Thread: Success is so sweet... :)

Well, on my third attempt I have finally made a razor that shaves really well. The other two I've done weren't heat-treated properly, I think, so they shaved but pulled a little bit.

This razor is actually kind of thrown together because I just wanted to test my heat treating methods. It's simple carbon steel--1084.

The blade has a semi-mirror finish; it has visible scratches but a decent shine to it. My rough grinding is coming along pretty well, and now I need to focus on my finishing. The proportions are a little wacky, as the tang is short enough to be awkward. The edge is a little uneven, which creates some unevenness in the bevel. Tim Zowada gave me some advice to help with that.

The scales are lacewood finished in CA; they were a set I ruined last month, so I just threw the blade in them so I could hone it.

I honed it last night, and it took less than 30 minutes, including setting the bevel by hand. My previous razors took several hours each to hone. I could tell this one was better just from the way it honed.

The shave this morning was pretty amazing. At the risk of bragging, I can honestly say I prefer this blade to most of the vintage razors I've used. It was in my top 10 most comfortable shaves ever.

The challenge will be figuring out why it works and then repeating that. It could be the grind, the heat-treatment, the honing... Lots of variables to work out in there. It's nice to know I'm on the right road, though....

I'm going to use this razor for a while to see how the edge holds up. We'll see if it falls apart on me after a couple of shaves.

Josh