Another Batch of Custom Straight Razors in the Works

[Lucius]

Interesting. I can certainly imagine grinding each side individually by hand and trying to line them up with your eyes would be a time-consuming process.

Looking at those shavings, do you wear any respiratory protection when you grind?

 

[Mr Mockett]

Mm... Burr-King slack belt sanders are the best ever.

 

[denmason]

I'm writing all this down, Bill.

 

[BillEllis]

I forgot to take pics of the master grind. Maybe tomorrow. I take the cutting edge to about .035 to .040 because heat treating the blades any thinner could make them really prone to warping. So, when the heat treating is done, I will grind them the rest of the way down to about .008 + or - a whisker.

In the meantime, I use a dye to paint the areas that I want to engrave. It makes the lines that need to be cut a tad easier to see. The jury is still out on how much I like using the dye. On occasion, it can be distracting. Once I cut the boarders, then I remove the dye with acetone and scribe in the design for cutting. Stainless is a bear to engrave even though it is annealed. I broke no less than 25 graver tips while cutting this design.

 

[mdunn]

I love this thread. Thanks for sharing the process (thus far) with us Bill. Really interesting.

 

[Bacchus]

I love the engraved spines

 

[Utopian]

The incredibly detailed intricacy of that spine is amazing!
Wow!

 

[BillEllis]

Here's a not-so-great pic of the master grinds and profiles.

 

[Mejnoon]

Bill those look MEAN...very very nice, and its very cool to see them throughout the process

 

[Walking_Target]

You Sir, are terrible.

I'm still waiting for my first straight to arrive in the mail and you are tempting me with all this awesomeness.

 

[BillEllis]

Here is a little better pic of the profiles and master grind.

 

[BillEllis]

If you think I can have a critical eye for craftsmanship, you should witness the biting vision my wife has. She tore up the one in the middle. Said it wasn't even and didn't look right. I spent another 3 hours dressing it up after this pic was taken.

 

[BillEllis]

After I cut the borders, then I stippled the center area with the pointed graver you see in the pic. I set the mini jackhammer to about 1,400 hits a minute to do this. It is very time consuming. Normally, the machine is set to about 2,300 when I make regular cuts with other gravers. I have a plan. After the blade has been heat treated, then I'm going to plate that background in 24K gold. I don't mess with gold plating too much cause the liquid gold I have is cyanide based and I have to mask up and put on two sets of rubber gloves to protect the cuts I always have on my hands. It's the most dangerous stuff I have in the shop.

 

[denmason]

I'm writing all this down, Bill.

 

[BillEllis]

Fascinating!

Bill, since you have the one-wheel contraption rather than the 2-wheel contraption, do you try for those compound hollow grinds, or aim for 'thicker' results?

I don't mess with compound grinds much as they are too difficult to keep even unless jigs are used to duplicate the grind. Even then, there are no guarantees. I'm not particularly fond of really thin blades, anyway. As a matter of fact, mine aren't all that thick. I aim for .008 of an inch at the cutting edge. So unless the razor goes to a fella with a compulsive honing disorder, there won't be any issues with blade thickness at the cutting edge for several generations.

The width of the blade and the diameter of the grinding wheel play an important part in that equation. I try to use a wheel with a small enough diameter to meet the cutting edge at a true tangent rather than falling short of it. Falling short means that the blade will have more of an appearance of a wedge than a quarter hollow grind. That is usually caused by using a grinding wheel that is too large for that particular width blade. If the wheel is too small for the blade width, there is a chance that the cutting edge will wind up on the other side of the true tangent and actually create a thicker blade at a point where it needs to be at its thinnest. I hope that made sense.

I use a 6-inch wheel for razors up to 7/8 wide and a 10-inch wheel for an 8/8 blade or wider. I have found that a good relationship between my 6-inch grind wheel and width of blade is between 6/8 and 7/8.

 

[Seraphim]

Stop it!

Cut it out!

You're killing me!


Maybe it's a good thing they're all spoken for...


Thanks for all the pics, they are beautiful in all phases of creation! Really neat to see them take shape.

 

[Alacrity59]

Wow! This is truly fascinating. Thank you for sharing this with us Bill.

 

[Doc4]

... I hope that made sense. ...

Actually, I think so. Thanks!

 

[merkurguy]

You are a craftsmen, sir. I am glad I am on your list. I can't wait for a year to go by.

 

[joel]

If you think I can have a critical eye for craftsmanship, you should witness the biting vision my wife has. She tore up the one in the middle. Said it wasn't even and didn't look right. I spent another 3 hours dressing it up after this pic was taken.

I gotta agree with the Mrs.... the one in the center is surprisingly un-Bill like. I'm sure you purdy'ed er up real nice though. After shots?

Awesome stuff Bill!