The Bluebeards Revenge straight razor project - Tang & Shank
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Last month The Bluebeards Revenge announced to the world they would be embarking on an exciting new straight razor project. Not wanting to do anything by halves, the leading British male grooming brand have searched high and low for someone that possesses the quality of craftsmanship they feel a project like this fully deserves.
A few weeks ago we looked at the creation of the 192 layer razor billet - a mixture of both Shirogami (White Paper Steel) and 1.2842 (US 02) steel, which is an Hypereutectic Industrial Tool Steel. With the razor billet ready, The Bluebeards Revenge is now developing the razor’s tank and shank.
We recently sat down with the company to discuss this process in more detail.
In this video, we see the Bladesmith set out a groove for the razor. Basically, this is where the yellow blob is in the image below. This is also where the shoulder of the blade will go (if we go with a shoulder, we might look at shoulderless).
Here is a diagram The Bluebeards Revenge has produced of the different parts of a straight razor. If you search the web you’ll find these sorts of diagrams everywhere, but you might see different areas of the razor labelled differently.
Once the groove is made, it is then time to start on the tang and shank. Damascus is notoriously difficult to forge and can split easily, so a great deal of attention to detail is needed.
Here, we see the tang actually take shape. The hammer and anvil work is purely exquisite, and shows the attention to detail and craft needed to create something like a custom straight razor.
Further refinement of the tang is needed, and the process of using hammer on anvil is a long one. As it gets closer to finishing the shank and tang, the Bladesmith uses lighter blows to add the finishing touches.
Next week, we will hopefully have more on the forging of the blade.
“Please remember that everything at this point in time is in the development stage - so shape of the tang and shank could change in its final stage. We are merely trying to create the best possible razor, and we’re looking at every option as we go along,” The Bluebeards Revenge told us.
 Tom, a self-proclaimed 'Real Man', is the manager of The Shaving Shack shop and expert shaving advisor. He has previously been in the Canadian Special Forces (Echo Force) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (booted out for alleged but unproven misconduct). He has also been a lumberjack (developed the 'Human Chainsaw" technique). He relocated to the UK to become an offshore Firefighter (nicknamed "Asbestos Tom"). His interests include diving, self defence and martial arts, survival cookery, bushcraft, arm wrestling, bunjee jumping, white water swimming, watching Steven Seagal films, and shaving with cut-throat razors. |
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