Thread: Curious

Does anyone know how to do decorative work on the spine of a blade? Or is that something the maker has to do...

Find a cheep ebay razor and a dremel and go to work. I'm actually trying this in a few hours with an old ebay find.

Good call. It just so happens I spent a little under $10 on an Ebay find just a few minutes ago. I will have to give it a go when it gets here.

its prolly good to practice on junker ebay finds.

High quality razors will be very difficult to do spinework on as they are extremely hard. Most of the time spinework is done before heat treat.

Great thread - let us know how it turns out - Im eager to see pictures!

Another option would be to visit your local hardware store, or junkyard, and get some metal about the thickness of a razor spine, and practice on that first. The temper on the metal would be different, but you'd be able to get a feel for the basic movements and patterns. Then move on to the cheap ebay finds.

if you have a decent set of files you can do the spine work with them.

Originally Posted by keenedge

Another option would be to visit your local hardware store, or junkyard, and get some metal about the thickness of a razor spine, and practice on that first. The temper on the metal would be different, but you'd be able to get a feel for the basic movements and patterns. Then move on to the cheap ebay finds.

Why didn't I think of that? That way if my ebay find turns out to be a halfway decent shaver it doesn't have botched spinework. Think a tungsten dremel bit would do the trick?

Just about any engraving/filing dremel tip should be fine on non-heat treated steel.

It may just be because I've been working with PM/Cryo treated wood working tools for a while as well as Japanese knives, but I don't find razors to be too hard. Most feel soft in comparison.