Making a straight edge razor:

[Robert_Phelps]

I was thinking about making a straight edge razor to shave with. (It won't be too long before all you can buy will be a 4+ blade razor :grumpy: )

Should the blade be left pretty hard, since edge sharpness would be more important than blade toughness? If so, what should it be tempered at?

Also, I'm guessing that 1095 would be unsuitably corrosion resistant (It turns brown and rusty if I look at it funny ). Is there a simple (IE: one-brick forge do-able) steel that would be?

Thanks.

 

[Matthew Gregory]

You might want to contact Darren Ellis... I'm pretty sure he makes these, and he sells refractory stuff, too! Good guy, with a wealth of knowledge. Here's his website:

Darren

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Until the stainless steel craze hit the razor blade world,all the blades were made from 1095 and similar alloys.Making a hollow ground straight razor and giving it a proper HT is a little more than a one brick forge project,but is doable by a reasonably skilled maker. Darren can give you some pointers.Last year there was a long thread on this subject.See if you can find it.There was a lot of info.

On a side note: Ever wonder what that little slit in the back of your medicine cabinet is for (about 1/8" wide and 1" long)? If you have an older medicine cabinet,it is the razor blade slot. You just slip the used single edged blades in and they drop down in the wall,between the studs. I have done re-mods on baths that we found literally thousands of blades in the wall.