Thread: New Blade Production- Unrealistic?

Originally Posted by mparker762

...so you'd just need to front the cost for the mould. But this could get you blanks coming out with no grinding needed, just polish to a matte finish, harden and temper (which is cheap IIRC - something like $5/blade in double-digit quantities), then hone on a couple of continuous belts with pastes....

...So if you want gold trim or a mirror polish that's gonna cost extra, though jimps, worked backs, and even engraving can probably be incorporated into the initial mould....

This situation isn't really feasible, heat treating a blade that is fresh from a mould can go one of two ways:

1. the fresh from the mold blade is close to the final thickness at the edge to facilitate fewer grinding steps, and would warp like hell when exposed to the heat changes in the heat treat process, thus rendering it useless.

2. the fresh from the mold blade is thick enough to withstand the heat treat process with no, or minimal, warpage thus requiring very careful grinding to achieve the final dimensions and still maintain the hardness of the blade, thus adding considerable work to the process.

Put simply, if there were a more economic method of producing razor of comparable quality, the current manufacturers or custom razorsmiths would be doing it.

*edit: the exception to this is the "disposable" feather straights that use a generic replaceable blade that is stamped out of thin hardened sheet metal stock, and given a decent edge. they are cheap because the sheet steel is used for other more popular items as well. so you may be able to offer a more attractive model that adapts these disposable blades or something like that.