Thread: japonnippon

Originally Posted by Thisisclog

I'm not claiming to have any degree of knowledge, but I'm wondering if perhaps these are being made by Mizouchi's apprentice?

Mizuochi san is Shigeyoshi san's apprentice but I doubt they've made any tamahagane razors for the market in quite some time.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Mizuochi san is Shigeyoshi san's apprentice but I doubt they've made any tamahagane razors for the market in quite some time.

That much I knew. I think when I was typing that I was referring to Mizouchi-San's apprentice, but now that I think about it, that's not right. Perhaps these may be made by Mizouchi-San and not Shigeyoshi-San?

He as some very fine razors, but the prices are on the high side.

I've bought a few. A coral, kropp, and a Swedish blade I can't think of the manufacturer off the top of my head. Some tarnish, a few very small pits in some, but all in pretty good shape that need minimal restoring, some just a buffing. He's a nice guy and honest. Like said earlier he doesn't deal in junk and I'm more than comfortable buying from him. Plus I usually get my stuff w/in 7-8 days which is better than ups here!

Originally Posted by Thisisclog

That much I knew. I think when I was typing that I was referring to Mizouchi-San's apprentice, but now that I think about it, that's not right. Perhaps these may be made by Mizouchi-San and not Shigeyoshi-San?

As far as I know current production is a joint effort but don't know re tamahagane models.

Most here seem to find the prices too high. To me they seemed to be reasonable for the high quality of the offerings. I did buy a second Henckels from him today. The first one took only four days to arrive at my mailbox in Toronto.
The good news is that he has cut his prices by as much as 50% for the holiday season. Why would you buy a new razor when you could get a near flawless basic Friodur for around $100 or something fancy and larger for around $200? Of course there are many Filarmonica, Puma, Heljestrand, and others, both European and Japanese.

have been paying very close attention to the razors coming in from Japan over the last few months. And just because I could, I bought a bunch, and had them shipped all at once to save the shipping cost.

My opinion is, that the 4 top vendors know EXACTLY what they are selling. See all those pretty Henckels? look really REALLY carefully, and you will notice that the cheaper ones have little or no honewear, but have had the blade width considerably ground down, or the heels have been modified, or the tapering toe is carefully hidden by the angles of the photography.

And yes, they are often misrepresented as to width. I have 2 up for sale right now, measuring in at 7/8 that should have been full 15/16 - 1" (not complaining mind you, they are fabulous razors, and still not bad for the money, just not the bargain I thought I was getting)

I have also seen some marked as NOS, showing obvious hone wear. Again, just my opinion, but the decent ones all have their starting bids at full retail, and the MINT ones are all at a true premium that THIS guy will never talk himself into paying!

I bought one some time ago and due to the sale have three inbound. Now that he has a clearance sale the prices a looking quite competitive. There are three much newer Japanese vendors that also have some nice wares. There have been some crazy bargains on some of them, from Japanese vendors in general. I find it somewhat amusing that they get to an isolated spot in Canada about a week ahead of a priority mail package from the US.

I've bought one razor from Japan nippon - a NOS razor that was labeled "Honest" that he sold for $80. Not sure why he did that, but it was good for me.

And then I bought 6 from a guy who calls himself zig zag papa. that was a little excessive, and I have some buyer's guilt, but figure that if these guys are selling off old stock from nichiri company, after a few thousand more razors, they'll run out...eh?