ultimate straight razor,

[Nanewt02]

i now am ordering some rex 76 steel for a straight razor. fine grade size, toughness similar to 01, and an ridiculous hrc of 70 should give an unheard of sharp edge. my question is what blade length, size, scale material, grind , . answering one or more of these would be much appreciated

 

[Kentos]

The bigger and heavier the better IMO... maybe a WB chopper clone...

 

[paco664]

I personally am very partial to wedges 8/8ths or larger....

Cutting edge of ~3".. I make mine to fit my hands.... I don't really care for dainty things....

That steel sounds Hella hard... gonna be fun grinding
That....

Best of luck doing this... With your excitement it should b be fun and turn out awesome!

 

[Dacol]

I like 6/8 best for normal use!

 

[Nanewt02]

ok i think i will go with 8/8. i dont like improper fractons XD. besides it just seems right. next. what point style should i use

 

[Drybonz]

ok i think i will go with 8/8. i dont like improper fractons XD. besides it just seems right. next. what point style should i use

I think you will get a lot of different answers about what style razor would be best. I think you should make the style you like best and show us what you come up with.

 

[TnutsShave]

Hmmm...I'd say 6/8 near wedge ought to do it...French point!

 

[Krodor]

Agree with above...French point with matching curve in the wedge end of the scales has always seemed snazzy to me. That or a nice Spanish point, but not too deep. Don't go round, in my opinion: great to shave with, but if you're gonna go through this, might as well go nuts.

 

[Slash McCoy]

Do you really want to hone a super hard wedge?

Why not make a matched pair for comparison: a full hollow singer and a wedge, same width and profile? That would be way cool. And I bet the hollowground won't be neglected much. The hollowground will certainly be easier to hone.

As for my own personal preference, I like a shoulderless 5/8 full hollow with barber notch, jimps, and long monkeytail.

 

[life2short1971]

TI Carbonsong Steel is around 65 Hardness and it is hard enough to hone. I think that somewhere around 61 would be perfect hardness. For the blade I would imitate the Heljestrand MK34. Its a 32 that measures 8/8. That would be awesome with Unicorn horn Scales.

 

[BillEllis]

70 Rockwell? You might want to consider that if that hardness was a goal, that manufacturers would have done it before you decided to try it. I'm thinkin' 70 is way too hard and, consequently, brittle to a flaw. I'd say that 60 is closer to the sweet spot for hardness on razors.

 

[honed]

70 Rockwell? You might want to consider that if that hardness was a goal, that manufacturers would have done it before you decided to try it. I'm thinkin' 70 is way too hard and, consequently, brittle to a flaw. I'd say that 60 is closer to the sweet spot for hardness on razors.

Indeed ^

Again, I hate to rain on people's enthusiasm parades, but this isn't doable.

Look at the specs of the steel you consider.
It main attributes are toughness, wear resistance & preserved hardness when red hot.
As expected from a High Speed Steel.

How on earth is this gonna make a goos razor?
Add to that a steel with huge vanadium content. That makes for big, super hard carbides, not possible to sharpen with anything else then diamonds.

What you want is sharpness & a highly refined, fine-grained steel.
I know their website states REX as fine-grained, and it is, for a HSS with huge alloy content.

In the world of knives there is very few things that people reach a consensus about, but there actually is one, & that is which steel can take the very finest, sharpest edge.
And that is Hitatchis white steel. Only available from Japan.
Second to Hitatchi comes the commonly available high carbon steels like O1, 52100 & 1095. All capable of taking razor sharp edges @ ¨~ 60 HRC.

Unless you are gonna cut up the sink before shaving, those are what you need.

 

[hillbilly]

How will you sharpen it?

 

[paco664]

How will you sharpen it?