Hello from a kamisori fan in London!

Hi everyone,

My name is Casper, and I live in London, UK. I have shaved with one straight razor for about 15 years, a Henckels Zwilling stainless steel which I bought from a local cutler in 2005. I got started by taking tips from the then Straight Razor Place Yahoo forum. Synthetic stones were at that time difficult to find in Europe, and there was far less in the way of straight razor retail, so I bought two Japanese natural finishing stones from woodworking places along with a very basic natural nagura. I found a strop and some red strop paste at my local ironmongers. This allowed me to keep my edge in shape for all those years, and though it was never super keen it allowed me to shave comfortably until it needed another refresh on the stone.

Late last year, I got the shaving bug again somehow. I had always thought about trying out a kamisori, but never took the plunge somehow. I got in touch with Tony Milton at Japanese Razor, and I bought one of the kamisoris he made himself. He very kindly included a heavily used Henkotsu for me to restore for honing practice. Well, I am hooked! I have since bought a kamisori from a maker in the US, and when an Iwasaki came up on the BST of another site at a very good price, I snapped it up! This was a dream razor for me and it had a great edge from Jamie to boot.

There is something about the Japanese razor that I love. Its smaller size, the lack of awkward scales, even the asymmetrical grind. It fits me much better than the traditional Western straight, I have to say. I might have to send my old reliable Henckels off to a hone meister just to treat myself (tips welcome!) - it does not get much use these days but that might change in the future.

After my razor splurge, I might look to upgrade my strop from a rather basic 2" Solingen number to something nicer (does it make a difference?). In any case, I am very much enjoying the reinvigoration of my straight shaving and discovering more about the wonderful world of Japanese razors and hones, improving my sharpening skills and enjoying the interaction on the forum.

I have attached two pictures of my Tony Milton kamisori, make of white paper no. 2 steel, in the box that I made for it, with some gold leaf decoration. (I know the hinges are a bit crude - I might replace those!)

Welcome to the forum
That’s a nice Kamisori

Enjoy the forum, lots of information that goes way back and I’m sure many members still active from those early days.

Welcome. Beautiful razor.

Welcome!

Check out the Japanese razor thread. https://sharprazorpalace.com/razor-c...straights.html

I have a good few Kamisori, they are great to use.

Welcome to the forum. Nice work on that box.

Bob

Welcome to SRP. Strops run the gamut much like razors, so your choice usually results from personal preference as they all accomplish the same goal. The key quality — draw — varies from light to heavy and indicates the ease with which a blade slides over the strop’s surface. You have to try out a few strops to determine what your preference is in this regard.

Hello Casper and welcome to SRP.
That sure is a beautiful kamisori.
Enjoy the forum.

Pete <-}

Welcome, Casper, you know me from over on the UK forum ATG, I honed your Iwasaki Kamisori, AKA Jamie.:)

Hi Casper and welcome.

Welcome Casper. I hope you enjoy it here.

Welcome from a Kamisori fan in North Idaho LOL

Welcome officially, though it sounds like you have been with us for a long while.

Yes, strops make a difference, a big difference especially once you have mastered stropping, which you probably have.

One of the largest differences are the condition and cleanliness of your strop. When was the last time it was cleaned and hydrated?

Take a white paper towel fold it into quarters and wipe your strop, see what comes off. Dampen the back of the towel pad and wipe again, let it dry and see what came off.

Airborne dust is everywhere and been landing on your strop since 2005. Airborne dust is large enough to easily scratch a bevel, a scratch terminates at the edge in a chip.

Imagine, your cars paint finish, do you polish your car with a dusty rag? The last opportunity to polish your razor’s edge before you put it to your face is with a strop.

Stropping is hugely underrated.


Take a look at the micrographs in Tim’s post, (How effective is clean fabric)

Notice the polish just behind the edge, also notice the straightness of the stropped edge.

And that is just 40 laps on linen.

Forgot to say, since you like your Kamisori and are on the lookout for a strop have a gander at Kanayamas, to many, myself included, they are the pinnacle of razor strops, and they are made in Japan too.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Euclid440

Welcome officially, though it sounds like you have been with us for a long while.

Yes, strops make a difference, a big difference especially once you have mastered stropping, which you probably have.

One of the largest differences are the condition and cleanliness of your strop. When was the last time it was cleaned and hydrated?

Take a white paper towel fold it into quarters and wipe your strop, see what comes off. Dampen the back of the towel pad and wipe again, let it dry and see what came off.

Airborne dust is everywhere and been landing on your strop since 2005. Airborne dust is large enough to easily scratch a bevel, a scratch terminates at the edge in a chip.

Imagine, your cars paint finish, do you polish your car with a dusty rag? The last opportunity to polish your razor’s edge before you put it to your face is with a strop.

Stropping is hugely underrated.


Take a look at the micrographs in Tim’s post, (How effective is clean fabric)

Notice the polish just behind the edge, also notice the straightness of the stropped edge.

And that is just 40 laps on linen.

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Thanks for this! That thread is very illuminating. And I immediately cleaned my strop after reading your advice! It probably needed it badly...

I remember people like Lynn Abrahams and Tilly from back in the day. Are they still around? I believe I bought a barber hone and some NOS barber's linen from Tilly. Still stropping on that linen most days!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by markbignosekelly

Forgot to say, since you like your Kamisori and are on the lookout for a strop have a gander at Kanayamas, to many, myself included, they are the pinnacle of razor strops, and they are made in Japan too.

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Oh yeah, I have been checking these out. I will certainly keep them in mind! They would fit the Japanese theme very well too.

Hi and welcome. Hope you enjoy your stay. We look forward to your input. Very nice work on the box. I think the hinges look okay but a piano hinge could be a nice addition.
There are several people in your area offering honing services. Some right in London. For instance Joseph (JOB15) from Edge Dynamics, edge-dynamics.com to name one. He's a good guy and has an impressive body of work on his site.
Hope you find what you are looking for.

Hi and welcome aboard. Seems Jamie who honed your kamisori would do the Henkels for you too. I find I use different strops for different razors. Cant beat a good condition vintage shell leather and true linen hose strop

Welcome to the forum.

Welcome!

I recently did the same as you... been shaving with straights for many years, but just recently bought my first Kamisori... Its still in delivery, so I dont have any experience yet.

And like you, the two I have incoming: One shave ready, and the other needs a little restoration as it has some devils spit and some burrs on the bevel. So I also bought a Shobu, a Nagura set, and tomo for that work... also on their way! Figured I could bevel it on my Naniwa 1K, and work the rest on the Shobu.

Anyway, enough about our parallels! Welcome to SRP!