There are SOOOOO MANY old Kampfe Bros / Star SE lathercatchers around, that are are missing the blade, or have a damaged blade. Sure, you can use them with a modern wafer type SE blade, but what's the fun of that? Besides, I think the new SE blades suck. The original "wedge" blades shave pretty good, when honed and stropped. I am not cursed with any pre-1912's that lack a blade, but I sure don't have many spares! I have been watching Fleabay for some NOS ones but they never come up. Sellers think their chipped and dinged blades are soooooo wonderful... so much character and charm. There is a name for that type, and I won't use it here on a public forum but they can stick their "collecter's value" up their swishy little tushies. No real collector wants damaged goods. And no shaver wants a razor without a usable blade.
Well, I was thinking about making a hoe razor for the Badger And Blade GD competition this year, and it occurred to me that maybe I could make the blade compatible with all the wedge SE razors. Most of them will all take the same blade... they were pretty standard, though the Rolls and the Wilkinsons just HAVE to be different for some reason. And BTW, "wedge" doesn't mean an actual wedge grind. These blades were mostly about 1/2 hollow. Wedge as opposed to the later wafer blades with the spine stamped on. Anyway, I figured may as well try to make a blade right NOW, to fit these razors!
In the first pic, I have thinned the spine down to about .210" on the belt sander with a 60 grit belt. First I necked down the shoulder area. Then I started out with the edge off the belt except an occasional touch to keep the spine grinding aligned with the edge. Finally I let the edge barely touch the belt while I applied pressure to the spine.
In the second pic, I have cut off the nose and heel/shank with a dremel and cutoff wheel, leaving a somewhat over-length blade section.
In the third pic, I have end sanded on the belt to slightly over-length, checking fit on the Star head. Hand sanding the end more or less flat and true, and setting a preliminary bevel, and wa-lah. Fits perfectly!
Tomorrow or the next day I will hone this guy up and have a go with it.