So here is a project ive been working on. It is a straight razor for my friend whos birthday is coming up(sunday) I used a ratchet wrench as the metal and it seemed like it turned out pretty good. I still have a lot of file/sanding work to do on the blade and then there is sharpening... but all in all its looking like i wanted it to look!

Looks really neat, what is the back, was that a tire iron in a past life?

I'll post a picture of what it was with my finished product since I have to give it to him tomorrow.

I just melted the blade while i was getting ready to heat treat it...

Ouch.  I feel your pain, brother.

I'll post results of the second attempt when I get it done.

iconic,

 

Check out how this guy works:

The heat treating is before substantial stock removal - he also uses a clay method for heat treat. Razor's aren't easy projects from what I've heard.

Rockstar, 

Thanks for reminding me about this guy, I have liked his videos but have not watched one in a while. What do you think of that post anvil, that is some mass right there,. 

So here is a project ive been working on. It is a straight razor for my friend whos birthday is coming up(sunday) I used a ratchet wrench as the metal and it seemed like it turned out pretty good. I still have a lot of file/sanding work to do on the blade and then there is sharpening... but all in all its looking like i wanted it to look!

 I see a clearly defined socket shape but did you weld it to the ratchet before forging? I can't, for the life of me, make out where the ratchet part is/was

Tire iron?

I am thinking tire iron as well. That begs the question of if someone were to use this as a weapon and pommel strike a person would that be getting hit with the bunt end of a knife or the working end of a tire iron?  

not to be a spoil sport, but I can not see shaving with that first blades shape. There is a reason its called a straight razor, and none are arched like that. Please explain the logic for the arching cutting edge?

Steve, 

 

The curved edge is called a "smiling edge" or "swept edge". 

Swept edge - sometimes known as a ‘smiling’ edge, especially in the USA, this is the reverse of the swept spine. In this layout the spine is straight and the edge curved convexly, as in the dreadnought blade above.

http://straightrazorplace.com/srpwiki/index.php/The_straight_razor#Edge_Profiles

http://straightrazorplace.com/razors/64806-smile-no-smile.html

Curiously, Steve, where did you look to find NONE that are arched?  :P  I seem to remember Grampa's razor having the arched shape. I believe the curve would make it less likely to be nicked by the corners of the blade

 

Scott

The first blade had so much arch I imagine very little blade contact to face.  I know nothing about straight razors except for shaving with them, that is why I asked about so much belly in the photos.

My concern was with the steel used. Not sure it will hold the required edge to shave with. A bearing race, yes, but a tire iron?

The guy in the video posts earlier in this thread used a 1080/15n20 combo. This is more of a medieval style of blade that were described as looking like small axes.

Thanks to DARPA now we can watch a blacksmith put his own razor to his own neck.

Razors are really difficult to get right and have some design aspects that are critical to actually function to shave someones face. First the bevel  basically has to be hollow in geometry. There are razors that are called wedges but they too are hollow ground, just with a larger diameter wheel. I can't tell if your first one is hollow or not. The reason for this is that the razor acts as its own sharpening jig. The spine and the edge both lay on the stone as it is honed. A flat will have the whole bevel on the stone and will be nearly impossible to hone correctly. Second the thickness of the spine is determined buy the width of the razor. So determine how wide you want the razor then research the proper spine thickness to provide the bevel angles necessary for the edge.

 

You are off to a great start, keep it up. 

The metal used is a socket wrench socket. Its one i found at St vincints and it came with the socket and a round bar that extended with a detent ball and a hole through the end. like this ::}-----o that is literally what it looked like. I have another one but it is a bit deformed from attempting another forging. Basically I was going to make a strait razor and not knowing what they should have in terms of a blade i didnt think about it much, but now having all this info from you all I think ill be able to get somewhere.

Try stock removal first with some known steel - it isn't that expensive. Then try to forge one out. Badger and Blade is a good site to study making razors.

You can get O-1 , and other tool steels from MSC, ENCO, and other machine shop suppliers for just a few bucks. They have a bunch on a special in their newest flyers.

Amazon has O-1 starting at $11.00 for a 3/32" by 1/2" by 18" bar.

we have a larger listing of suppliers here '?do=embed' frameborder='0' data-embedContent>>

Ill take a look and probably go with one of them. But i was wondering if it is possible to forge the hollow part into the blade using a fuller(large fuller) or something and make it hollow so that i dont have to buy a belt sander set up for hollow grind.

I would recommend starting with .25 inch stock that is one inch wide to start for stock removal. 

 

Thanks

 

John

I know people who have done a hollow grind by hand though they've said if they were planning to do another they'd get a belt grinder.  You could build one.  Here is my 2x72 which uses a treadmill motor and has variable speed by using the treadmill's controller.  I've got about $250 invested in it.  The big expense was the wheels.