Thread: How wide the rear of a wedge should be?

I just measured the wedge from a old Sheffield 5/8" hollow grind & it was 60 thousands on the thick end down to around 30 at it's thinnest. This was an old lead wedge.

Slawman

Not this thread again. Ha.
I did learn a lot from it and asking a somewhat simple question. Who would have thought they was so much you could put into such a tiny razor part.

Originally Posted by Slawman

I just measured the wedge from a old Sheffield 5/8" hollow grind & it was 60 thousands on the thick end down to around 30 at it's thinnest. This was an old lead wedge.

Slawman

OMG Now there is a thought


I measure only the extreme ones now they are rather thin when compared to many that we see in pics of new builds

First thing I did before every making a set of scales was to take a set of Calipers a note pad and my set of Mark1 Eyeballs and watch and measure the how and why of what the Old Masters did, I kinda figured they might have known a thing or three..

Taught me all those "Rules of Thumb you see me post on threads like this bet you thought I learned ALL that from making mistakes I tried to eliminated as many of those as I could before I started..

Nice to see this thread brought to the front page so new guys trying to make wedges can understand what its about.
Update: the last dozen or so sets of scales ive made were on Imperial Razors. They all measure about the same thickness at the pivot on the blade. So my wedges have been made n this way...
Thickest part of the wedge is set the same measurement as the thickness of the blade at the pivot. Measure down toward the tail of the blade the same distance as the length of the wedge. That is the thickness of the thin end of the wedge. Now mock it up in the scales with the blade. Test to see if the wedge is too thick and asjust if the blade doesnt sit like i want in the scales. Meaning to thin the wedge so the blade sits up a bit more if needed. Trying to keep the same angle in the wedge as the angle of the pivot area of the razor.

Ive found with the razors ive been doing about .030 is the dfference from thick to thin. I also leave my wedges longer and wider than the scales until i get this figured out then finish shaping the scales and wedge together. This makes for a very nice fit.

Ive been doing it by hand and disc sander. Ive lost a bit of fingertip skin on the sander. But thats to get the beginning angle. The final sanding if needed to make the razor sit like I want it is done by hand with 60 grit on the bench. The course scratches help to keep the wedge from spinning as easy when pinned.

BTW, ive also been angling my wedges just a pinch from top to bottom just like the tang is built. Its not much so i just give it a few strokes on the paper to cause this last angle. So there you have it. I can now knock out wedges with ease and dont think much about it beside doing a little measuring of the blade before i start.
Still should make a Wedge Gizzy!