B&B Sue Moore Auction Donation...'WIP'!

Me too lol

 

Looks killer

 

Thanks guys! I've been running around like a madman this week. Finished two knives, and am about to finish three more (with pictures of course!)...and have the blade 99% finished for the donation razor. I ran into some bobbles with the scales...but I think Jake and I have them worked out so hopefully that will be done soon as well.

I still need to get through all of the pictures I've taken while making this thing so I can get them posted!

 

You need an assistant!

 

Please make het pretty, and at least mostly sane...thanks!

 

How bout @James ?

 

He's probably pretty enough...but I did say mostly sane too .

 

im sane four days a week.... so thats mostly

 

That's like 60% sane. Good enough!

 

Haha!!

 

Shaved with the donation razor tonight....seriously cool stuff! I know I'm a bladesmith, and I know it seems like it would make sense to you all that I use my own tools to do the things I do around the house and in my daily life...but you have no idea how much of a kick it is to do so. Adding a new thing to the list just makes it even better! Prepping our food, shaving my face, and cutting whatever needs cut in my home are all tasks that are performed with bladed tools I made with my own hands, and I'm proud to say that their performance surpasses other tools I've had that were purpose made for those things. The feeling is extraordinary...and even better is that you all appreciate them enough to allow me to make my living by making them for you as well.

HUGE thank you for that...you all have no idea how humbled and appreciative I am.

Anyhow...enough of a detour...here's some pictures .



That thing's going to look purely wicked with pink and grey scales .

 

This is epic! I can't wait to see this auction happen!

 

Me too!!



So...I've about got these pictures sorted out. The posts are still going to take awhile though...lol.

 

Drool! I am saving my lunch money for the auction!

 

Well!! It's about time I got this WIP thread kicked back up I think!

Soooo...to continue:



So, this is how I start my razors. Stock removal and AISI W2 toold steel. Forging is more efficient, but for something this small it's basically a waste of time (paring knives don't get forged either lol). The ONLY benefit to forging, if the steel is properly heat treated after, is that you can make more blade from less raw steel. As far as 'grain flow' etc goes (which, as understood by the average person is a myth), the thermal cycle process actually resets the steel to the optimal state for hardening. It used to be that a skilled smith would forge his blades, starting at very high temperatures and ending at very low temperatures for the final tweaking and cleanup. A few normalization cycles later, and the entire process refined the crystalline structure of the steel in such a way that once the steel was hardened, the structure was superior to what was being produced by stock removal guys who would normalize mill rolled steel and heat treat. The mill can SERIOUSLY wreck steel lol. Modern bladesmiths however, who take advantage of the currently available knowledge of metallurgy...aren't shackled by the concerns of the mill. As long as the steel has the proper chemical composition, it can be setup to produce a crystalline structure that promotes sharpness and edge retention beyond what was previously possible for either smithing OR stock removal.



After some work on the flat platen to smooth out the profile, and clean up the flats.



My 3/4" small wheel. This lets me get into the thumb notch and clean up more of the curves in the profile.



Cleaned up some more.



And roughly finalized. Some of you might be wondering why there are two razors for one donation razor WIP. The reason in this instance, is that I wanted to make sure that if one failed for whatever reason, I'd have another ready to go forward from the same point, so we wouldn't miss the deadline.



Sorry for the upside down picture, LG cameras suck. Anyhow! Here are the two razors, with a light coat of layout dye. This will let me scribe grind lines, thickness markers, and other necessary marks to keep everything true and clean. The tool on the right is a scribe that helps me mark thickness for the edge and spine that are perfectly centered.



In this picture you can see my wet grinding setup. It's MESSY!!...but when used in conjunction with the chilled platen (I pump ice water through my platen)it allows me to grind pretty much nonstop, without gloves for better control. Later after the blade is hardened, it is an even greater asset, as I can grind the hardened steel for much longer without ruining the temper. In this picture you can also see my grind line at the top of the blade for the initial grind. This is all pre-heat treat work so it's mostly just mucking out the extra steel to get things thin enough to harden properly.


Precise grinding is important to me at any step, but it's not really an issue at this stage as there's still a LOT of room for cleanup.



