Thread: 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!)