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I'm curious. It seems there are several ways to go about it. I see various jimps and find some more appealing than others. But is it just a matter of appeal? or is there further significance? and what tools and methods are used to produce jimps anyway? Pictures will be highly appreciated too.
Thanks.
I don't make them but I do appreciate them. I remember an old thread where, razor maker extraordinaire, Joe Chandler said using the teeth of a jig saw blade as a template for spacing was a good idea.
Checkering files work well. A jig saw blade clamped to the side of the razor like Jimmy mentioned also works well. You can also rig up a threaded stop to regulate the spacing of the jimps.
If you search for jimps you can find threads on all of these methods.
Charlie
I don't see any valid reason to have them, except maybe not wanting the razor to look ordinary - and if you don't think ordinary is good, in a razor, that is what scales are for.Quote:
Originally Posted by TCB
But if you must, and you are talking about doing it before the steel is hardened, I would drill a line of holes or file notches in a piece of brass, then cut it along the dotted line to leave a line of semicircles. Then I would temporarily epoxy it to the blade as a guide.
If the blade is hardened I would use a diamond burr in the Dremel tool. You should clamp a piece of brass to the blade, to make sure the rotation doesn't make it roll.
So, you dont consider jimps to be of ANY functional value at all? It's just esthetic?Quote:
Originally Posted by Caledonian
If that. I think they could only be marginal and ingenious function, at the most. Why aren't they all doing it?Quote:
Originally Posted by TCB
I'm not sure it's a matter of statistics. But I understand your point.
Thanks to all for the kind advice and insight.
Hmm. Have you tried to shave with blade without jimps and one with jimps? How was your grip and controll of the blade?Quote:
Originally Posted by Caledonian
I love Sheffields but unfortunately often those old ones do not have jimps which is for me pain.
Personally I find bone shaves better than horn, and both are well ahead of plastic, but I hesitate to draw conclusions. The boards are full of people finding a difference between razor and razor, and ascribing it to whatever reason they find most satisfying. But I will continue using the sharp side.Quote:
Originally Posted by adrspach
Are you sure that we talk about same thing?
I'm confused. What do bone, horn, and plastic have to do with jimps?Quote:
Originally Posted by Caledonian
I must confess that I like jimps. I am comfortable with and without them but the peace of mine with them is nice. At least for me and with my kids running around.
Back to the question. After looking at few dozens of razors it looks to me like they were either cut like old style hand made files or roled with toothy roller.
We see the term used of two distinct features. One is filework on the back of the blade, which is surely the most purposeless. The other is serration on the tang, which I still think is of little utility, and is a place rust is very likely to begin.Quote:
Originally Posted by adrspach
I don't believe there is any reliable way to accomplish the latter on a hardened blade. But before hardening, it is easily done with a firearms checkering file for metal (not to be confused with wood checkering tools) from a firm like World's Largest Supplier of Gun Parts, Gunsmith Tools & Shooting Accessories - Brownells . (trying to do it freehand with a triangular file is asking for trouble.) But that is only on a flat or convex portion of the tang. I am sure professional razor-makers had similar tools with a convex surface, for concave curves. You could make one with the checkering file, from a softened and rehardened half-round file. But the checkering file is an expensive item to risk bluntening.
Rolled, I don't believe. It is possible that they were sometimes swaged into the red-hot tang with a sort of specially cut pincer, possibly pounded with a hammer for the momentary action which wouldn't cool the piece you want hot, and heat the tool you don't want to overheat. But I don't think such a tool, probably expensive, would have lasted before HSS and carbide, and I am sure they were mostly cut with a multiline file.
I like jimps. Grip and control, less slipping there is a positive reason to have them for many people.
There must be a bunch of ways to add them to a razor, I can think of 9 right off the top of my head. It can be done on a soft blank and it can be done on a hardened blank. It will depend on the maker or owner and when he wants to add them. It can be a mod to a razor that did not have them.
Soft blank with or without fixturing;
hammer and chisel
file (of many types)
grinding wheel (bench grinder or dremel tool)
hot forge with a chisel type of tool
abrasive cutoff wheel (bench grinder or dremel tool)
carbide burr (dremel tool)
end mill (Bridgeport type mill)
hacksaw
bandsaw
Hardened blade many of the above will work.
Imagination and resourcefulness are your only limitation.
Jeff
It is very common to have them on solingen hollow ground blade, which usually have a rather thin tang.Quote:
Originally Posted by Caledonian
With jimps, the slender tang is less likely to move in your grip.