Going to have a go making a razor.

[pugh-the-special-one]

I've been thinking about giving this a go for sometime, I'm really not to sure If I will succeed or fail but I've got to give it a try, firstly I've picked a quality vintage Sheffield file, a real big beast, more than 3/8 thick, 1 1/2 wide, well I've looked at the overall dimensions and taken notes on quite a few razors, just as a loose reference, It's obviously going to be a custom blade around 8/8 wide with a pure wedge grind, longer tail than the standard razor, I will design and heat treat and build and hone the razor, but without machining tools I'm going to have to try and get this machined for me, first stage complete I've marked up and cut out the file ready for hopefully finding a machinist to work the blade for me I will try to update how the project goes.

Jamie

 

[The Geordie Shaver]

Are we witnessing the rebirth of Merthyr Tydfil as the new Solingen here Jamie ?
Seriously though , if anyone can do it , you can , please keep us posted , it should be very interesting .

Derrick

 

[Bechet]

What a brave project! You can do it!

Beware soft tangs on large files - and yours looks soft!

 

[chrisbell]

Good luck Jamie.

 

[Brianpilman]

I'd be quite worried trying to work a file as even though there hard there usually quite brittle with very fine grain structure

 

[Gairdner]

All the best, Jamie. As has been said, if anyone can, you can! Looking forward to reading and seeing your progress as this unfolds.

 

[antdad]

Interesting...you'll probably need to find a toolmaker to machine that tool steel.

 

[pugh-the-special-one]

I've managed to get hold of a young engineering technician in my local college, he said he will have a go for me, told him to take the bar down from 8.5mm to 5mm, slightly taper the tail from the pivot hole back, then go for a wedge and start 3mm below the spine, looking at a 8/8 blade it will be interesting to see what he comes up with.

Jamie

 

[Bechet]

You explained about not grinding the bejaysus out of it? Sudden thought, a girt thick file like that would have been surface hardened only, n'est ce pas? Be more iron-like in the middle and carbon dipped for the surfaces? Thus a soft tang?

 

[pugh-the-special-one]

I did cut off the razor section with my disc grinder, and I would say it was the same level of hardness right through, but as you say the tang wouldn't be so hard as the file itself, but still pretty hard. there are many youtube video's of knives being made from files, seems like the ideal piece of steel, I'm thinking because my razor will be machined and not ground I may be able to avoid the tempering process, but we will have to wait and see.

Jamie

 

[Helveticum]

File is certainly a good choice of steel. Best of luck with the project.

 

[GOLDCREST]

I would have thought Jamie, that you would have been better to soften the steel, doing the shaping whilst the steel is "soft"... you can drill it, and even file the donor file to shape once softened....then re-harden and temper it again, once everything is as you want it....
I would be concerned that the grinding process would lose the temper on the thin edges of a razor....the edge only has to go blue..and the temper is lost on a thin edge..........Just my view.

 

[pugh-the-special-one]

I would have thought Jamie, that you would have been better to soften the steel, doing the shaping whilst the steel is "soft"... you can drill it, and even file the donor file to shape once softened....then re-harden and temper it again, once everything is as you want it....
I would be concerned that the grinding process would lose the temper on the thin edges of a razor....the edge only has to go blue..and the temper is lost on a thin edge..........Just my view.

You are right enough William, but as it's being machined and not ground in the engineering department I'm going to wait and see what the outcome of the process before I move on to heat treating the blade, I'm pretty confident of heat treating the blade with just my barbecue and some charcoal, after all we are only talking a small blade, still it's all bit of a learning curve for me.

Jamie

 

[Bechet]

Off topic: You are right, Jamie - that was a brilliant Tigers win! Just watched it.

 

[Mark70]

Good luck Jamie. I am sure you can do it

 

[asharperrazor]

I'm fairly certain files are made from hardened steel. Thus, you wouldn't have to heat treat it. No idea what level of hardness they exhibit, but if you're going through all that work and are going to heat treat it anyway, why not just buy a billet?

How are you going to grind the sides? Free hand with belt sander? That's the most common method I think.

The razor does not get that hot when grinding. You'd have to have a really short belt sander and keep working at the same area for a long time. A buffer is where the heat comes from. Those suckers get hot! All relative of course.

Grinding away on hardened steel is a pain. It takes a lot longer than grinding away at cold steel. Tempering the steel in your oven is a good idea if you're going to heat treat it anyway. Also, I'm not sure if your method is going to work or not. You need to get it up to 400 F IIRC. The metal needs to be glowing yellow IIRC. I don't remember exact temps or colors, but I'm sure the internet has the answer.