Thread: 7/8 Hollow grinding

Working up this blade, a smiling full hollow, finished up the preliminary grinding before HT. Just need to drill the pivot, you really don't want to forget to do that before hardening!

I’m in the middle of finishing a bellied full hollow. That damn line was really difficult for me to get straight and even. Are you keeping it or grinding it out after heat treat?

Originally Posted by jfk742

I’m in the middle of finishing a bellied full hollow. That damn line was really difficult for me to get straight and even. Are you keeping it or grinding it out after heat treat?

Are you using a jig? I use a homemade version of a knife grinding jig, I make my primary hollow then paint the blade with layout dye. I then scribe a line where the belly should land according to a hollow grind calculator I use online. I use the corner of the wheel and watch as I creep up to the scribe line. When it's pretty much there I then do some passes to smooth everything out to get a nice crisp line. I blend my bellies into the edge grind to get a bit of extra thinness but I think once I get the knack I'll start leaving them in. Looks more impressive to have that nice clean line I think. Might get in the way of sharpening decades down the road if left in however.

There were some old American razors that had the Korn Patent grind which had the belly left distinct. Also the Clauss New Departure razor.

No jig, all free hand. I haven’t fooled too much with jigs for grinding. One side came out awesome, the other not so much. It’ll do what I made it for so there’s that. Can’t wait to see that finished up.

Originally Posted by jfk742

No jig, all free hand. I haven’t fooled too much with jigs for grinding. One side came out awesome, the other not so much. It’ll do what I made it for so there’s that. Can’t wait to see that finished up.

Yeah my weak side grinds were never as good so what I ended up doing is just flipping the blade on my strong side so that it is edge down. Works especially well on a full hollow because you're already inside your primary grind so don't need to observe the edge thickness. I started out freehand but the jig is just more consistent imo.

I look forward to the progress pictures. It’s looking good.

Took the hollow all the way back to make a completely shoulderless grind. Been working on a batch of 5 7/8 razors, 4 wedges and this one hollow grind. Decided to freehand it and it came out good. Used some cork belts up to 800 grit to blend the belly into the edge grind but still left it quite distinct visually. The wedges were ground up to an A5 Trizact belt. As an aside if you're into grinding and have never tried the Trizact belts you really must, impeccable finishes, it's all I use apart from a 40 grit Blaze to do all my rough work and my cork belts.

After 40 Grit Ceramic.


Finished at 800 grit cork.





Other razors I'm working on.


All these are going into horn scales with faux ivory wedges.

Faux Ivory?
Bone can be made with and found at a pet store. I think it would match the horn better.

Originally Posted by Gasman

Faux Ivory?
Bone can be made with and found at a pet store. I think it would match the horn better.

I use a museum grade artificial ivory from Masecraft called col.849 but I have some of the Dave Warther Resin Ivory on the way so I'll compare the two. Both are extremely visually accurate, the Warther stuff has a black-light additive to check it is in fact artificial otherwise it's accurate enough to fool experts on inspection. Good enough for a small wedge. I'd like to use bone for scales at some point but just haven't got round to it.

Very nice mate
This is 8/8” with a 36” primary then a 2” hollow