razor blades

We use razor blades on our leather paring machines. My machine of choice has been the Brockman but many people use the Scharf-fix as well. Basically they are designed to hold razor blades at a fixed point so that when leather is drawn through the machine it removes an even amount of leather.

The Scharf-fix comes with blades, the Brockman didn’t. I should add that the Brockman is no longer made, which is a shame, but the cost was always higher than the Scharf-fix and they had trouble selling because of that. I find them easier to use, less finicky, and get better results.

I’ve heard a few horror stories about Scharf-fixes the past few years but the manufacturing of them has returned to Germany and hopefully the problems are a thing of the past. The problem is that the machine’s adjustments would change while people were making passes with leather, which resulted in uneven paring and wasted time and leather. And a bit of swearing as well, probably.

I have a few of the new ones but haven’t had a chance to use them yet. I’ll report on them when I have had a bit of time with them.

In the 1990s, I used to buy Wilkinson blades from the Bartell’s drugstore near my apartment in Seattle (65th and Roosevelt, if you care) and they were utterly fantastic. These were the days before the Internet so there was no simple way to buy a case of them. But the drugstore carried them all the time so there was no need.

Until they disappeared. Eventually I found them again, most notably in London where I bought a bunch. But they weren’t as good as I remembered. Later I found out that Wilkinson had moved their manufacturing from England to Germany and most aficionados feel the quality of the blades deteriorated. I had no idea that had happened, but definitely noticed that the blades weren’t as good as before. Twenty years later I found out that I wasn’t just imagining it.

People still shave with double-edged blades. There are a couple of sites for fans: Badger and Blade, and The Shave Nook. On both those sites can be found reviews of blades.  One from Badger and Blade is here (there are several on that site):

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/418593-Premium-DE-blade-smack-down 

There’s another, and better, set of reviews, with photos of the bevels, here as well:

http://forum.shavemyface.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=29705

Many people think that sharp is sharp, and that’s all that matters. The sharpest razor blade is considered to be the Feather. It is indeed the sharpest by virtually all accounts.

What’s important to note, especially in regard to using blades in leather paring, is that sharpness is just one factor. Feathers are very sharp but don’t hold an edge long enough to really accomplish anything. I found them dulling before completing even one pass. For leatherwork they are worthless, but for shaving they’re great. Different purposes and uses, different results. On these sites they’ll talk about how many shaves they get before they go dull. That’s going to be a factor when paring leather.

Of course it’s really no different with knife sharpening. Some folks sharpen a knife and it just doesn’t hold an edge, others sharpen and it stays sharp for months and months. But in those cases you can’t blame the knife; with razor blades you can. Take advantage of that!

The political situation in Russia has had an interesting effect on razor blades. Thanks to Putin’s actions (well, Ukraine and Crimea, more than riding a horse without a shirt) the Ruble has lost much of its value over the past few years. That meant that blades could be bought pretty inexpensively. Good blades, too.

What was happening was that Russians were selling blades on eBay and taking payment via Paypal. To my understanding they would then leave the money in Paypal, which would insulate it from the decline value of the ruble. It was still dollars while it stayed in Paypal. Rather clever.

I bought several blades at that time. (As I’m writing this I see that these blades are selling on eBay for $5.00 per hundred blades, plus shipping from Russia.) The ones I purchased were made by Rapira: Platinum Lux and Swedish Supersteel; Voskhod, Super Stainless; Sputnik. I bought the Sputnik only because of the name. How could you not? I had tried the Ladas before and didn’t like them so I didn’t buy any of them.

I’ve used them a bit and find that two are pretty good for paring leather:

The Platinum Lux has worked pretty well. I’ve used them on a few limp leather Bibles and find they do the job pretty well. And the same for the Swedish Supersteel.

I’ve used the other blades, especially for initial passes but have moved to these when I’m close to the desired thickness. The Sputniks haven’t done so well. Even the Vokshods have at times been a bit troublesome. But I have them so I try to use them.

A bit of it depends on the leather. Some of the iffy blades seem to do well on some leathers and are horrible on others.

