Thread: I'm a razor maker (I think)!

I finally found some time to work on honing my homemade razor. Or, should I say, some more time. I didn't use my grinder to set the bevel, so I did a lot of grinding with my DMT hones. It probably took me four hours over three sessions, but I finally got this baby shaving arm hair. I'll be giving it a shave-test tomorrow.

I got stuck for a while as the edge seemed to develop a persistent wire edge. I was starting to think the steel just wasn't properly hardened, but I was finally able to knock the wire off by working back and forth between the Belgian blue and the coticule, both with a heavy slurry. This is a great technique for stubborn razors, by the way. I just did back and forth honing with the slurry, concentrating on the areas that had the wire.

I wasn't able to get a very good edge off my coticule, so I resorted to the pasted hanging strops. After a tussle with the Dovo red and black pastes, this thing is popping arm hairs effortlessly. I have officially made a razor now, not just a razor-shaped object.

Not sure whether the difficulty in honing was due to poor grinding, or whether the steel is either too hard or too soft.

I definitely have my work cut out for me in the grinding area. The honing showed up all the uneven spots, including a high spot right on the toe. The hone wear actually extends along the spine, then runs around the toe and connects to the bevel. Doh.

Shave report to follow...

Josh

You can imagine the Quality managers coming up with the idea now. If only we could get the grinders to listen to the feedback from the honers. MMMMMMMMMMM

Alan,

Perhaps a good team-building exercise is in order to help open the lines of communication between the knucklehead who ground this razor and the sorry sap who had to hone it.

Josh

Photos! Photos! Photos!........... please

Here are the shots I took prior to honing...

The edge seems really good right now. I'm curious whether it's just a sharp wire edge and whether it'll hold up for more than a shave or two.

Josh

It looks like you're off to a great start, Josh

What?! No makers mark stamped into the tang?!





Congratulations! Looks like you just joined the ranks with the other big-boy razor makers!

SO? Where is that sign up sheet for the JE-Custom razor?!

Looks great! Keep us posted on how she shaves!!!

C utz

Is there any chance of a blow by blow of the steps it took to get this far.
Its something I'd like to try one of these days.

No, no, no, not nearly ready to sit at the big-boy table.

Right now one of our bladesmith members is helping me learn a little bit about steel the hard way--by forging and then breaking my blades. It's hard to destroy hours of careful work, but I'm learning a lot. Here's one I did over the weekend. Forged to shape, cleaned up on the grinder, then heat-treated. I then smashed it with a hammer to examine the inside of the blade.

I'm not sure if I'll ever take custom orders or not. I think I might prefer to just make razors and post them for sale as I finish them.

Josh

Man, that broke down to one mean looking exacto-knife!



C utz