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My First Handmade Razor

Emmanuel my friend, I thought that was the case, and I can say the shave was very nice indeed :thumbup:

I would be very pleased to accept your offer of some celluloid for scales, if there is anything I can do for you in return?

best wishes and thanks again
Ralfson (Dr)
 
Very, very nice razor.
Good quality workmanship and great attention to detail.:thumbup:
I to have made a saw blade frameback and it shaves fine, i did use templestick crayons and a magnet to bracket the critical temperature and quenched in canola oil heated to 140F. Judging temp by eye can be done but is tricky. My guess is the ht is the culprit (especialy with shallow hardening steels) as anything above 50RC hardness should give a servicable edge for shaving. I'm on my third razor at the moment and am close to completion it's American 1095 steel.
Well done, keep at it.

Joe
 
Thanks Joe that's very very encouraging :)

When I say saw blade, I mean hand saw for cutting wood type of saw, may I ask if that fits the bill?
I certainly wouldn't be surprised if the problem was the HT. I didn't do my homework properly tbh, and now have a far better understanding of the techniques involved, I should just try the HT again on another piece, and see if it reaches hardness, I do believe if a file won't bite it I am about there.

Many thanks again
Best regards
Ralfson (Dr)
 
Saw blades, like files and other things are somewhat mystery steel.
When you think you can buy enough 01 (which is relativley easy to ht)to make 4 razors from Cromwell steel for £11, it aint worth the agro.
My frameback was a wood saw also, I was lucky and got away with it.
If you go down this route I think it's better to hedge your bets when it comes to heat treating mystery steel (even though this may cause other problems).
You need a reliable way of knowing you are hot enough, when steel becomes non magnetic you know you are getting close to it's critical temperature (almost there).
Whilst I agree that you should not shock the snot out of steel if you don't need to at quench, I personally belive it's better to quench fast "IF YOU DON'T KNOW" what steel you have.
I quenched my last blade in brine simply because I couldn't get formulated accelerated quenchant.
It didn't crack, it did warp (slightly), but I did have enough dimensionality to grind this out.
By the way tempering is as much a function of time as well as temp, did you have it in the oven for at least an hour?
I rockwelled my saw blade at work, it came in at 58, nice and shefieldy.
I got lots still to learn but glad to share if you wan't to get in touch via e mail. Hope this helps.

Joe
 
Also, the file test can be a bit mis leading.
Look up Kevin Cashen on the web, he can explain this better than me, it's somthing to do with surface carbides???
 
Hello Ralfy,
:thumbup: You have a beautiful first/second effort. You might try this metals supplier in the UK and the metal would be what you folks used to call Silver Steel or in the USA 01 tool steel. They, if nothing else, would be able to point you to a retailer if they are not.It is listed as 01 in the link.http://www.merseymetals.co.uk/tool.html
That is the easiest temperature hardening and tempering tool steel. It has made a lot of tools , knives, and razors. It is compatible with the hardening, tempering method you used originally.
Good on yer' old chap!
Respectfully
~Richard
 
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