Cartridge and Safety Razors

I guess that technically these are still knives. They are cartridge and safety razors. Safety razors are also known as "DE" or Double Edge razors. I purchase the heads and make the rest of them out of wood. They are really fun, quick and easy to make since most of the work is done on the lathe. The cartridge razors use standard Gillette Mach 3 heads and the safety razors use the standard double edge blades that you can find at almost any store that sells shaving supplies.

The stand and razor on this are both made out of the same piece of Bocote.

The handle on this safety razor was turned form Padauk. It was a birthday gift for a friend.

These both have Bocote handles as well. I kept the safety razor for myself and gave the cartridge razor to my oldest son.

This is another skinning knife that I recently finished. It went to Texas. The blade is 1/8 inch thick D2. The handle is made from Cocobolo and uses stainless steel Loveless style fasteners. the pouch is from Knife Dogs.

Another Straight Razor

This is one that I made from scratch out of a truck leaf spring. I forged the blade and ground it to what is called a "quarter hollow" grind in the straight razor world. The handle is carved from a single piece of Cocobolo that will darken with age. This was a real learning experience and was great fun. It is currently honed to about 1,000 grit and I have finer stones on order. It needs to go to at least 8,000 grit and then stropped with leather before it will be "shave ready". Can't wait to try it.

Straight Razors

I've started playing with making straight razors. Below are what I've come up with so far. They are much different than hunting or kitchen knives.

Above is a cheap razor that I reground the blade on and made a new one-piece handle for out of Lignum vitae. I don't think that it is ever one that I would try shaving with, but it was a good learning experience.

The above two pictures are the before-and-after of a razor that I picked up for $15 at an antique store. My guess is that it is about 100 years old. I re-ground the blade since it had a chip in it. Then I made a new cocobolo handle for it. This one needs honed yet, but I think it may be a good usable razor for another 100 years.

This is a "shavette". Basically it is a straight razor that takes replaceable blades. This one uses standard safety razor blades. I polished the metal parts up and made a new handle for it. The handle is one piece of Cocobolo. This one I have actually used. It does a pretty good job.

It has been really fun with these to peen my own rivets using brass rod and a ball peen hammer.

Brass Letter Opener

This is a letter opener that I made as a gift for my uncle in England. He collects "paper knives" as he calls them. It is ground from 1/8" thick brass. The handle material is domestic sheep horn. It was a gift from a neighbor.

Paring Knife

This knife I just finished today and is a gift for my Dad. Hopefully he doesn't see this post before Christmas. It is a small and simple, but rugged design. The blade is 1/16 inch thick D2 with a full tang Canvas Micarta handle. The rivets are all stainless steel Loveless style. This is about the most practical style of construction that I can think of. It really doesn't even need epoxy, but I used it anyways. He said that he was tired of having to sharpen the pairing knives at home all the time and wanted one that would hold a better edge. D2 should fit the bill. I have been very impressed with it's ability to hold an edge. Even though it technically isn't "stainless steel" (Most people consider steel to have at least 13% Chrome in order to be called stainless and D2 has 12%), I have never had issues with it rusting or corroding.

Hunting Knife

This is the second knife that I have made in this style. I was lucky enough to try out the first one on a deer this year. It worked very well and is the best "overall" hunting knife shape and size that I have yet to come across. The D2 blade is 1/8 inch thick and about 4 inches long to the bottom of the finger guard. The overall length is 7.75 inches. Black paper based Micarta has a nice shine to it and set a striking backdrop for the stainless and brass Loveless style fasteners.