Day one and two were an entry level class in making pattern-welded steel. Days two and three were a razor meet. The two events overlapped and merged together.

Mike Blue and Mrs. Blue were great hosts. They kept us fed and entertained throughout the long weekend. Randy Tuttle did a great job of organizing and cat herding to get all of us at the meet.

Day 1
The class started at 8:00 Friday morning with a lecture that included the history, some theory behind it, and safety aspects of the making of pattern-welded steel.

We (the students) made 25-layer billets from thin pieces of 1095 and 15n20 steel. First we decided how we were going to layer our billets and picked out our raw stock. We could use any combination of the two metals to make our billets. I ended up with a regular pattern: one then the other in an alternating pattern. We then cleaned off the metal pieces and stacked them in preparation for welding. Tim (32t) or Mike ended up using a wire-fed welder to tack the billets and weld a stub handle on the billets for all four of us.

We then took our tack-welded billets to the forge, heated and fluxed our billets, then used an hydraulic press to bring all of the steel into intimate contact so that the forge welding could happen. After our billets were solid homogeneous chunks of steel, we began using the hydraulic press to draw the metal out. After our billets were drawn out in length and about half the starting thickness, some of us folded the metal again to double the layer count. The process is like using hair conditioner: lather, rinse, repeat, but instead it is draw out, fold, weld, and repeat until happy. After we had the billets folded to the point where we were happy with, Mike put them through his rolling mill to bring them down to a useful thickness for razors.

Mike let us work where ever our comfort zone was; he stepped and guided as necessary. He also corrected and showed us how to correct our mistakes and hiccups throughout the process.

Day 2
Saturday was the beginning of the razor meet; there were hones and razors everywhere. Eric (HNSB) demonstrated honing techniques and stropping methods. Randy (randydance062449) bought his razor restoration sanding attachment for his mini lathe – a very nifty time saving invention. Skip (skipnord) had his mini lathe and also ave a brush handle turning demonstration. Ron (Utopian) brought a large collection of interesting hones and his great microscope. Rod (rodb) had some new hones that not many of us have seen.

Day 3
Sunday was a day of finishing up things in the shop and honing and discussing matters big and small. It was an informative time watching the more experienced honemasters.

Charlie

I wanted to show how easy it is to shave and strop with one of these small non-folding razors.

Charlie