Those of you familiar with my work know I don't post here often. Life is just too busy. But, I have done something recently that some of you may find interesting. Since there will be very few of these razors, I decided to post a few photos here.
This is my very first razor made from Lake Superior beach sand. The sand was smelted in a bloomery style smelter. The resulting bloom was folded and welded until I had a good piece of steel to work with. This is essentially the same as Japanese Tamahagane. But, it wasn't smelted from Japanese sand, in a Tatara smelter located in Japan. So, I just call it Michi-gane".
The whole story has been written-up and will be in "Knives 2012", due out sometime in the Spring.
The photos below are of the Lake Superior collection site, my smelter, and the finished razor. In keeping with the "made in Michigan" theme, the scales are from a Whitetail deer shot by my father-in-law.
I do plan on doing more "Michi-gane" in the future. Making razors and knives from "dirt" is pretty addicting. I hope you enjoy the photos.
Tim Z.
This is my very first razor made from Lake Superior beach sand. The sand was smelted in a bloomery style smelter. The resulting bloom was folded and welded until I had a good piece of steel to work with. This is essentially the same as Japanese Tamahagane. But, it wasn't smelted from Japanese sand, in a Tatara smelter located in Japan. So, I just call it Michi-gane".
The whole story has been written-up and will be in "Knives 2012", due out sometime in the Spring.
The photos below are of the Lake Superior collection site, my smelter, and the finished razor. In keeping with the "made in Michigan" theme, the scales are from a Whitetail deer shot by my father-in-law.
I do plan on doing more "Michi-gane" in the future. Making razors and knives from "dirt" is pretty addicting. I hope you enjoy the photos.
Tim Z.
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. Thanks for sharing.