Now there is an issue to bring up. There have been reports of counterfeit blades being sold on eBay. I think if you look at reviews and search the boards at Badger and Blade you’ll be able to find the reputable dealers. I’m not sure how selling five cent counterfeit blades can be profitable but then I don’t live in an economy like that.

Of course you can avoid the issue all together by buying blades from Israel or India or other countries who make some really nice blades. Check the reviews from the sites listed above.

There are several shaving sites which sell sample packs of blades. West Coast Shaving is one: https://www.westcoastshaving.com.

It may be a bit surprising that there are this many types of blades still available, and that there are many people still using them to shave. Sort of like vinyl records but I think a bit more substantial.

And all much cheaper than the blades that come from Sharf-fix or from our normal bookbinding suppliers. Save the money, explore the choices, and have a bit of fun. What could be better?

Dust making 101

We had another really fun week at the bindery.  Though the class was held during the day I can't resist posting this photo of the bindery taken during open studio night this week.  Pretty amazing sky, in spite of the lack of clouds.

The class was on making a half leather binding.  Working with leather is one of the most fun things to do in binding.  Whether you want to make modern fine bindings or historic models, knowing how to work with leather is an essential skill.  This class was an introduction to working with this wonderful material.

But, I was a little unsure how to do the class, frankly.  My idea was to give the students the option of making a book using either a spokeshave or a paring machine to make their book.  However, I wasn't sure at all how long it would take students to get good enough at either of them to make a successful binding.

What??

Leather comes too thick to be used on bindings.  That means that it needs to be pared down.  There are a few ways of doing that, but the most common are to use a paring machine (like a Brockman or a Scharf-fix, see picture below) or to use a spokeshave.  Neither of them is exactly a walk in the park, but not the most difficult thing you'll do in your life either.  

So, you could say the class wasn't a leather binding class, it was a leather dust creation class.

Eventually I decided to show the students both methods and see if they couldn't do two bindings in a week.  It could not have gone better.  The first day of the class they forwarded two books (sewed, rounded and backed, and sewed end bands on them).  On Tuesday we spend the day paring leather using the Brockman paring machine.  

It works really, really well and the students hit it out of the park.  We had that book done by Wednesday.  Before we had finished that book we had moved onto spokeshaving leather.  Using a spokeshave on leather can be a bit intimidating, but it is only a difficult thing to do if you spokeshave isn't extremely sharp.  First, the spokeshave needs to be modified, both the handle and the blade.  But that just takes time and a bit of knowledge.  

Then the blade needs to be sharpened.  So sharp that if you drop the blade it sinks 4 inches into concrete.  So sharp that when you run around the room with it you hear atoms splitting.  You get the idea.

I had a 4000 grit Japanese water stone wheel that fit on my Tormek grinder and it did a stunning job finishing off the edge of one student's spokeshave.  Stunning is probably an understatement.  Really, spokeshaving is as much about sharpening as paring.  

You can buy it already sharp and modified from Jeff Peachey.  Here is his:

It's fantastic that Jeff offers these ready to go, but you still have to know how to sharpen blades is you are going to use it.  Like everything else in binding, you can't avoid learning the fundamentals.  Like sharpening.

They both took to the spokeshave with surprising ease and success.  That meant that they were able to easily finish two books by Friday.  Which I wasn't at all sure was possible.  In fact, they were well on their way to their third and fourth books by the time the class ended.

As part of the class, we also blind tooled the spine and covers.  Here is Camille tooling the spine:

And Camille's third book from the class:

In the class we also pared leather to make a label for the books, using the Kwikprint to stamp a title.  Then we used our French knives to pare the edges, which is really, really fun to do. You have to pare the edges without reducing the overall size of the label.  I really enjoy it, and I hope that rubbed off on the students.  I think it did.  Sort of.

Here are the two books I made during the class.  The top one I pared with the spokeshave. (I forget to photograph the student's books, unfortunately.)

Needless to say it was an extremely gratifying and fun class and I look forward to teaching it again, probably early next year.