Thread: Frowning Kamisori :-(

Hi All,
I have managed to get myself a couple of Kamisoris and one of them seems not to be very happy - because it has a distinct frown (as well as chips) in the blade. I don't know if you can see the frown in the photos.
I have studied various honing videos about these razors and have come to the conclusion that around 8k is the starting point to get the 'bevel' set.
Would it be appropriate to start on a 6k or even 3k to straighten out this edge and remove the chips and then move onto my Asagi with Lyo, Tenjyou, Mejiro and Tomo naguras?
Would the ratio's still apply ie 10:1, 7:1 etc.?
I'm sooo confused ..... hehehehe
Thanks in advance guys.

Hmm, I would say Experiment with the knowledge you have learned and listen to what the steel tells you, were the razor mine, would try a 2-3000 grit stone and see where you are after testing?
All the Best and Hone that baby!!

G'day mate, good to see it up here now not just FB
I went down to 1k to realign mine then back up through the grits
I went with about a 10:1 ratio to help correct geometry, then about 7:1 for final polishing etc on the height grits
But most of my time was spent in the 8k up area

Oooh, There are usually about two good Kamis in a lot of 5 0r 6.
The blade looks simple but...the geometry is centuries old and doesn't take kindly to honing abuse.Others are honing practice. I have only honed my few and will not hone anyone elses!

The blade you show is hone\d in a non standard pattern as to honing angle from the tang to the tip on the non-stamped side.

I have gone as low as 1K on one that bad using the same process stroke numbers...but only one lap on the top. until the last high grit hones stones. This is a case of really needing to keep the blade dead flat on the hone.

If you have the means, I would remove some of the honed angled surface of the rear of the least bellied side to be parallel with the honed area of the edge.. The honing is progressing up the tang and that will give some geometry problems in honing.What is shown there is going to force you to really press harder by the tang than the toe. That needed extra effort not done could be why so many of the blades we see are tapered toward the toe.

Watch some of the guys like gssixgun's videos. to see what the strokes should look like.

~Richard

Havachat45,

The use of tape can allow you to use the 1k stones with out putting excessive wear on the 'jigane'.

I have a old vintage tamahagane kamisori that was in quite a bad way when I got it. It had never been honed, and the edge was chipped.

I taped it up and had at it with my Naniwa 1k SuperStone until the edge looked good (this took a very goodly amount of time, a lot of tape replacement and a vast amount of very skilled swearing).
I then went to my coticule (La Verte) with medium slurry, and after that the tape was removed, and the razor then honed using GSSixguns coticule/JNat method.

Have fun

Best regards

Russ

A Beautiful piece of steel, go lightly if you are trying to correct or restore the edge. There may not be too much good steel to work with.
Mike