Thread: Help Identifying a Handmade Japanese Razor

Originally Posted by Dovo1695

Amazing! Thanks for translating that! Here are pictures of the front and the back of the paper. I'm not sure whether there is anything useful, it just looked like scrap paper to me. The back is blank but I took the picture anyway. The paper is blank where the blade is covering on both sides btw. As I'm posting this I'm realizing that I'm probably shouldn't be using this razor as a paperweight to keep the paper flat...

The paper does not contain any information on the hardness of the steel, it is just a slip used to protect the blade from moisture and scratches is my guess.

@Entropy1049: Thanks so much for the links to Iwasaki biographical info and to the book by Kousuke Iwasaki; I've already started reading through it. I'm thrilled to have so much biographical information. I'm frankly a bit astonished by what I have. I guess my instinct that it was simply too nice to use was correct!

@Mainaman: Thanks so much for your help in identifying this razor. For me, this was an heirloom piece simply because it was such an astonishing gift from my brother, and because it was clearly handmade by someone talented. I figured it was a $300-$400 razor. It's wonderful to discover that it really is a very rare heirloom piece that I can be proud to hand down to my own son.

I'm going to give my brother a call to get more information on the knive's background story...

Originally Posted by Dovo1695

@Entropy1049: Thanks so much for the links to Iwasaki biographical info and to the book by Kousuke Iwasaki; I've already started reading through it. I'm thrilled to have so much biographical information. I'm frankly a bit astonished by what I have. I guess my instinct that it was simply too nice to use was correct!

@Mainaman: Thanks so much for your help in identifying this razor. For me, this was an heirloom piece simply because it was such an astonishing gift from my brother, and because it was clearly handmade by someone talented. I figured it was a $300-$400 razor. It's wonderful to discover that it really is a very rare heirloom piece that I can be proud to hand down to my own son.

I'm going to give my brother a call to get more information on the knive's background story...

If possible it would be interesting to hear how your brother got the razor.

There is a fine gent down in the international forum who should be called to fore. I will get on that!
Arsenico has been requested to opine.
In any case, the tip of the razor looks suspiciously modified, or is it just me?
Is it (heaven forbid!) the same razor? A pic of the tang-stamp on the razor in-hand, please?

Nevermind.. The pics from the OP alongside the pics in post #8 reveal two different razors.

Originally Posted by sharptonn

There is a fine gent down in the international forum who should be called to fore. I will get on that!
Arsenico has been requested to opine.
In any case, the tip of the razor looks suspiciously modified, or is it just me?
Is it (heaven forbid!) the same razor? A pic of the tang-stamp on the razor in-hand, please?

Tom, I think the tip is fine. As these were made 100% by hand, there are minute inconsistencies between them. Compare the tips of Stefan's razors in his pic, the white scaled tI is slightly more rounded than the black scaled tI.

Originally Posted by Dovo1695

I guess my instinct that it was simply too nice to use was correct!

My friend, if you are a straight shaver, you owe it to yourself to use that baby. If you are not a straight shaver, learn how to become one on a lesser razor and train up to using the Iwasaki. It is simply sublime.

Sorry if I am wrong. The razor in the OP alongside the razor in post #8 show two different razors.
Am I missing something?

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Sorry if I am wrong. The razor in the OP alongside the razor in post #8 show two different razors.
Am I missing something?

I'm pretty sure it's the same razor, what do you see that leads you to think otherwise? My eyes aren't what they used to be and I may be missing something.

I spoke with my brother regarding how he came by the razor. Here is what he said:

My brother decided around 2000 that he was going to buy me an extraordinary gift (that's a long story in and of itself). He knew that I was learning to shave with straight razors, so he thought he would buy me a very rare Japanese natural stone. Those were hard to find, and he got in touch with Harrelson Stanley, who had apprenticed in Japan as a lacquerer for 10 years, and was now stateside and selling very high end Japanese tools. Stanley talked him out of buying the stone, on the grounds that a sharpening novice was completely unqualified to use a $10,000 stone. Instead he suggested that his master was great friends with a master razor maker, and that he would try and see if he could have a pair of very rare razors made out of tamahagane. He told my brother that it would probably take a few months for the razors to be made, and that they would be the finest razors in the world.

My brother agreed that this would be perfect. In the meantime, he purchased half a dozen very high end kitchen knives from Stanley made by famous Japanese makers, as well as several stones. My brother kept checking in with Mr. Stanley to see if the razors were completed. Apparently there were health complications that arose, and the maker (apparently Mr. Iwasaki) was not able to make the knives. It took almost a year before Mr. Stanley called my brother with good news. Actually, my brother recalls that Mr. Stanley called him and said something to the effect of "There is good news and there is bad news. The good news is that the knives have been completed, the bad news is that these may be the last ones like this ever made, and I can't possibly give them both to you. I am going to keep one for myself." My brother wasn't terribly happy about this but given the 1 year effort of by Mr. Stanley to acquire the knife, he could hardly argue.

In the end, my brother gave me the razor along with a Shapton 2000 and 8000 waterstone. He never really told me the full story until tonight. All I knew was that it was an extraordinary razor made by a master craftsman.

The curious thing about this is that it sounds like Iwasaki stopped making the Western style knives in the 1980's. Mr. Stanley told my brother that these were newly made. I guess it's possible that Iwasaki made these knives as a special request of a good friend and fellow master craftsman. It's also possible that the knives were made previously but not sold. At the time, Mr. Stanley was selling tools/knives/stones that cost tens of thousands of dollars (although most of the tools he sold were more moderately priced). He's now president of Shapton USA. He doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who is going to make something like that up. In my brief searches today for Western Style tamahagane Iwasaki knives, mine is by far the oldest batch number that I've ever seen at 1901. The next oldest I've seen was around 1800. That said, it's been 15 years or so, so my brother's recollection may not be perfect either. I'm not sure what to make of it all.

All I know for sure is that if Mr. Stanley got two of these knives, I want to track down that second one!

Great story Dovo1695. And you have in your hands a beautiful razor. Just my opinion, I think you should use this razor. I definitely would and I would also love to have a razor such as this! Smooth shaves to you.


Mike