Straight razor thickness

S

Sean Bracy

Joined
Mar 10, 2016
Messages
12
Hello everyone,
This is my first post, so tell me if I am doing something wrong or badly.
I am making a fixed blade straight razor out of 1095 high carbon. The steel I have is 1/8 of an inch thick. Is this a good thickness, or do I want it thinner? It's going to be a fixed blade, with two inch cutting edge and the blade is 7/8 of an inch wide with a swoop down the middle of the spine that has a low point of 11/16 of an inch wide. In addition to this question I was also wondering how you would recommend tempering it, after heat treat. And finally. What is the function of a barbers notch?
 
I would say that your dimensions are pretty well on as I understand them. A lot of the thinness comes from the grind, but most of my razors have a thicker spine than that, so it should do well. although I don't have any jappanese style blades, and I do know they are a bit different.

Heat treat, no idea, hopefully someone else can help.

barbers notch is largely decorative, but can be used as an opening option by hooking the nose of the blade on something, (like an apron) rather than trying to flick the tang.
 
Sean Bracy said:
Hello everyone,
This is my first post, so tell me if I am doing something wrong or badly.
I am making a fixed blade straight razor out of 1095 high carbon. The steel I have is 1/8 of an inch thick. Is this a good thickness, or do I want it thinner? It's going to be a fixed blade, with two inch cutting edge and the blade is 7/8 of an inch wide with a swoop down the middle of the spine that has a low point of 11/16 of an inch wide. In addition to this question I was also wondering how you would recommend tempering it, after heat treat. And finally. What is the function of a barbers notch?
Click to expand...

Good luck getting started Sean.
Just for a point of reference, I use steel that is .265 for my 7/8 razors and .210 for my 6/8. You need enough width to be able to get the correct angle for honing. You mentioned a swoop in the middle of the spine. The spine to cutting edge dimension must be the same and be exact, otherwise honing will be a nightmare.

As far as heat treat goes, I use 1095 but I don't have my book with me that I keep my records in. When Stacy sees this he will tell you the right numbers.

Good luck
 
Yeah ⅛" is too thin for that large of a razor. You want at least ¼" for a ⅞" razor (measuring from the edge to the top of the flat on the shoulder from honing - or where the hollow grind ends at the spine). Your target angle should be not less than 16° or your edge will be too weak and easily damaged.
 
Thanks for the information. I'll keep this in mind in the future. As it is, I have already started work on this razor, so we'll just have see how it goes. But in future I'll use a thicker steel. The bevels don't go all of the way up the spine, they end just bellow the bottom of the swoop. Will this still be a problem?
 
It will almost certainly fail during the first shave unless you increase the angle by applying tape to the spine while honing or build up the thickness by other means. 15° is absolute bare minimum for the very best steels that are very well hardened - and many still won't hold up at that angle. I just recently made a razor from M2 HSS and it sits at 64 - 65 RC; I initially honed it at 14.5° and the edge failed in the middle of the first shave. Afterwards I honed it at 16° and it did better - but I even went to 18° just as a preemptive strike against possible chipping.
 
I am planning on a 17 degree angle for the actual cutting edge. it will be a lot harder to get it right, but hopefully it will still work.
 
You'll still probably need to add to the thickness of the spine while honing - an ⅛" thick spine with 9/16" from the end of the grind to the edge is still only around 13° or so. To hit 17° you'd need to be less than 7/16" from the end of the grind to the edge. What I would do is run with your 9/16" and then put a couple layers of electrical tape on the spine while you hone it. Let this one be your trial run, and if it works out well, make the next one to dimensions more suitable to you.
 
Alright. I'm planning on making more anyway, so this will just be a practice razor. Is there a formula for deciding the thickness of the steel and width of the bevels, in order to obtain the right angle? For example the bevels should be X times as wide as the steel is thick.
 
Now that I've got that. What about heat treat and tempering? Is there anything special I should do? I want it at 64-65 RC?
 
I really don't have much. I have a small propane fueled forge, which I use to heat my steel to its critical temperature and then quench the edge in water and the rest in motor oil. If the forge won't get my steel hot enough I use a coal pile with bellows, but I only need this when I make large knives. Other than that I have a kitchen oven, for tempering. When I get more money I will buy a proper heat treat oven, but for now this is it. I went off of experience and just heat treated this razor like any other small knife I've made, since I decided this would be a practice razor. And it turned out really well. I made a sharpening jig, with a 17 degree angle and sharpened it too. It shaved way better than any disposable razor I've ever used. But I still want to know what you would recommend for my future razors.
 
Sounds like you're doing about the best you can with what you've got. Good job, post some pics!
 
How do I post pictures? There is the option that says "insert image" but then it says I need to input a URL and I tried putting in the URL from the photo in my document, but that didn't work.
 
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I usually upload to Photobucket then post here with an IMG tag that links back to the photo there.
 
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