Thread: Tamahagane Honsha ebay store

Hey guys,

I am planning on buying a japanese style straight and I came across this vendor Tamahagane Honsha who seem to have a good selection of japanese razors. They trade through ebay and also have their own site here: Tamahagane Honsha – Japanese Straight Razors and Knives | Specialized Knife Shop offering Samurai swords and Ninja katana, shaving Kamisori, sashimi cutleries for sushi making. They also have a sharpening service which would be great.

Just wondering if anyone here has any experience with these guys/know anything about the quality of their razors etc.? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

I've never bought razor from them, but back when I occasionally looked at ebay there were some good razors and some not so good, i.e. clearly refurbished but the job didn't seem particularly well done.
No idea of how good their sharpening is either.

Just my opinion here. They market some beautiful Japanese western style razors as well as many other razors, straight, kamisori and de's. The prices are way to high for the most part for my participation and I find that especially so on the ebay associated website. That being said I am sure there are collectors who purchase regularly from them and the sellers feedback is good. I have purchased some of the custom wood razor storage boxes the market in lots of 5 and they are extremely well made.
I find that our member mainaman sometimes sells Japanese western stryle razors and they are priced fairly and his restorations are extremely well done. I all so have found and purchased many Japanese western straights from Aframes and
find the owner, Takeshi Aoki, to be an excellent vendor with accurate discriptions of his razors and competitive pricing and fast shipping. He also markets some beautiful Japanese knives and many hones. JNS also sells some Japanese Wester style straights for fair prices along with hones and knives and some Japanese tools. Hope this helps a bit. And as always YMMV.

Unless the razor is new you would have to treat the transaction with the same caution as any eBay purchase. Also assume it will not be honed whether they say it is or not.

Hey thanks for the replies guys. I had a look at the Aframes site. They seem to have a good selection and very reasonably priced, I'll probably end up getting my razor from them, Thanks.

I got a Tosuke from them, and it's OK, though they advertised it as shave-ready and it's not. The box and paper remind me of tourist gift-store stuff, with their proprietary "certificate of authenticity" and all. I didn't pay for their sharpening service but I wouldn't recommend it. Their prices are inflated but sometimes they sell stuff apparently on behalf of others, and those prices seem to be lower and the quality higher. A lot of their kamisori look really messed up on the omote side too.

I think they might have a decent deal now and again, but I wouldn't bet on finding any bargains.

My Iwasaki was from Aframestokyo and the price and service were excellent.

I've purchases a total of 6 different razors from them, and all have been amazing shavers. Need to get my eiko honed soon though, haven't shaved with that one. And the only blade that I got from them that had an issue( cracked spine ) was a filarmonica novodur that they gladly refunded my money on. But other than that always great to deal with.

All western style razors though never bought a kami from them.

Anyone know if Aframestokyos razors are in anyway shave ready or do they need a lot of work to get a good edge?

Originally Posted by Wiggles

Anyone know if Aframestokyos razors are in anyway shave ready or do they need a lot of work to get a good edge?

The ones I've gotten all said, "the edge of razor hasn't even been sharpened once" but I've heard people who have had their "Master" sharpener hone them, not be happy about the sharpness. They also say they can sharpen any razor for an extra 30 dollars but I would never pay them to do it, lol that's just me though