Japan - By Way of India

Hey guys,

I'm currently living in India and will be traveling to Tokyo in a few weeks. I'm a DE shaver and just getting started with straights. I've ordered a few stones to sharpen my 'shave ready' razor (thanks for nothing vintagestraightrazor.com :td ) but neglected to order chromium oxide to finish the edge.

Rather than placing another international order, I'm hoping to pick something up while in Japan. Is .5 chromium oxide paste available in Tokyo? They seem to be known for their finishing stones, so I could understand if they didn't have it. In that case, should I forego the Chr Ox and purchase a finishing stone? I have zero experience honing, so this is all new to me.

Thanks for the info.

Brandon

57 views and no reply. I take it no one's living in Tokyo anymore?

Loaded question. I'll try my best to help out.

What stones have you purchase?
Do you have a lapping stone?

If the razor is not shave ready, it's going to take you a while to read and watch videos on honing, then another while to try and succeed! A finisher should be the last thing in your mind (IMHO). Now, if you have a shave ready razor, then a finisher would be my first recommendation.

What's your budget for the finisher?

That's a start. Double O

Thanks for the reply. I bought the Norton Water Stone Kit from shavenation.com...which comes with a 220/1000, a 4000/8000, and a flattening stone. I also got a Naniwa 12,000.

Is the flattening stone the same as a lapping stone?

I bought a shave ready razor from vintagestraightrazor.com. I've used it twice and it's clearly not sharp enough. Hence the purchase of the stones.

Being new to this, I would prefer to send the razor to a honing service. Since the shipping costs are a bit ridiculous from India, I decided just to buy the stones and give it a go.

I'd prefer not to spend a ton, but I don't want to buy something cheap that won't give me a good edge. Should I be looking for a finishing stone in place of chromium oxide? Is chromium oxide available in Tokyo? (I realize you're in West Palm)

Thanks again for the reply. You'll have to pardon my ignorance on all this. Haven't had a chance to browse through the forum just yet.

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Originally Posted by starvingcfi

Thanks for the reply. I bought the Norton Water Stone Kit from shavenation.com...which comes with a 220/1000, a 4000/8000, and a flattening stone. I also got a Naniwa 12,000.

Is the flattening stone the same as a lapping stone?

I bought a shave ready razor from vintagestraightrazor.com. I've used it twice and it's clearly not sharp enough. Hence the purchase of the stones.

Being new to this, I would prefer to send the razor to a honing service. Since the shipping costs are a bit ridiculous from India, I decided just to buy the stones and give it a go.

I'd prefer not to spend a ton, but I don't want to buy something cheap that won't give me a good edge. Should I be looking for a finishing stone in place of chromium oxide? Is chromium oxide available in Tokyo? (I realize you're in West Palm)

Thanks again for the reply. You'll have to pardon my ignorance on all this. Haven't had a chance to browse through the forum just yet.

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The stones you bought are definitely highly recommended for straight razors. They should sell Crox in Japan, as its used by woodworkers as well. And I recommend you buy the Crox, your Naniwa 12,000 is much recommended finishing stone. And the Crox complements that particular finisher., however it's not nessesary.

The flattening stone is a lapping stone, however, you would need to flatten the flattening stone with sand paper and a flat surface, like glass or granite tile or some thing that is machine flat.

Before you put any steel to stones, read ALL the information on the library, about shaving with a straight, then honing, it took me about a month or two.

The number one complaint of new people coming to straight razor shaving, is that the razor are not sharp enough and leave hair behind. I don't know what percentage for sure, but I'll venture to say, about 80% of the time is not lack of sharpness, but technic on using the razor. Sometimes, the new user ruins the edge on the first strop or touch the edge against something hard and ruins the shave ready edge.

Please, read the library, then do searches on topics and ask questions. I'm definitely grateful to the people on this site for making possible for me to enjoy this great sport! And yes, I get better shaves than with a DE, but took me about three month of shaving, and then three more to be consistent. Don't give up and take your time the journey is the fun part. Double O

Thanks for the advice. I didn't consider the need to flatten the flattening stone. Can you recommend a grit for the sandpaper?

The Norton kit comes with an instructional DVD. I've watched a few YouTube videos thus far. Hopefully the combination of YouTube videos, the instructional DVD, and this forum will provide enough information to get me started. I'm sure there's going to be quite a learning curve.

Excellent point about the improper form. However, my 'shave ready' razor does not come close to passing the HHT. I'd like to begin this learning process with a razor that's equally as sharp as my Merkur blades.

I'm looking forward to learning this new skill. If it's half as gratifying as switching from disposables to the Merkur, I'm sure I'll have a blast.

Are there no members in Japan anymore?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by starvingcfi

Thanks for the advice. I didn't consider the need to flatten the flattening stone. Can you recommend a grit for the sandpaper?

The Norton kit comes with an instructional DVD. I've watched a few YouTube videos thus far. Hopefully the combination of YouTube videos, the instructional DVD, and this forum will provide enough information to get me started. I'm sure there's going to be quite a learning curve.

Excellent point about the improper form. However, my 'shave ready' razor does not come close to passing the HHT. I'd like to begin this learning process with a razor that's equally as sharp as my Merkur blades.

I'm looking forward to learning this new skill. If it's half as gratifying as switching from disposables to the Merkur, I'm sure I'll have a blast.

Are there no members in Japan anymore?

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I think there are maybe a handful, although I'm not sure how many are in Tokyo.

I live in Japan, but know nothing about honing, stropping, lapping etc, so cannot help at all. The Japan section of this forum is very quiet these days.

you "must" buy naniwa set :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by starvingcfi

Thanks for the advice. I didn't consider the need to flatten the flattening stone. Can you recommend a grit for the sandpaper?

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See if this helps
Hone Lapping 101 - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Awesome. Thank you.

Google & ye shall receive. :)

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Originally Posted by onimaru55

Google & ye shall receive. :)

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:p

I had that coming. Enough with the questions.

This thread was actually more of a 'can I get chromium oxide in Tokyo' sort of thing, but it seemed to tail off in a different direction.

I plan to stop by this place (English�FMorihei corporation) to see what they've got. If I don't end up buying a higher grit finishing stone, I'll just suck it up and order a tube from shavenation.com.

Thanks for all the info thus far, guys.

If you walk away from there without a Jnat your will is stronger than mine . :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by starvingcfi

:p

I had that coming. Enough with the questions.

This thread was actually more of a 'can I get chromium oxide in Tokyo' sort of thing, but it seemed to tail off in a different direction.

I plan to stop by this place (English�FMorihei corporation) to see what they've got. If I don't end up buying a higher grit finishing stone, I'll just suck it up and order a tube from shavenation.com.

Thanks for all the info thus far, guys.

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You will find that the threads do (wonder) and that's because there are so many things that 'we' want to share to try to help!!

Personally, while I did purchase some chromium oxide I've found that I don't 'prefer' it! I like my edge right off of my Naniwa 12k!

Here as always, so much of this Art is 'personal preference'!!

Enjoy the ride! It's well worth it! :y

Well, I just found out I'll only be in Tokyo for about 20 hours. May not make it to that shop after all. :gaah:

Thanks Cuda. If I can get a comfortable edge with the 12,000 I'll just wait until I'm in the states next month to grab some chromium oxide.