Thread: How does one hone a kamisori?

Hello All,

I finally got my kamisori in the mail, and it will not pass ANY shave test I know of. How would I go about Getting it back to Shave Ready? Only one person on this forum near me says he can and that is Mr. Floppyshoes. Not that I doubt his skill, I will probably send it out for the first few touch ups. I Just wanna know HOW to hone one for future reference when I get my stones. Any one got a kamisori honed by Mr. Floppyshoes or any razor honed by him that can vouch for his skill? The last razor I sent out to someone came back all scratched and dull and didn't shave nicely at all and cost me $80.00 after shipping there and back. So looking for Feedback. Tho I think I should have reviewed people on this forum first for honing instead of a store site ad. I am only human and wanted to 'save' money. lol think I got ripped off......and ruined a nice gold dollar razor in the process.


Any info would be much appreciated.

James

I've never shaved with a razor honed by floppyshoes, but he's been already honing razors for years for individuals and for one of the canadian vendors, so I would trust his abilities.
BTW you can see on the photographs that the razor is no good for shaving and needs honing.

Here are some links for Japanese razor info. Hope it helps......

Some threads I bookmarked:

Explanation of how a Japanese razor works.

Tosuke Japanese Straight Razor

So my Iwasaki razor arrived...now what?

Honing a Japanese Straight

Japanese Razor Profiles

Japanese razor part names.

My first Japanese Razor

Japanese Razors

iwasaki

Japanese Razors

A Honing Lesson from my barber - Straight Razor Place Forums

Sharpening Wakamisori - Straight Razor Place Forums

JimR's video on Japanese razor honing

Japanese waterstones info...

Very basic, but valuable information about natural Japanese hones.

Nakayama Maruichi

Tales of the Nippon Honing Miracle Worker

My Japanese Finishing Hones

Japanese stone grit levels: Suita, Narutaki, Nakayama
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WOW thanks for all the info!

Thanks for all the links I just copied and pasted them into an email and sent it to myself. It actually worked BTW.

If the razor needs bevel work you really need to send it out to someone. It's quite a job. If the bevel is OK and you need basic honing the idea is to do pretty much all the honing on the side you will shave with. You use back and forth strokes using downward pressure on the razor. The trick is to know how much pressure to use as you progress. You can also use diamond pasted strops if you don't need too much work.