Custom Zowada on its way!!

[Garrett]

I ordered this from Tim about 6 months ago and he just sent me the photo of the blade and rendering together (Tim made the rendering based on characteristics that I wanted). It will be ready tomorrow! Great pre new years gift!

It is a 7/8 shoulderless with barbers notch, extended tail, jimps and rounded shank, thumb notch, and custom filework on the spine. The scales will be exhibition grade mammoth ivory (Tim said it is gorgeous) - I can't remember if it is bark or not. I will post pics when I get it.

THis is my 3rd Zowada and cannot wait for the hat trick!

[Aaron01]

Nice looking blade. It will look over the top with the mammoth ivory!

[crankymoose]

very nice, Zowada's are addicting

[BillEllis]

I am not surprised at all with the great lines of this blade. TZ is one of the best makers around. It looks like you only have one steel on the cutting edge as well which is a very good thing. When all the folds of the different steel meet on the cutting edge, there can be problems sometimes with micro-chipping because it is so thin there. That has been my experience, anyway, with damascus coming from some of the best steel makers around.

If you have any blue color in those mammoth scales, you hit the motherlode. I love that stuff. Depending on where the critter died, coloring in the ivory was generated by whatever minerals were in the soil at the time. The tusk in the dirt generates the most color. If there are no separations in the bark or fill-ins (which are perfectly ok) in the scales, that means that the tusk was found in an area where there are no extreme freeze and thaw cycles. The best examples of ivory come from areas that stay frozen all year. The scales you see with cracking, separation, and missing pieces come from the warmer climates.

Make sure you appreciate those scales 'cause you are directly responsible for stinking up Tim's shop for a solid two days. Ground up ivory will wrinkle anybody's nose. Bad bad, bad bad bad.

[Seraphim]

Love the shoulderless grind!!!!!


And everything else about it!

[geoffreyt]

Absolutely sweet. Like the poster said, it will be over the top with ivory scales. Very nice!

[Tim Zowada]

It looks like you only have one steel on the cutting edge as well which is a very good thing. When all the folds of the different steel meet on the cutting edge, there can be problems sometimes with micro-chipping because it is so thin there. That has been my experience, anyway, with damascus coming from some of the best steel makers around.

Bill,

You've discovered one of the real problems with using Damascus for razors. On this razor the Damascus goes all the way to the edge. What you are seeing is just a bold spot in the pattern.

To make decent Damascus for razors you need to pay attention to the steels used (you don't want alternating hard and soft layers), and the patterning of the steel.

For Damascus work well on the edge of a razor, you need to have the weld seams running as close to parallel as you can at the edge. Having a weld seam crossing the edge at a nearly right angle, such as in a twist pattern, leaves the razor prone to the micro-chipping problems you mentioned. They won't always micro-chip with a twist pattern, but are a lot more likely to.

I'm working on a real fancy one that has four bars of twisted meteorite Damascus for the top 80% of the blade. The bottom bar is the plain straight grain O1/L6, so it will have a good edge.

Another way around the problem is to weld up a san-mai sandwich with a tool steel core, like Mastro Livi is having done for him. It is a good way to go. I just don't care for the way it looks.

I hope all this rambling helps...

Tim Z.

[TstebinsB]

When members like Bill and Tim post, I feel like the guy who couldn't make the team so they made him equipment manager. In other words, I'm just happy to be along for the ride.

[Garrett]

I feel like I have won the Superbowl - Both of the titans Tim and Bill have posted on the same post about my razor!!! It is one for the recordbooks for me!!