cliff - straight razor question

[Josh Muller]

have you dont much work with them?

i bought 2 recently, once henckels and one wadsworth and sons. i bought the henckels for use, and then bought the wadsworth after using the henckels to cut some paper with. gonna cut it down to a spear point and put a fixed blade handle on it, and was just wondering if you had done any work with them and could comment on what the hardness is generally. obviously being paper thin its not well suited for any kind of hard material, but im curious as to straight razors general wear resistence.

of course, a rounded straight razor will tend to cut better then a slightly blunted tactical knife just by geometry, but even so.....

curiousity has gotten the best of me

 

[Josh Muller]

the other main draw (besides geometry) being that i can get them for between 15-25$ each...

 

[Cliff Stamp]

I have used traditional straight razors, a long time ago I experimented with one for utility work but he blade was too thick at the spine and the handle was not overly functional. I have lots of knives which are ground just as thin, a few customs and a production U2 which Krein modified. The customs are all full hard tool steel, and I am fairly rough with them, not just paper cutters, I'll use them to cut sods for example, but they are heat treated to be both very tough and strong, details are in the reviews.

-Cliff

 

[Josh Muller]

good to know... thanks

 

[tyr_shadowblade]

Straight razors make excellent utility blades, as they'll cut cleanly through virtually any material, from paper to saddle leather. However, razors are also extremely brittle -- they will cut wood and plastic, but big chunks of the edge will snap off.

 

[Protactical]

Lee Valley sells disposable Japanese one piece (some weleded sub assemblies, but they handle as one piece) straight razors for whatever you heart desires.

I'm surprised there are poeple making knives with a 3/8" width edges of sub .009 steel at the edge.

 

[Cliff Stamp]

However, razors are also extremely brittle -- they will cut wood and plastic, but big chunks of the edge will snap off.

You can get the ability to do this in a similar profile without damage, the customs I have are ground from 1/16" stock, deep hollow grinds, very hard blades, and I will cut such materials all the time.

-Cliff