First batch of straight razors: input requested

Richard338

Richard338

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I'm a hobbyist knife maker and decided to make some straight razors for myself as well as my son and nephews.
I read up a bit about suitable steels and how to do the grind.
I made a batch of 5 using W2 steel. They are hollow ground using a 2.5" wheel.
I was hoping for a hamon, and sent them out for heat treat after rough grinding.
They came back at HRC 64-65, but the transition line is way up along the handle and spine, so no interesting hamon along the bevel.
I managed to finish the grinds without ruining any and got the edges to an even 0.005" which should be a good place prior to initial sharpening.
I lightly etched them all since this photo and they are a nice grey patina color.
I'm working on making and pinning a variety of handle materials.

My question is about the best sharpening and honing procedure.
I have a DMT and a WE for knives, but I know these won't work for a razor.
When I lay them (edge and spine) on my DMT the edge makes solid even contact so I think I'm ready to go.
I read some threads here and found some discussion of an article on straight razor honing: https://scienceofsharp.com/2016/04/14/simple-straight-razor-honing/comment-page-1/
From there I made a shopping list, but I would like any feedback before I pull the trigger on a set of fairly expensive stones and strops.
The list is:
Shapton 1k
Shapton 5k
denim strop with metal polish
two-sided leather strop with diamond spray for one side, natural on other

Am I missing anything?
Thanks!
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Very interesting! Custom razor makers in the US seem to gravitate to O1 steel, but I don't know why.

I don't know whether you're talking Shapton Glass or Pro, but did you know there's a razor sequence within the Shapton Glass line, endorsed by the maker? It's 3000-10000-30000. I think the Suehiro Gokumyo 20K is a vastly superior finisher to the SG 30K, and I don't yet have the 10K (it's supposed to arrive tomorrow), but the 3K is everything you could want as an intermediate stone in a razor sequence. I strongly suspect that the reason these are called out as razor stones by Shapton is that they have extra-uniform grit.

Your steel, with which I am not familiar, appears to be carbon steel, so the SG HC (high carbon) line is also worth a look. 4K-6K-8K, and I love 'em all.

The spines look rather thick. What's the bevel angle on those? I can dig out the computation, based on height and max width, if needed.
 
Thanks, they came out around 0.22" thick and are just over 0.8 high. I'm aware of a 1:4 guideline to set a decent angle.
 
The stones I'm looking at are called Shapton Kuromaku Professional stones. I was trying to follow the progression from the science of sharp article.
 
OK, so that's 15.65 degrees included angle, which is a very good value. So you're set.

Normal razor lore would say that what you're missing there is a finishing stone. Even if you're stropping on diamond-sprayed leather afterwards, there's not many people out there shaving with a 5K edge.

Common synthetic finishers are Naniwa SuperStone 10K and 12K, and Suehiro Gokumyo 20K. The latter is far more expensive, but it's really excellent. I've shaved off of it and the 10K. Mostly I use JNats, though, and occasionally a Dan's Black Ark.

The inexpensive way to do razor honing is to get some diamond film in various grits, the kind without an adhesive backing, wet it, and put it on glass, or a granite tile. Haven't done it myself, but a lot of people swear by it.
 
Thank you. Perhaps I'll try the sequence from the article and then add a finisher if needed. I've never used a straight razor before so I'll be guessing on how it should feel (and likely hacking up my face).
 
Richard338 said:
Thank you. Perhaps I'll try the sequence from the article and then add a finisher if needed. I've never used a straight razor before so I'll be guessing on how it should feel (and likely hacking up my face).
Click to expand...

There is a learning curve, for sure. Keep your angle low, and your pressure extremely light. Never touch the razor to your face unless it is in motion. Never make a motion in a slicing direction. And if it tugs on a hair, ever, it's not sharp enough.
 
For straight razors…I have the Norton synthetic stones set 1K-8K. Then a 12k glass Shapton. Then I finish on a blue green Escher (22-24k) for American, German, and Spanish steel. I finish British and French steel on a charnley forest oil stone (about 26k).
 
