adventurous newbie

[ryowl]

Good evening gents!
I lurked for a while before deciding to join the fun around here. I had a terrible experience buying a kit with a worthless razor shaped object and I came here for advice. It is my great pleasure to report that a couple of fine gentlemen who I'd never met, through their kindness and generosity ensured that I would indeed become a lifelong addict to straight razor shaving! I am hopelessly gripped in the quest for shaving bliss. You see, I always detested shaving and I thought that this would be remedied by a sharp blade, and boy was I correct! One new friend sent me as a loaner a Case and Sons blade which shaves very well, and a gold dollar (perhaps to show me what to avoid?). Another new friend sent me a very nice Kastor Bros blade and a proper strop. These two gentleman have been instrumental in getting me going on the right path and I am truly grateful. I must have a problem because I am powerless over razors and my life has become unmanageable when someone else's plans interfere with a planned shave! I shave at night after a shower right now because it takes me a long time. I want to really take my time and enjoy myself, and get a good technique. I've been slaying whiskers with a purpose for about a couple of months now and it's time to get involved!

I know that I'm jumping ahead of myself here but here goes. I was looking at kamisoris and wondering about the possibilities. I am hoping anyone with experience with these blades can give me a little insight. My question first off is, if a kamisori has moderate to heavy hone wear, can the hollow grind be re-established in order to prolong the usable life of the razor or its that just silly newbie fantasy? I would appreciate any insight from anyone who cares to jump in here and give me some of there experience with these blades in general. Thank you, Ryan.

[Tarkus]

Oh boy Ryans got the sickness real bad!!!! Har
I don't know much about kamisori's if at all, but I thought real kamisoris the heat treating is very superficial. Meaning that the hardness is mostly at the edge, moderate to heavy hone wear would quite disturb me for that reason. Although I could be wrong.
Darl

[pfries]

Hone wear on a Kamisori is a bit more difficult to judge than on a western blade.
At least it was for me when I started shopping for one,
for me this had to do with how they are made.

Here you can see the wide area on the ura, this is not uncommon,
but note the bevel is relatively even and edge is straight.



Here you can see an area of the spine that is not really making contact with the stone when honing,
a section near the heal on the edge where the bevel is wider and toward the toe the wear on the spine increases a bit.
Still the edge is clean and straight.



By western standards this is odd wear,
when I started looking into getting one it was a bit different to gage the condition as my eye was drawn to these "problems".
I really enjoy using this blade, it is my special day blade. I do the Full Monty when I break it out and it has yet to disappoint.
I like the way they shave and how they feel but as always YMMV.
If you can find one in decent shape for a reasonable price you won't lose if you do not care for it.

I say if you are interested in trying it take your time and find one,
look at the edge condition and read the wear from that.
Or if you can see if someone near by can introduce you to one.

[sharptonn]

Kamis are a whole nother ballgame, Ryan. I would recommend western grinds and how to hone, strop, shave, maintain before jumping off into Kamisoris. I have not delved into them after a decade of straight shaving. I do look, though!
Sexy, sharp little things! HAR!

[Tarkus]

There's always the western style blade Kamisori's as well. The style of a Kamisori but with a western grind. Although similar to a standard western razor it still has the look and feel of a Kamis. Here's a photo from Sharptonn of his western style Kamis. http://straightrazorpalace.com/shave...ml#post1327014 He was good enough to lend me this razor once to try it. While the Lewis grind and edge were sublime the scaleless razor was very hard for me to grasp and hold. It always felt like it would sail out of my hand at any time, including during stropping. My arthritic hands made for a hard time indeed. Not for all I reckon, but a stunning look to be sure...
Good luck,
Darl

[ryowl]

Thank you for the input guys! That's a lot to chew on. Clearly I have plenty on my plate to start geeking out with this right now. That was one fine fixed blade there! Wow. Back to basics right now for me!

[sharptonn]

Thank you for the input guys! That's a lot to chew on. Clearly I have plenty on my plate to start geeking out with this right now. That was one fine fixed blade there! Wow. Back to basics right now for me!

Atta Boy, Ryan!

[gugi]

And here's something you should stay away from (just picked the picture off ebay).



Just like with regular western straights, I think your best strategy is to buy your razor already honed from somebody with good amount of experience and who is honest. For a forum member you can look up their post history here and learn a lot from it. Non-forum members could be a gamble, a lot of them are former forum members who were banned for abuse and have reinvented themselves under a completely manufactured identity posing as honest and experts, while being neither.

I think I'll pull one of my japanese razors for tomorrow's shave, haven't used one of them for a while