Thread: new project. My 4th razor

Hello SR shavers and makers/restorers

(If you dont want to read the text, just skip it and take a look at the pics at the bottom. Comments are most welcome)

I’ve come back to the fire from a long waiting. I’ve been building a smithy/workshop, now containing my gas forge, my 30 kg anvil (the one I’m using currently), my new (secondhand, homemade) belt grinder, a 50 kg anvil (haven’t made a stand for it yet), and my airhammer. The bad thing is that I’ve never gotten the hammer to work. These hydraulic switches are not doing as I want them to. It’s a tiny little thing, hammerhead 10 kg, driven by compressed air. And I need a compressor to run it, too. But this is not about my new smithy but about what I made in it.
I felt like forging something again, suffering from abstinences from not forging for at least half a year. But I could not just forge at random, so I spend a night drawing, drinking coffee and watching TV with my mom (and falling asleep on the couch). I found a lot of inspiration in spazolas designs and the next day I went into the forge.

I found a 3-layer billet (iron-steel-iron) welded to a tang, not forgewelded together yet. I had my doubts since rust had formed on spots on it. I feared that I might enclose rust and destroy the forgeweld but I gave it a go. It welded nicely, but I wasn’t so sure. I welded it again and started forming the blade. It was quite difficult since I had to follow the drawing and the thickness I had calculated for my blade. But when I got to forging the ‘tongue’, next to the thumb groove, it got difficult. But finally it was ready for shapening on the belt grinder. Afterwards annealing and softening. When I got back in I let it soak in vinegar acid and water for a couple of hours so I could get the forging scales of easily.
Last Sunday, I put a new belt on the grinder and started. It was fun, since I’ve never been skilled at grinding. But this time I did it all by free hand, holding the tang with one hand, supporting the tip of the blade with a piece of wood. The contact wheel is 180 mm in diameter. It’s a bit too big for a razor, but it is what I have. Well, I just ordered 3 new wheels with arms attached. 120 mm, 80 mm and 25 mm. That should do it.
The blade is 3.2 mm thick and 17 mm high. The tail was a bit too heavy so it does not lay too good in the hand. The thumb groove is not nice either. It’s too small and should be situated longer back on the tail, but there is plenty of material to grind from.
The blade is now 0,3mm thick at the edge, so I think that it will stay straight in the hardening.
Thanks for now. More will follow when I get to make more knifes/straights, but right now I’m busy finishing my final year of highschool. You know, a huge pile of homework … every week.
Best regards, Kristian

This is it, my 4^th attempt at forging a razor

Please comment and tell me what you think could improve it. And you dont need to handle me with kid gloves

Kristian

You are to be commended for your success at such a young age. You are following in the footsteps of some very creative artists. Keep up the good work and don't ever give up trying.

Jerry
____

Rock on young sir!

only critique is that IMHO the tang needs thinned a bit. It looks quite chunky. That being said I love the design

It looks like a great start to me. I am always refining my work and changing my plans as I go along.

I think you work rocks

Charlie

Thanks to all of you

I agree, the tail should be thinner (and next time it should also be tapered a bit). The blade is heavy at the butt end, and the thumb groove should be made bigger. Looking forward to getting my hands on the new small wheel .

@spazola

I think you work rocks

Thanks a lot! You know, I got a lot of inspiration from your blog

-Kristian

That's really great you are doing this! It looks like a darned fine start to me. Although, I'm fairly new to any of it. :P

At any rate, I'm very impressed! I'd lighten up the tang, but truthfully, I'd never make it as far as you have! So I got nothing except to say "AWESOME!!"

Excellent work. One thing to look at is the spine thickness. 3.2mm is a bit too thin for a razor. i started with thin spines as a holdover from knifemaking where thinner cuts better{yes that is a generalisation}. Thin spined razors are hard to hone to a good edge.
A razor works best with the old formula of width being 3.5 times the thickness of the spine. So you want to be around 6 - 8mm thick at the spine depending on the razor width. i learnt the tough way that that will make it far easier to hone a good edge on.
Otherwise you have done really well - especially in knowing for yourself what things you would change to improve the next one.
Keep it going.
Regards,
Adam

Thanks, that's nice to know,

Originally Posted by Adam G.

width being 3.5 times the thickness of the spine.

I've taken what I know from bladeforging and turned it into a razor, but I can fully understand the point. I chose the thickness to 3,2 mm because it fits my contact wheel, giving me a full grind all the way to the top of the blade. I need smaller wheels to grind a fair grind if the blade is 6-8 mm thick. I made a formula for calculating the thickness of the blade, varying on blade width and wheel diameter.

-Kristian