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