Thread: How to hone a Japenese wedge?

I appreciate all the advice, guys. I think I'm getting somewhere. Out of the box, the razor was able to shave arm hair, but no amount of honing (including forward pressure) and stropping w/ CR-OX would get me to HHT. Finally I tried the tape -- a single piece. I did a few X strokes on the DMT 8F, the coticule, and then the balsa strop. Voila, HHT at all points on the blade.

Maybe if I had experience with Western-style wedges, this wouldn't have been too different. We'll see how the shave goes in a day or two, and then how well it strops day-to-day.

Oh boy.

I've been trying to get this guy to grind out hollows for MONTHS. Maybe a year?

I've tried to hone at least a half dozen and not gotten a reasonable edge on a single one. If you do, let me know.

It's not the steel, it's not the heat treatment, I'm convinced it's the grind. He's grinding them at 23 degrees+, and then you have to hone with tape, and it just doesn't feel good on the face.

By the way, it's "Takami" not "Tensui." Takashi would read it that way, but that tells me he's not in direct contact with the maker...just an FYI.

I promised to report on how my Tamakitou (a.k.a. Tensui) razor shaved. First, I want to summarize how I managed to sharpen the thing (with lots of help from this group):

The razor came nearly shave-ready. I first tried to finish by honing both bevels flat, as recommended on the seller's Web page. I used x strokes on a coticule with no slurry, applying forward pressure on the edge. This ultimately failed to sharpen the edge any further.

While honing, I noticed that one end of the edge (near the tip) consistently failed to undercut the water. This led me to believe that the bevels were not perfectly flat. So I stepped down to a DMT 8F (600 mesh) and flattened both bevels.

Then I stepped up to the DMT D8EE (8000 mesh) and then to the coticule again. I was getting proper undercut now, but after a lot of honing, still no joy.

Finally, I added one layer of tape to the spine. Did a dozen or so X-strokes on the 8000, establishing a very small, even secondary bevel (about 2cm, or 1/16"). After few minutes of very light strokes on the coticule, and a final balsa/CR0X strop, I was cutting hanging hairs.

Now, about the shave -- obviously more subjective than the above:

This razor has a solid, heavy feel in the hand. At the same time, the small asymmetrical handle gives fine finger control.

The extra mass of the blade reminds me of what I read about Western wedges (which I've never used): it plows through the beard easily. This quality was especially striking when shaving ATG, something that I can't do very well with my hollows.

Maybe because I'm still a newbie shaver, I had no particular trouble using this new style of razor. Both sides are identical, so I had none of the difficulties some people report with the asymmetrical kamisori.

Finally, the 2 1/4" blade is very maneuverable compared to the standard 3" blade. My beard's not heavy, but it grows every which way, and the short blade allows me to adjust accordingly, undeterred by most of the innies and outies of the face, chin, and neck. This was gratifying, because that's what I was hoping for when I started looking for a shorter razor (not necessarily a Japanese style).

In summary, it's been a learning experience. I'm glad I did it, but have to admit it's not for the faint of heart. Maybe if I had added the secondary bevel from the get-go, it would have been much easier -- hard to tell, since I don't think the main bevels were machined quite right. It was a calculated risk for me because I didn't find any advice or anecdotes about it; if more razors like this show up, maybe my report will be useful to someone else.

Originally Posted by mainaman

My thought exactly, and tried both with tape and also raised spine with very thin acrylic strips, still did not work well.
The tape would need replacement very often, and eventually after a while I gave up, I just did not see enough improvement to justify more time and effort on that razor.

IMO the soft iron will be easy to regrind then the razor should hone fine.

This was one of mine and I eventually gave up on it as well. Got a bevel on it, but could not refine the edge as it just stuck to the hone. Since I only have naturals (coticule) it made the task quite difficult and I just parted with it for quite a loss. Not sure if the new owner was able to put an edge on or not.

If you can get a bevel, maybe try some lapping film as it cuts fast and may prevent the suction action I got with it.

Edit: I see you got it shaving - nicely done.