Awesome sauce baked right in! Kind of like a low temp parkerizing job.
2016 "Gold Dollar" MOD Competition is ON!
- Thread starter alpster
- Start date
Now that I have EVERYTHING completed I can post my official entry. What I have for your consideration is a three (3) day set based on a single theme -American Patriotism. I incorporated the theme and aspects of each razor throughout, I hope you like it.
1)Kamisori style. The blade has been thinned/hollowed significantly as has the spine. The spine was thinned more on the show side than the other in order to give it more if a traditional kamisori grind. The blade was blued then stripes polished into the sides of the spine, the stripes are larger than the area that touches the hone but do incorporate any potential hone wear. The handle is a mycarta type. This thing shaves like a beast.
2) Had a rounded, French style with a polished blade. Of course the spine and blade have been thinned. I cut the tang and wrapped with copper wire for an inlay type effect. The scales are also a mycarta material and have been lined with copper (much harder than expected because I could not get thinner copper material). The wedge is the same mycarta as the scales, it is placed between the copper liner.
3) A snub nosed sway back with blued steel. The lighting and photography didn't catch it well but it really is a nice deep blue. Since the bevel was set prior to bluing the initial honing ware isn't a problem but future honing might produce lines. The spine and blade has been thinned as well as the tang. The scales are a fire hose mycarta with Red Oak wedge. I did I "hidden" pin in the wedge end and a bullseye pin at the pivot. I was going for a flag, flag hardware look here (white canvas with brass attachments & red wedge white scales blue blade)
Enjoy.
1)Kamisori style. The blade has been thinned/hollowed significantly as has the spine. The spine was thinned more on the show side than the other in order to give it more if a traditional kamisori grind. The blade was blued then stripes polished into the sides of the spine, the stripes are larger than the area that touches the hone but do incorporate any potential hone wear. The handle is a mycarta type. This thing shaves like a beast.
2) Had a rounded, French style with a polished blade. Of course the spine and blade have been thinned. I cut the tang and wrapped with copper wire for an inlay type effect. The scales are also a mycarta material and have been lined with copper (much harder than expected because I could not get thinner copper material). The wedge is the same mycarta as the scales, it is placed between the copper liner.
3) A snub nosed sway back with blued steel. The lighting and photography didn't catch it well but it really is a nice deep blue. Since the bevel was set prior to bluing the initial honing ware isn't a problem but future honing might produce lines. The spine and blade has been thinned as well as the tang. The scales are a fire hose mycarta with Red Oak wedge. I did I "hidden" pin in the wedge end and a bullseye pin at the pivot. I was going for a flag, flag hardware look here (white canvas with brass attachments & red wedge white scales blue blade)
Enjoy.
Well, after being somewhat disappointed with my skills regarding making scrimshaw scales, I decided to sand the scales down again.
I also decided to shorten the scales a bit, as they looked a bit too big.
Recognising and accepting that scrimshaw is quite a challenge for my abilities, I almost went for a plain bone look.
I then remembered a pattern I used to make in high school, when I was bored during classes, and though I might be able to pull that off, as it is a pattern I have made quite a few times.
So this is the razor I ended up with, and I am more pleased with the result now than I was before, so here is my official entry
What has been done:
Shortening the blade, French tip, file worked spine, shortened the tail slightly, razor blued in a combination of hydrogen peroxide/salt and Birchwood Perma Blue.
Scales are made of camel bone polished to grit 5,000 and with simple scrimshaw pattern. The spacer is made of African blackwood.
I also decided to shorten the scales a bit, as they looked a bit too big.
Recognising and accepting that scrimshaw is quite a challenge for my abilities, I almost went for a plain bone look.
I then remembered a pattern I used to make in high school, when I was bored during classes, and though I might be able to pull that off, as it is a pattern I have made quite a few times.
So this is the razor I ended up with, and I am more pleased with the result now than I was before, so here is my official entry
What has been done:
Shortening the blade, French tip, file worked spine, shortened the tail slightly, razor blued in a combination of hydrogen peroxide/salt and Birchwood Perma Blue.
Scales are made of camel bone polished to grit 5,000 and with simple scrimshaw pattern. The spacer is made of African blackwood.
Here are two more photos showing a bit different detail.
Very very nice
I like all three, and the various solutions going into each of them - well done sir
Niiiiiice work Chris! =) Very well done! I especially like the firehose micarta, looks a bit like snake skin, 'Don't tread on me' =)!
You should look at McMaster-Carr (http://www.mcmaster.com/), you can get annealed copper shim stock down to .001 thick =)
You should look at McMaster-Carr (http://www.mcmaster.com/), you can get annealed copper shim stock down to .001 thick =)
SHM, you did the right thing. That is an amazing blade and now the handle matches it SO well! You say that it's a simple scrimshaw, but it looks more complicated and (imho) much better! I love how dark the blade is. Well done, sir.
Well, after being somewhat disappointed with my skills regarding making scrimshaw scales, I decided to sand the scales down again.
I also decided to shorten the scales a bit, as they looked a bit too big.
Recognising and accepting that scrimshaw is quite a challenge for my abilities, I almost went for a plain bone look.
