I bought myself a carbonsteel straight edge last year for Christmas and I will be honest I don't always shave with it, but I always feel very badass when I do. But now owning and using an edged tool that I haven't made myself seems wrong to me so I would like to go about making one. Damascus of course cause everything should be made out of Damascus. Now when it comes to grinding those two perfectly symmetrical concave faces up to that razors edge, I feel like I would screw something up right as the blade got thin... and slice a sanding belt clean in half, burn the thin steel or something worse.....
I remember seeing something on tv once where they were making straight edge blades by hand in Germany and were using what looked like two belts with appropriate sized contact wheels for the concave faces and the machine ground both faces simultaneously... but maybe i am just thinking about it the wrong way but i feel like there is a high probability of the entire blade being ripped out of your hands and sucked in between the two wheels.
Anything that could point me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated once again. Thanks.
I always admired and thought that straight razors are very neat and elegant just like knives. I have seen a similar setup that you talk about with two contact wheels located on both sides of the razor. Here is a great video on grinding a straight razor blade, with a single contact wheel, if you haven't seen it:
Lewisrazors is a great YouTube channel and he has lots of neat videos and information, and it also has the double wheel grinder setup shown in action. It looks like he holds his razor with vice grip pliers as well on the double contact wheel grinder to prevent his hands from being exposed to danger possibly. It also looks like he has great control using this method. With anything just make sure to be careful and safe, and get help and advice from as many people as possible with this. I hope this helps and I hope that someone with experience on here can help you answer more of your questions. Good luck with your project and let us know how everything goes!
Evan
It's my opinion that a double wheel set up would be expensive and difficult to get "tuned". It would also take a lot of experience to master...
I've had good luck using a standard grinder wheel. Go slow, hopefully you have a variable speed control. Use fresh belts once it starts getting thin. For a satin finish I shoot for a .003" edge. IF doing an acid etch tumbled finish I stop at .005" as the edge will ripple in the tumbler if any thinner. I use O1 for my razors. Any fine grain steel should work well.
Look forward to your results