These pictures show the grind. You can't tell very well, but it's actually a very subtle hollow grind. If I were grinding a wedge with this razor, this is the only setup I'd use.



Both razors pre-ground for heat treat. If you look at the tail, you can still see how thick the entire assemblies are.

 

From the pre-ground state...we'll launch right into thermal cycling and heat treat. This is the same process I use on my kitchen knives. I won't bore you with details, but it involves a number of cycles at various temperatures, with timed holds and various other processes involved. Total time to take the pre-ground blank to fully ready for the first heat treat is roughly six hours. The time isn't so bad...it's what can happen after that can make it rough. Sometimes...when clay hardening a blade, things just don't go right. Even if you have 'full control' (or as close as possible anyhow) of your process, things can sometimes just go awry. This requires resetting the steel and hardening again.



Hardened blades with cleaned up edges.




First attempt on the first razor...failure.



The second razor right out of the quench.




First attempt, second razor...failure.



First razor, take two. I decided I liked this one. The final razor once ground won't be so active...but it will be a clean line and will suit the blade layout and scales well.

 

So, this is what happens when your tongs are still black hot, and you forget right before laying them across your left elbow to free up both hands lol.



This is what the blade looks like after two rounds of heat treat and the resultant efforts to clean up the grind to take a look at the hardening line. Eventually, if the heat treat continues to fail, it can get to the point where it's too thin entirely. At that point you have to shorten the razor to make continued attempts, as well as put the blade through the entire 6hr thermal cycle process again.



Pre-ground razor. I take it to this point to ensure everything is straight, right before bringing it to completely sharp on the grinder.


A quick etch to see the hardening line.



And...further refinement of the grind.



A bit less than a half hollow maybe. I personally don't like ultra thin grinds, but I understand that many do. For me they seem to jump and skip across my face, even when HHT5 sharp. A blade with just a BIT more thickness is what's truly comfortable for me. Just seems to mow down the hair lol.



A few pictures of the completed 'pre-grind' before final profile shaping and texturing.




These pictures show the work that goes into rounding the spine of the blade. There's SO many different design elements you can work into a tiny little razor. For me I like short blades (2" or so tops), with a fairly compact thumb notch area and tail.



All polished up. There's still some things that need adjusted, but you can see what the razor is shaping up to look like here.



Tossed into ferric chloride to show any remaining scratches, as well as give me a look at the hamon.


Cleaning up the remainder of the scratches and finalizing the grind on the tail.



Amazing what a few hours does to a burn! You can see where I squeezed the tongs between my biceps and forearm pretty clearly, as well as the gap between the reins on the tongs lol.

 

So, hee you can see I textured the flats, and took some time to repolish. The texture is mostly for feel, but it adds nice visual contrast too I think. I then put an edge on the blade to show me any spots that might need adjustment.



Needless to say, there are some corrections to be made (which is where the blade stands currently). I couldn't help but shave with it though, even with no scales, and it was really, really nice. The W2 is fine grained enough to take a wonderful edge, and the ultra refined carbides help maintain it. I've since cleaned up the grind a bit, and it's currently being repolished.




Ahhh! Handle scales!! The goal of this build was to make a pink handled razor with darker grey/black striping. As some of you know, the first block was a failure due to poorly penetrating dye. BUT!!...Arizona Ironwood LLC sent me THREE more blocks just to make sure I got what was needed to finish the razor in time for the auction!



Here you can see the scale blank cut, and the stripes inserted.



Epoxy curing.



All glued up!



Scale shape sketched out.



Pivot hole drilled.



Profile cut and smoothed. These scales left pink dust EVERYWHERE.



Scales fit to the razor. I'm pretty happy with it honestly.



All polished up!



And there's that dust I was talking about, lol.


So...this is where we sit. I should be able to get back to the blade this week and get it polished, marked, and mounted, at which point it'll be ready for the auction!

 

Wow! loads of great pics of the process! including trying to hold the HOT tongs in your elbow, ooouch!!! I bet you won't accidentally do that again!!
That razor is looking great and will get the auction bids flying in:cool1

 

wow been patiently waiting to see this.
love the wip the extra effort it took to put this together was definitely worth it.
cant wait to see what this brings in at the auction.