Thread: Kamisori vs southpaw. Is there any chance?

The best razors on that page are by Iwasaki. Look at the size of the bevels in comparison to the others.

Pictures of the katana also to follow I hope .

I just have a few shaves under my belt from a Kamisori. Got some advise from Oz down there! Righthanded blade, righthanded shave, and flipping as with a western grind. Plenty-sharp, the first one left some irritation. I learned fast to change to a shallower angle on the Ura side. Not a big deal! All it takes is to do it.
Becomes second nature, IMO. 3rd shave was awesome! Fun thing, once in a while!

Just a couple scientific wild ass guesses. As to the why of the kamisori construction.

The asymmetry was due the the difficulty getting a steel that would harder and be tempered from a rough iron bloom made from black sand as ore. The cutting surface was almost always very thin and backed by what we might call wrought iron or mild steel. Seems most all traditional sharp tools in Japan were made that way and many still are with modern materials. Interesting to me is that a supplier of good steel in Japan still uses black sand as the ore to make their steel ( Yasuki Steel)

Those folks were mostly shaved by barbers as the shape and tying of the hair and the bald areas around it were definite class symbols in the Hierarchy. A barber can walk around his subject and the handedness was for his? benefit.
Living there I do not remember a barber switching hand whatever he used as a blade.
Your guesses are as good as mine!
~Richard
PS, It is no problem to shave with the traditional kamisori and setting blade to skin angle is natural without thinking after a couple uses. The sizes are similar to the half blade and full blade shavettes. and they do shave well.
Do not try to hone one your self!!

Velocityboy. If and when you get a kamisori I hope you get as much enjoyment using one as I do. Some people get one and can't get on with them but I love using mine, just as much as or more so than a normal straight. Use it however you want to but if you're going to just use your left hand I hope you're flexible!

Originally Posted by onimaru55

The best razors on that page are by Iwasaki. Look at the size of the bevels in comparison to the others.

Pictures of the katana also to follow I hope .

Indeed I do like the look of Iwasaki's work. Probably my favorite. Alas extensive searching has turned up nothing in the lefty dept for Iwasaki. I'm starting to lean toward this one:
Japanese Straight Razor Kamisori New in Wooden Box for Left Handed | eBay

Decent middle-of-the-road price for a new one, and the maker, Mizuike Kobo seems to get pretty good reviews here at SRP:
http://straightrazorpalace.com/razor...-producer.html

The Katana/Taki/undecided referenced in my initial post...I'll be happy to post some pics, right now! It's still being researched...I even have a guy on another forum reaching out to people in Tokyo about it; and I've contacted a forum of Sword experts/enthusiasts with an information request, but I have yet to hear back from them. Certainly if you (or anyone else) has any input feel free to share! First hurtle is getting the signature identified.

Sword's been shortened at some point. It was commonly done with Tachi..
Looks in quite ok polish.
Gratz.

Originally Posted by Geezer

J
Do not try to hone one your self!!

What happens? Does it explode? I understand there is some trickery to honing one... an X:Y ratio per side, but are they that impossible? Honestly, I wouldn't try honing one until I did some real research on here, but I've grown pretty successful using my stones (1k, 4k, 8k, 12k, CrOx) on all my other razor exploits. Certainly I'd be interested to hear your input, as some have noted that these blades often come less than shave-ready.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Sword's been shortened at some point. It was commonly done with Tachi..
Looks in quite ok polish.
Gratz.

You're not the first person to say its been shortened. Someone else on another forum did too, though he couldn't claim much confidence in his statement. Is it the length of the tang? The "incomplete" look of the signature? I'd appreciate your insight on it!

Originally Posted by velocityboy

You're not the first person to say its been shortened. Someone else on another forum did too, though he couldn't claim much confidence in his statement. Is it the length of the tang? The "incomplete" look of the signature? I'd appreciate your insight on it!

The mekugi-ana (pinhole) is normally quite close to the tsuba & the mei (signature) seems to finish abrupty near the end of the tang. The squared butt also hints at shortening. Normally the tail end is slimmer & to reproduce that it may be necessarry to trim the edges near the mei so they simply squared it off.
Like I said it was quite common especially when the sabre style Tachi was replaced by the katana. People converted their older swords.

[Do not try to hone one your self!!
What happens? Does it explode? I understand there is some trickery to honing one... an X:Y ratio per side, but are they that impossible? Honestly, I wouldn't try honing one until I did some real research on here, but I've grown pretty successful using my stones (1k, 4k, 8k, 12k, CrOx) on all my other razor exploits. Certainly I'd be interested to hear your input, as some have noted that these blades often come less than shave-ready.]

No it's won't explode however if you are ham handed with one you can seriously screw one up past repair very rapidly. Much more so than with a western razor. We have much resource material on this topic on the site.

It's all in stroke ratios and especially knowing how much pressure to use as you hone.

I'm a left hander and I can shave fine with a standard kamisori. I have read that they made them for left handed people but I've never seen one identified as such.