Thread: kamisori honing advice needed

A while ago I picked up this kamisori for cheap, because I wanted to try one but didn't want to spend much. It needed to be honed, and I figured I was up to the challenge because I've successfully honed my Hoshi Tombo 6000, which has an asymmetrical grind.

Anyways, once it was on the 1k, I noticed that the toe on the back side wasn't making contact. There's a fair amount of hone wear, which doesn't help. In the photo, hopefully you can see the spot I mean, it's darker because of the marker test.



If this were a normal razor I'd do a rolling x stroke, but that doesn't seem to work with this grind. And in order to make the two bevels meet, it seems to me that I'd need to take off an awful lot of metal. Unless I did a weird stroke with the spine off of the hone, which I'm not really willing to do.

So how would you overcome this problem? Is it possible to fix?

If it's not realistic to hone it out I won't be too broken up, I spent very little money on this razor. But it would be a shame, nonetheless.

Thanks!

Incant help ya as i havent learned much about these besides how to shave with them. But Glen, Oz and Jamie know. It just might be a bit before they show up. Good luck. I will be watching to learn.

Are those Flat spots from honing???

It looks as though, from the Chattering marks on the face somebody did a "Japanese Regrind" on it

Yes, I suppose the flat spots are hone wear, pretty substantial.

I’m not really sure what you mean about the Japanese Regrind. I’m obviously not an expert on kamisoris, but many I’ve seen are quite rough looking on the back sides, even if the front looks perfect, so I didn’t think too much about this one.

But the hone wear is not nearly as concerning to me as the bevel at the toe, which is not in line with the rest of the razor.

I've read there is a way to cut the hollow out so that you don't have as much flat. This might be what Glen is talking about. I see those on eBay all the time too. Don't know enough to pull the trigger and repair one.

The hone wear is what is causing your issues with the bevel not hitting even

Reginds

Mostly when one of us regrinds a razor we use a 2x72 Belt Grinder and whatever size wheel we can get to match the grind as close as possible, a "Japanese Regrind" is done with a tool called a Sen, when it is used on Hardened steel you get that Chattered look in the hollow..

I do not know if that Kami can be Reground again using a belt, I am pretty sure you can add 2-3 layers of tape, maybe even using some imaginative taping to get the bevel sitting even again to get a Shaving edge back

Tape is cheap and easy, a regrind is expensive and iffy

I have two different Kamisori honing vids on my channel, one is for an easy straight forward Kami, the other gives some tricks on how to get one shaving that is "Off"

here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m87oGTAKV7I&t=10s

I hope that helps but feel free to ask more questions as you go..

I have successfully honed a kami using tape only on the one side, rather than attempt to restore the "hollow" to it. Thinking about it makes me want to experiment with ALL my razors with a bit of "funk" to them, using one layer of tape on one side, 2 layers on the other etc..

Normally Sen marks run horizontal with the blade. My guess is that one's been on a coarse belt or grinder as well.
Once too much of that soft iron layer is gone you may as well hone it like a knife. Even with normal honing you can use finger pressure on the edge to save the spine & soft iron laminate. Yes that's more a tool/knife technique but it works due to the geometry of kami.

The trouble with hollowing out these worn out kami is that the big fat spine/ridge bevel you have there is the only thing that's keeping the edge on the stone. Once hollowed the big bevels will start to reappear as you hone because the razor is getting thinner & also, it's already lost some width.

Here's one my mate So Yamashita hollowed for me. You can see my honing marks are already starting to show in the hollow & it will flatten again before too long.

The thing is they can still shave a treat if you can get an edge on them.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

I have two different Kamisori honing vids on my channel, one is for an easy straight forward Kami, the other gives some tricks on how to get one shaving that is "Off"

I had watched that kamisori honing video where you start on the 1k a couple years ago, when I first tackled the Hoshi Tombo, but I just rewatched it and realized there was a TON of information in there that I had completely forgotten. I definitely have a lot more tricks to try with this kami before I'll call it quits. The other, older video series on kamis was great, too - I had never watched those before.

Sick day = honing day

I was able to spend time working on this kami this morning. Unfortunately I was not able to get the bevels to meet at the toe, actually for about the whole top 1/3 of the blade. I started by taking off a ton of steel using a worn DMT 325 and 3 layers of tape (it took me a while to figure out the asymmetrical tape). Then went to the 1k, also with 3 layers of tape, to get rid of the deep scratches. Then went to 2 layers of tape. I could tell there was still an issue with the toe, but even under the loupe it only seemed like a couple of mm were affected. But after spending WAY too much time trying to set the bevel, I eventually needed to walk away from the razor.

Because this was my first kamisori, I'm not sure if it's my lack of experience or the razor itself, or both that is the problem. I'll give it another try, but next time I think I'll try and get the bevels to fully meet with the 325 before moving to the 1k, even it it takes off a ton of steel.

I'm super glad I spent barely anything on this razor! It will likely end up getting trashed. But hopefully I'll learn a lot along the way.