Karve Shaving Co. A new DE Brass razor to market.

Stephanos1920  Sorry Steph if you felt that way. Wasn't meant that way. Just a few of us want to age a couple of brass razors.
Understand you'll go Pro and sell - and also understand you have a 'proprietary' formula. I would guard that secret as well.

It's frustrating to find something safe - and it would seem that chemists are the only ones that can actually tell us.

I've seen your work on a couple of sites and its absolutely awesome. Good luck with selling. You'll do very well with your talent.

-Bill

Everything's OK ,Bill .
I'm really sorry myself for misunderstanding your post.
That's a  bad side of communicating through the machine .

Yes,it's a formula that I want to keep as proprietary ,as I will go "pro" at some point.
All I can tell you ,are some "hints" : It does not contain any etching acids (  like the hydrofluoric hydrochloric ,orthophosphoric or nitric ones )
and contains also a surfactant agent for better surface wetting ,thus for more uniform results .

It is possible to find very good ,non-etching  brass patina agents ,
but you will need to search for professional brass "restoration and antiquing " products
and not the common ones found-on-Bay-or-Amazon .
Remember that you should avoid any  ammonia -based solutions and practices .

There are also special patina formulas for achieving  various hues on brass ,like blue,green ,red and many more .
As also there are some formulas that are not proprietary ,like the ones found here
( do not even bother reading the ones having "Ammonium ....." as one of  their basic ingredients ) .


Unfortunately ,on some other forums ,they have deleted some of my threads ,
as they might 've thought that I was possibly selling through them .
In fact I 've never sold any of my creations so far, at least  through a forum .They are all mine  !
My precious ones !


They did not even bother to ask me first for an explanation  or even notify me about deleting my threads .
Maybe it was all my fault ,for posting pics of my work.
Anyway ,so far the DFS forum is the most receptive and open-minded one .

Stephanos1920 no problem man. You do work that nobody has seen, other than charcoal goods. I'm fully expecting to see your work on Etsy or associated with some fine razor handles down the road. I think handles are a great niche market especially for brass. If all of us could be so talented. Don't stop the pictures. They're inspirational.
I absolutely blew up a Karve baseplate with ammonia and pickling, then cleaning and re doing it all over again. I've got an old brass golf club I'm messing with too.
Carry on. As you were.

Stephanos1920 just read your last few sentences. Nobody ever should delete art work ever. You don't have a hundred handles kicking around someplace. I'm on a couple of art and broadcast production forums and everyone shares. It's the creative process. It inspires all to try and be better. Good on ya.The good will follow.

Bill ,it doesn't necessarily have to be that you 've blown up your Karve base plate
or your old gold club (although for the latter I do have some concerns  ).
For the ammonia to cause serious issues in the form of stress corrosion cracking ,
the brass objects has to have been "cold-formed " previously .
When brass is worked at an ambient temperature of 15-35 C ,then is called a "cold-work " .
The Karve razor base plate is indeed cold-worked ( CNC milling & drilling ) ,
but since the actual work mainly involves removing metal than "forging " or displacing ,
there are not high internal tensions within the  metal crystal matrix created during the machining.
Your   golf club is another case ,though .As the club impacts the golf ball ,
a "forging " effect is taking place at the clubs tip .
That creates  lots of internal tension at the brass tip.
At every impact with the ball ,some brass matter is being displaced and "presses" on the adjacent matter  .
That's the so called "internal tension".
Ammonia will attack brass in such way ,
that at the very places where those internal tensions are present ,
cracks will form due to the  local forces applied by the tension .
That's why I think the golf club is a very different case than the  Karve base plate.

Keep in mind this (was the very  first thing my friend ,the chemist ,
told me when I asked him to give me info about patina on brass )  :

"There are two ways to apply patina on brass .The corrosive one and the oxidation one .
For your high precision shaving instrument you must use the oxidation way .
Which BTW forms a thin layer (of patina ) on the brass surface ,
protecting actually  the brass object from deeper corrosion and/or dezincification .

But even then there is a dilemma surfacing.
There are oxidative formulas that slightly etch the brass surface ,
-thus slightly altering the physical dimensions -,
but a deeper and stronger patina effect is achieved .
And there are oxidative formulas that do not etch brass ,
but the resulting patina is more dull and more subtle ,
as also being easier to wear out " .

Hadn’t checked in on this thread in a long while it is AMAZING what selling a razor that shaves and looks like what competitors are charging double for will do... This might be the biggest thread on here... I remember when I got mine a couple of years ago... best part of this thing is you can let it sit and age and it looks like a Charcoal goods offering with the patina and then take some Baraso to it and it looks new again not to mention the shave it provides is stellar...

I said then and I will say it now... it’s one of the best made and shave razors on the market regardless of price..

Is the brass stock from which the razor is machined most likely hot-rolled or cold-rolled?

I said then and I will say it now... it’s one of the best made and shave razors on the market regardless of price..

I still have and use (when I have the time) the 17-4, Blackbird, Charcoal L2, and the now extinct Raw-10. A year later and the Karve CB is still the finest razor in my den along with some cartridge offerings. In my use it’s the most perfectly designed, and built, DE razor in many years of wet shaving.

Something else worth mentioning (if it is not already known ) is that a non-plated brass razor
has a strong germicidal effect.
Approximately five hours after use ,a ( non-plated ) brass razor head will be over 99 % pathogen free.

More info : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antimicrob..._of_copper
http://rotaxmetals.blogspot.com/2016/03/...cidal.html

Finally got to try out the Karve with the new OC plate offerings. Went full on in with the F plate as I had ordered 3 base plates in B, D & F. Fit and finish is as expected, just excellent with superb precision and tolerances. The shave was on par with the quality of the product. Plain and simply, superb. Excellent blade feel while still retaining an unexpected smoothness that was very good on the skin. Don’t get me wrong, the blade feel is there such as if you got a bit careless, it will bite. I know, I got careless around the throat area and Sir Adam and I gave myself a nic. But, that was totally on me as I did not skin stretch enough and turned simultaneously while performing some touch ups in that area. Nothing to do with the razor itself as the performance was flawless. The F is not as aggressive as I thought it would be but, that’s not a bad thing. It gives you a bit more blade feel than the F SB plate yet retains that SB smoothness. I would put it at the level of the R41 post 2011 with a softer and easier skin feel, if that makes sense.

In the end it was a great shave. And honestly, I got exactly what I wanted. I wasn’t looking for a ferocious feeling whisker whacker as I have quite a few of those in my stable. But, rather an efficient yet smooth whisker reducing tool that takes care of business with as little fuss as possible. With the Karve F plate, mission accomplished.....

I’ll be running the Karve OC plates for the rest of the month of March as I’m in a Fixed Four event on another forum. Good timing to get to know this razor with its open comb plate offerings. Will post from time to time with all 3 plate findings and experiences.

Happy shaves all.....