I then remembered a pattern I used to make in high school, when I was bored during classes, and though I might be able to pull that off, as it is a pattern I have made quite a few times.
So this is the razor I ended up with, and I am more pleased with the result now than I was before, so here is my official entry
What has been done:
Shortening the blade, French tip, file worked spine, shortened the tail slightly, razor blued in a combination of hydrogen peroxide/salt and Birchwood Perma Blue.
Scales are made of camel bone polished to grit 5,000 and with simple scrimshaw pattern. The spacer is made of African blackwood
Woo Hoo!!
Well Done Søren! I'm really liking the pattern on the bone!
Wow, amazing work everyone! I really want to start doing some mod work, and this just cements it. All of them look fantastic!
Thanks, the snake skin look was intentional (it did sort of happen on its own but required a bit of sanding to reveal evenly) but the "don't tread on me connection to the theme didn't occur to me until you brought it up.
Honestly as cool as the others are (the kamisori one is kind of fun to shave with) the snub nosed one is my favorite because it is simple and has better balance all around.
With access to thin copper or brass sheet I might be tempted to make a new set of scales for the other one using the thinner liner.
Well, after being somewhat disappointed with my skills regarding making scrimshaw scales, I decided to sand the scales down again.
I also decided to shorten the scales a bit, as they looked a bit too big.
Recognising and accepting that scrimshaw is quite a challenge for my abilities, I almost went for a plain bone look.
I then remembered a pattern I used to make in high school, when I was bored during classes, and though I might be able to pull that off, as it is a pattern I have made quite a few times.
So this is the razor I ended up with, and I am more pleased with the result now than I was before, so here is my official entry
What has been done:
Shortening the blade, French tip, file worked spine, shortened the tail slightly, razor blued in a combination of hydrogen peroxide/salt and Birchwood Perma Blue.
Scales are made of camel bone polished to grit 5,000 and with simple scrimshaw pattern. The spacer is made of African blackwood.
Very very nice
I like all three, and the various solutions going into each of them - well done sir
Outstanding Work Fellas!!
That's some kind of $5 ugly. I'm shooting for $5 ain't quite so ugly.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
That was then, this is now, ain't quite so ugly.
View attachment 668195
View attachment 668196
View attachment 668197
My first try at modifying the blade, didn't get too carried away. Coated with GunKote, a baked on ceramic based firearm finish. Should hold up to the strop for some time, tape when honing! Scales are lacewood with several coats hand rubbed linseed oil to a satin finish.
If you look close at the tang you will see a streak of softer metal. Sandblasting to prep for the finish revealed a very uneven heat treating/tempering to this blade. Took two tries at the GunKote to get a mostly acceptable finish. At least the cutting edge appears to be evenly treated.
Now that I have EVERYTHING completed I can post my official entry. What I have for your consideration is a three (3) day set based on a single theme -American Patriotism. I incorporated the theme and aspects of each razor throughout, I hope you like it.
1)Kamisori style. The blade has been thinned/hollowed significantly as has the spine. The spine was thinned more on the show side than the other in order to give it more if a traditional kamisori grind. The blade was blued then stripes polished into the sides of the spine, the stripes are larger than the area that touches the hone but do incorporate any potential hone wear. The handle is a mycarta type. This thing shaves like a beast.
2) Had a rounded, French style with a polished blade. Of course the spine and blade have been thinned. I cut the tang and wrapped with copper wire for an inlay type effect. The scales are also a mycarta material and have been lined with copper (much harder than expected because I could not get thinner copper material). The wedge is the same mycarta as the scales, it is placed between the copper liner.
3) A snub nosed sway back with blued steel. The lighting and photography didn't catch it well but it really is a nice deep blue. Since the bevel was set prior to bluing the initial honing ware isn't a problem but future honing might produce lines. The spine and blade has been thinned as well as the tang. The scales are a fire hose mycarta with Red Oak wedge. I did I "hidden" pin in the wedge end and a bullseye pin at the pivot. I was going for a flag, flag hardware look here (white canvas with brass attachments & red wedge white scales blue blade)
Enjoy.
Here are two more photos showing a bit different detail.
Well, after being somewhat disappointed with my skills regarding making scrimshaw scales, I decided to sand the scales down again.
I also decided to shorten the scales a bit, as they looked a bit too big.
Recognising and accepting that scrimshaw is quite a challenge for my abilities, I almost went for a plain bone look.
I then remembered a pattern I used to make in high school, when I was bored during classes, and though I might be able to pull that off, as it is a pattern I have made quite a few times.
So this is the razor I ended up with, and I am more pleased with the result now than I was before, so here is my official entry
What has been done:
Shortening the blade, French tip, file worked spine, shortened the tail slightly, razor blued in a combination of hydrogen peroxide/salt and Birchwood Perma Blue.
Scales are made of camel bone polished to grit 5,000 and with simple scrimshaw pattern. The spacer is made of African blackwood.
