Looking for a maker to grind 7 straight razor blades

[howiesatwork]

I've got a blade in twisted nickle san-mai from Jim Ferguson.
His steel might work for a razor...

 

[Gawker]

Gawker,You've really kicked the hornets nest now! Half of us will be in the shop this weekend trying to make a razor.Might go and make one myself.

Let me just respond to that by saying . I hope you guys DO go out there and razor your brains out. I promise there's a market for them and I could probably point you in the right direction.

I was dead serious about the mammoth............ I just went and looked in the ivory cabinet.There are some pieces of nice creamy mammoth that are long enough to cut razor scales from.But, I also saw something that may make a real good pair for the set - I have some fantastic tan colored mammoth bone that looks like beige/tan colored ivory.Think oosik on steroids.I have saved this stuff for special projects.If you want,I can do the handles from this.We can kick this around later,but I though I'd plant the seed.

I'm very excited about the thought of doing something as nice as ivory for the damascus one, but any old decent scrap you have would be nice enough. I wouldn't want you to use something as nice as the femur you talked about just for a little set of razor scales. Save that bad boy for the scrimshaw Either way we'll kick that ball around when we find it.

Yes, Mike I am looking to have scales made for each razor. I'm sure you can shave just fine with just a blade but the scales DO provide a lot more maneuverability as well as a way to protect the blades edge. I'm thinking the white ivory on damascus would look fantastic, but with the brighter 1095 blades I think a darker scale is more appropriate which is why I'm leaning towards blue/black G10 or carbon fiber. Then to round out the set I'm thinking I'd like to have a case made for the razors (think 6 1/2"x1"xwhatever it takes to lay 7 razors side by side) with some kind of soft liner or manner of holding the razors in their slots. Possibly a dark wood but I've not put as much thought and effort into that as this.

I have not officially found a maker yet, but this new shot of enthusiasm gives me hope for the project. I haven't considered the water jet before but now that you have linked me I'll look into it. That might cut some costs a bit by leaving the maker less work to have to do. Reading over your posts however I think I may have been incorrect in my defining your razor as a wedge. You mentioned you used an 8 inch contact wheel which should have produced an ever so slight curvature between the thickness of the spine and the edge making it hollowed. If the curve goes from the spine all the way to the edge I'd be more apt to call it a heavy full hollow which is more the direction I hoped to go. Again you owe me pictures

And if you're bored...try to grind one that's 7/8" wide and about 3/16" thick That's about the right dimensions for the project razors. Actually for those who might be cranking out some edges from scraps...if you would consider selling them off cheap I'd like to try honing them down to the higher grits and actually giving them a shot. I can test an edge a quarter of an inch long if I can get it to my face. I wouldn't want to shave with it, but I could definately feed a few whiskers to it to see how it works.

 

[IronWolf]

Didn't have a pic, Let me talk to Christel, see if I can talk her into taking one or two.

 

[Michael J. Spangler]

Hey have you taken into consideration hot blueing the blades of the 1095 ones? not sure how this would work as a finish because i don't know the abuse they're going to see during honing and such.
let me get into the shop today and try to grind another blade, i have some more work to do on an order i need to get out
(been way too cold to work in the shop can't feel my hands, and then i can't grind)
but if i can get that finished i'll try to grin another razor and finish the blade, then we can talk about you test driving it

 

[IronWolf]

(been way too cold to work in the shop can't feel my hands, and then i can't grind)

Know the feeling, no heat in my shop either

well, I have a quick pic of that old razor
blade is 2 1/2" 3/4"wide, 3/32" thick at the spine
handle is maroon Micarta 4 3/4" long, whole thing is 5 1/2" long closed

 

[Gawker]

Bumpity bump cause I forgot to before.

Ken, I hope you got my email about the details and are looking through it. I'm looking forward to the warm weather and off duty jobs so I can afford to do this now that my chances of getting it done are so good.

Mike you still owe me pics of that razor you threw together, and I'm still interested in a test drive if you're willing. Just let me know how much a test drive is going to set me back and we'll work one out. Hell...at this rate I may let Ken do my 7 day set and have you do a 2 piece traveling pair I'm going to end up with more custom razors than production pieces :boogie:

This is so exciting, I might be reviving something with you guys that will be a major boon for the straight shaving community. And be fairly warned...when we do get this done I'm going to be posting all kinds of pics on my razor forums which will probably mean you guys will have emails running out your ears for more of these. I hope that would be a good thing for you guys financially, as I assume a backed up knife maker is a happy knife maker

 

[M Wadel]

so how did it go sre they done yet?