was a real nightmare.

Once again keep the sucker cool throughout your grinding. If you see discoloration, you altered the temper.

Good luck

Originally Posted by Tarkus

Hello Zimbyzim
I once fabricated a razor from hand file (without annealing , and re-heatreated) but leaving steel hard throughout the process. And I have to say it was ridiculously hard, being that a hand file steel is extremely hard and difficult to work without putting any heat to it to change its temper. I was lucky to have a machine shop at my disposal that had coolant spray and even that was tough to keep cool.
Here are a few links of the project.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...bilizer-2.html

http://straightrazorpalace.com/custo...ile-razor.html

Another thing about doing this without annealing and reheattreating is that being that the steel of a file is extremely hard with a Rockwell hardness well into the 62+ range. The edge of my razor was really brittle and that making and keeping an edge was a real nightmare.

Once again keep the sucker cool throughout your grinding. If you see discoloration, you altered the temper.

Good luck

Wow thanks, we have tonnes of coolant for the CNC machines at work so will borrow some of this for dip cooling.
I did some grinding of one of the file ends as a test and it seemed quite fine,
hmm maybe different composition of steel and tempering in this one.
For me this is really about the journey and not really the finished product

Originally Posted by zimbyzim

I did some grinding of one of the file ends as a test and it seemed quite fine,
hmm maybe different composition of steel and tempering in this one.

Oh yes its easy peazy when its nice and thick but when you start to thin it out (with the hollows) that's when you'll sweat bullets. That's of course if your doing a hollow grind.
If memory serves I used a course wheel to avoid heating it up 46H or even courser. But then I had it in my head to do the whole thing on a surface grinder table and drag grind from toe to heal, one side then the other to keep it symmetrical. Probably a real stupid way to do it, but I didn't trust my free hand skills.

Also remember the tang of a file is a bit softer then the business end so make sure your well away from it with the cutting edge.

I always love to see guys do this project. Very Cool

Well, I have some new found respect for those that grind hardened steel.
The cutting went fairly smoothly with the dremel and taking it slow.
The grinding is the killer, bought a cheap belt grinder, works ok, but requires shutting off when it gets too hot
Made more mistakes with using the wheel to take off steel as it works faster, still cleaning up gouge marks.
I tried to leave some of the original file look but my freehand grinding is horrid so had to remove it as it was very uneaven and poor looking.
Had to down tools due to residential noise, while packing up, the cheap grinder fell off the cheap workbench and broke
Guess I'll need to use the tools at work if I want to finish this.
Or maybe I'll go the cheap route and buy a custom made one :P