All I can say is WOW! I sure do wish I had a tenth of the skills that you fine Gentlemen have. Wonderful work and ALL Are completely different directions which makes it that much harder to pick a favorite. Good luck to all of you Gents, this year is going to be a close one for sure
I most definitely do not envy the judges jobs this year! All the fabulous submissions, treasures all!
Hey Soren, how do you actually get your blade black like that? And does it pit it out very much? I used ferric chloride last year and it makes a nice grey but I've been wanting to do black for a while. And without ruining the blade as well
He said hydrogen peroxide/salt and Birchwood perma blue .
Yes, I started out with boiling it in a saturated solution of hydrogen peroxide and salt (1½-2 cups). The metal didn't take on the rust as fast and with the colour I had seen in the description of the method, so I added some hydrochloric acid (about 1/4 cup) and that had a positive effect on the surface, it turned light matt grey. It was then boiled in distilled water as the method said, to convert the iron from Fe2 to Fe3, it should have turned the metal dark, but it stayed grey. I used plastic tongs to move the razor around and pick it up.
I almost kept it like that, because I thought it looked quite cool - at least something to consider for a future modification.
But my aim was a very dark colour, so I then tried rubbing the Perma Blue solution on the warm razor, and it turned almost black at once. I think I treated it a couple of times with the solution rinsing well in water between as said in the directions, and then I finished off with boiling it in distilled water, just to make sure that the iron had been converted - not sure this step was necessary, but it didn't hurt the razor and only took a couple of minutes.
I was a bit anxious after the treatment, as the metal sounded kind of hollow near the edge, so I was afraid that the rust-process had gone deep into the metal, but when I honed it, it showed good metal quite fast, and luckily it hadn't penetrated as deep into the metal as I thought.
I took me some fiddling to get what I wanted, but I got there in the end with the result I had hoped for
I saw somewhere that warm metal would make the Perma Blue solution act better, so it might have been enough, I don't know, but I doubt it.
If anyone wants to try the H2O2/salt treatment, I highly suggest following the original description and only use those two chemicals at first to see how the metal reacts. I used a plastic container in a stainless steel pot making a water bath, as the method say it will rust anything bare metal, and even the fumes coming off the solution put some rust-spots in the top of the pot. They where easily removed afterwards, but next time I will grease the pot with some food oil first to protect it.
Now if you think it is necessary to use hydrochloric acid as well, then take the proper precautions - I was wearing safety glasses and gloves and was adding the acid very slowly to the warm solution. You don't want it to spray anywhere, least on yourself. I was also working under the kitchen hood at its full speed during the whole process.
Fumes from hydrochloric acid is very bad for the lounges, as it can create water in them, so you really don't want to inhale any.
Really; take good care of yourself and your surroundings when using chemicals, especially when they are mixed and heated.
And dispose of the them in a correct and proper manner.
I almost kept it like that, because I thought it looked quite cool - at least something to consider for a future modification.
But my aim was a very dark colour, so I then tried rubbing the Perma Blue solution on the warm razor, and it turned almost black at once. I think I treated it a couple of times with the solution rinsing well in water between as said in the directions, and then I finished off with boiling it in distilled water, just to make sure that the iron had been converted - not sure this step was necessary, but it didn't hurt the razor and only took a couple of minutes.
I was a bit anxious after the treatment, as the metal sounded kind of hollow near the edge, so I was afraid that the rust-process had gone deep into the metal, but when I honed it, it showed good metal quite fast, and luckily it hadn't penetrated as deep into the metal as I thought.
I took me some fiddling to get what I wanted, but I got there in the end with the result I had hoped for
I saw somewhere that warm metal would make the Perma Blue solution act better, so it might have been enough, I don't know, but I doubt it.
If anyone wants to try the H2O2/salt treatment, I highly suggest following the original description and only use those two chemicals at first to see how the metal reacts. I used a plastic container in a stainless steel pot making a water bath, as the method say it will rust anything bare metal, and even the fumes coming off the solution put some rust-spots in the top of the pot. They where easily removed afterwards, but next time I will grease the pot with some food oil first to protect it.
Now if you think it is necessary to use hydrochloric acid as well, then take the proper precautions - I was wearing safety glasses and gloves and was adding the acid very slowly to the warm solution. You don't want it to spray anywhere, least on yourself. I was also working under the kitchen hood at its full speed during the whole process.
Fumes from hydrochloric acid is very bad for the lounges, as it can create water in them, so you really don't want to inhale any.
Really; take good care of yourself and your surroundings when using chemicals, especially when they are mixed and heated.
And dispose of the them in a correct and proper manner.
I used hot water to warm and rinse my blade during the perma blue application and did several applications in a short time span. My goal was a BLUE not black so I used an acetone soaked cotton pad with perma blue solution to contralto rub off the black and reapply more blueing. The final polishing with a cream polish revealed a more uniform DARK blue than the blue I expected.
I think hot metal makes a difference in the process. I expect I could have built a deeper black if I was rubbing less.
I think hot metal makes a difference in the process. I expect I could have built a deeper black if I was rubbing less.
Awesome! Thanks for the run down. I know you mentioned what it was just didn't know the process. I haven't spent much time actually changing the color of steel like that. Something I think I'll try for next time! Your blade looks great.
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