Straight Razors....

So! I know this is a kitchen knife forum...but I thought I might share one of the other avenues I've branched into in order to keep my income stream moving forward while I catch up my kitchen knife orders.

That avenue would be straight razors.

I'd been kicking the idea around for a good while now, and talking with Robert and a few others was pushing my interest even more. When Robert sent me a Kikuboshi 24 as a gift, it ended up being the nudge that pushed me over the edge. So, with my typical 'feet first' mentality, I jumped straight in...never having previously even come close to attempting a hollow grind, and having only made one folding knife in my life. The results (a 9/8 wedge with a two finger monkey tail) were good enough to solidify my experiment into full blown intent. Next up was a custom order for a purposely designed 'stubby' 6/8, which I'm completing this coming week.

As I've mentioned, my kitchen knives take me a base of about 30hrs for the quickest knives from start to finish. That's for a 185mm or so knife that everything goes perfectly on. Any challenges...whether in the heat treat or handle work, or even just a bigger blade...can push that up to the 50 hour mark way too quickly. The kitchen knives are absolutely a labor of love, but in order to keep doing this full time, I have to pay the bills as well. That's where the razors come in. The way I'm working it out, if I can do one razor in a 50hr week, and one kitchen knife (or the majority of one if it's a fighter), my bases will be covered financially, and I'll be able to more consistently move forward in knocking out my kitchen knife orders. This keeps me in business, which I hope is a win/win for everyone involved, lol.

Anyhow, here's a slew of pictures illustrating my straight razor adventures up to this point:


First, the Kikuboshi 24, Western Kamisori. This little thing shaves great!! It's been the benchmark I've been comparing my work to from the start.


One of the first things I did was rehandle it though. Here you can see my first ever razor scales.

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My first razor blanks. These are roughly an 8/8, depending on where the grind line is placed. If you run the grind to the spine, they are a 9/8.


Heat treated! You just knew they had to have a hamon right??




Initial clean up grind, right to a zero edge. I use a very large diameter platen for this grind. It's a hollow, but only as slight one.



Wedge grind. As you can see, the hollow is very minimal.


All prettied up, lol.



And with scales!



And a quick video .

 

Straight razors are a world in their own. One which I don't routinely follow.
I do enjoy seeing the many designs and WIP threads. Everyone is different.

Have you done any sharpness tests with them yet? Such as the hanging hair test?

 

And the current project!


This one is a 6/8, and roughly half hollow. The design is what I call a 'stubby'. The customer is diabetic with very little feeling in his fingers, and wanted a very short thumb notch with only a 'one finger' monkey tail. This was what I came up with, and honestly I'm really happy with the overall feel both aesthetically and physically.


Ground to zero.


All honed up and ready to shave, next to its big brother. I tested it last night, and even I have to say it preformed phenomenally.

Anyhow, I hope you guys don't mind following me along in this aspect of my craft. As I've said many times, this really is my home on the internet, and so this was the first place I thought to share .

Thanks for looking!

 

Absolutely!

I spent about two weeks working out a successful honing/strop progression with my stones...first on a cheap Gold Dollar (literally a $4 razor), then on the Kikuboshi...and finally on my own razors. Each has slightly different requirements in regards to what makes them truly sharp...and more importantly, comfortable to shave with. My honing routinely hits HHT 4.5 or better now, and my own blades are no exception .

 

Those Gold Dollars have a reputation! Folks have competitions modding them on B&B.

I was just thinking that a shave ready straight and a kitchen ready knife are likely different levels of sharpness. ?

 

A completely different type of sharpness for sure. My kitchen knives will HHT successfully as well...but the actual edge is completely different. On a kitchen knife you need toothiness to bite into product, which is pretty much the 180° opposite of what you want on a razor lol...as your face is the only 'product' .

Edge refinement is everything for a razor.

 

Amazing work Cris. Now i can't decide which is on the top of my to get list. A knife or a razor from yourself.

 

Thanks Alex!!

 

Yeah, really....you are making these choices even harder! What knife...no..what razor!