I’d grab a Shapton 2k from that series and and 8k Shapton and 12k Shapton if your keeping the budget lean.

You’ll probably need a cheap bevel setter. Do you have any low grit stones to get you started?
 
You could skip the 12k Shapton if you have a good strop and assume the end user will finish it.

Then you could put some money towards a low grit bevel set setting stone
 
Update. I ended up getting the 1k and 8k, but also the 320 to get started. I do have a DMT also to try starting. I also got a two part strop, linen and leather. I have flitz for the linen and 0.5 micron diamond spray for the leather. I'm still tentatively trying to follow the science of sharp article procedure.
 
Richard338 said:
Update. I ended up getting the 1k and 8k, but also the 320 to get started. I do have a DMT also to try starting. I also got a two part strop, linen and leather. I have flitz for the linen and 0.5 micron diamond spray for the leather. I'm still tentatively trying to follow the science of sharp article procedure.
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Nice choice. You’ll get a lot of use out of those

A 1k stone is great to have in the arsenal but It may be too large of a jump going straight to 8k.

I would definitely select the Shapton 2k over 1k in the lineup you made as that’s about the biggest jump you prob should make going to the 8k. Surprisingly the 2k is a workhorse from that Shapton line.

What grit is the DMT?
 
The DMT has 600/1200.
Right now I'm working on the handles as I don't want to wrestle with pinning them with sharp blades.
 
I would avoid diamond plates altogether. The straight razor edge is just too delicate and plates will microchip them.

My budgetish progression is Shapton Glass 1K for bevel setting. Then Norton 4k/8k combination stone, Shapton Kuromaku 12k, polish loaded denim strop, followed by leather strops loaded with 1 micron, .5 micron, and .1 micron diamond emulsions.

I think the Shapton 12k isn't a very good finishing stone, though.
 
I forgot to update this: I realized that the stock I used was slightly thicker than listed and that my angle would be too large.
I thinned them all a little, but this brought the height of the bevels down also, so I walked the grinds back up.
The angle sitting on the stone is about 17 degrees inclusive now which I'm told is a reasonable value.
I put a handle (ivory micarta) on the first one. It has a nice snug action. Four more to go.
I'm ready to try sharpening...
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That is a great first effort! I enjoy restoring vintage straight razors and making new handles- it can be tricky but rewarding. What are your other handles going to be?
As for sharpening- I personally set the bevil on a Naniwa 1k stone and then go 3-5-10-12 on the same stones before finishing on a crox pasted strop
 
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Ernie1980 said:
That is a great first effort! I enjoy restoring vintage straight razors and making new handles- it can be tricky but rewarding. What are your other handles going to be?
As for sharpening- I personally set the bevil on a Naniwa 1k stone and then go 3-5-10-12 on the same stones before finishing on a crox pasted strop
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Thanks! I've got some red micarta, and an assortment of colors in richlite. I won't rush, I might try wood or horn. The tough part of getting the blades where I want them is done. I like the washers and pins on the one I did, but it might not be the right look for some of the other colors or materials. I do have some nickel silver and stainless pins, but no other washers yet.
 
For the the biggest challenge is the wedges! Are you using washers between the blade tang and scale? If you don’t want the full washer for the pinning (I agree it doesn’t go with every scale) try using collars. They give you some space to peen the pin without hitting the scales, and add a little width. Here is one I did:
 
Ernie1980 said:
For the the biggest challenge is the wedges! Are you using washers between the blade tang and scale? If you don’t want the full washer for the pinning (I agree it doesn’t go with every scale) try using collars. They give you some space to peen the pin without hitting the scales, and add a little width. Here is one I did:
Click to expand...
Ha yes, I'll admit my first wedge is in the trash (too steep angle). On the next attempt I used a bigger piece to have something to hold, get the angle right (scribed some lines), and then cut off the excess.
 
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