Thread: Help Identifying a Handmade Japanese Razor

I received a beautiful handmade Japanese straight razor as a gift from my brother 15 years ago. When I received it, I didn't really understand what he was giving me; all I knew is that it was the nicest thing I owned (I was in my early 20's). The gift included Shapton 8000 and 2000 grit stones to sharpen it on. In retrospect it must have been a week's pay for my brother at the time. He sourced the knife through Harrelson Stanley, who is now the president of Shapton USA, and knows a bit about knives. Apparently, the razor was made by an elderly Japanese master craftsman. It took my brother nearly a year to get the knife, so it must be somewhat unusual. I think I remember my brother telling me that the craftsman a short while later.

My brother has no recollection of who made the razor, and can't find any records related to the purchase. Mr. Stanley is a bit tough to get a hold of these days for things like knife identification . This knife is still my most prized possession, and I intend to pass it down to my own son when he is ready for it. I'd like to know the name of the craftsman who built it, so that I can tell my son the story of the knife, and honor the craftsman who made it.

The blade has no shortage of kanji, but it's all Greek to me. The folks on this forum know more about razors than just about anyone; I'm hoping there is someone out there that might be able to help me. Here are some pictures.

i have no helpful knowledge, but it looks very nice. almost looks like iwasaki markings, but again, i have no clue. im excited to hear what others say.

This is an Iwasaki Western Tamahagane hand forged from traditionally smelted Tamahagane. They stopped making them in the 80's I believe. Congrats you have a piece of art and a very rare razor on your hands. It also seems to be in exceptional condition.

The kanji on the back side is a the number of the batch and the number of the razor blade in the batch. If you post a clear pic of all symbols I can tell you exactly what the batch is.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Mainaman: I'm amazed that you were able to identify it so quickly! I wasn't sure I was going to be able to identify it all without getting in touch with Harrelson Stanley. It sounds like Mr. Stanley went through a great deal of trouble to get this knife for my brother. It's been so long that I don't really remember the details of why it was so difficult. For some reason I thought that Mr. Stanley had to cajol the maker into making it; this would have been around the year 2000. Maybe I'm just remembering that wrong though. Maybe it was just took so long to get because they weren't making them anymore. I do remember my brother telling me that the steel was very special and that it was made in some special traditional way that almost no one does anymore. I don't know much about Japanese razors though, my other razors are all German.

When he gave me the knife as a gift, I had just started shaving with straight razors. I had a handful of new dovo knives that were considerably more ornate than this one. In fact, the handle on this razor seemed really cheap compared to the dovo's. As soon as I picked it up though I could tell that it was special. I didn't know much about razor's or steel, but it was evident that this one was handmade and that whoever made it knew what they were doing. It always seemed too special to use for some reason. I guess I'll continue putting camelia oil on this one once a year after all

Here is a better picture of the Kanji. I would be beyond thrilled if you can identify when this was made, or anything else about this knife. I'll be handing this down to my son and I would love to be able to tell him more about it. This is the best picture I could take with my camera phone after many attempts (it has a hard time with macro photos). I'll keep trying if you need a clearer picture.

Here the translation of the Kanji. Your razor was the sixth razor from batch 1901. Does the paper slip have a table on it by any chance? Can you post pictures of both sides?

Originally Posted by Dovo1695

Mainaman: I'm amazed that you were able to identify it so quickly! I wasn't sure I was going to be able to identify it all without getting in touch with Harrelson Stanley. It sounds like Mr. Stanley went through a great deal of trouble to get this knife for my brother. It's been so long that I don't really remember the details of why it was so difficult. For some reason I thought that Mr. Stanley had to cajol the maker into making it; this would have been around the year 2000. Maybe I'm just remembering that wrong though. Maybe it was just took so long to get because they weren't making them anymore. I do remember my brother telling me that the steel was very special and that it was made in some special traditional way that almost no one does anymore. I don't know much about Japanese razors though, my other razors are all German.

I have had three of those razors, currently only tow in my possesion. What makes them special, IMO, is the steel. It is traditional Tamahagane, as used in samurai swords. It is differentially heat treated, so with proper etch the steel will have a hamon. The steel is very hard, in the range of 64-67 HRC, yet the edge is very flexible and does not chip. As I said a work of art and high craftsmanship you probably will not find anymore.

Here pics of two of mine (the black sclaed one is gone now) etched so that the hamon is visible.

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...

That's an beautiful pair of razors! They look just like mine.

I looked up kanji's for numbers 1-10 and it looks like your black one is 1676 vs my 1901, which I guess makes yours quite a bit older. Did you ever determine when yours was made?

Receiving this razor as a gift is a little like someone saying "here, I got you this old picture" and they hand you the Mona Lisa. In the straight razor world, this is one of the finest, most sought after, most expensive straights there are. I don't exaggerate when I say these routinely sell for thousands of dollars in the condition yours is in. I've never seen one without plain black scales from the maker. The fact that yours has colorful scales only adds to the beauty and rarity of yours.

Here is some info about the craftsman who made your razor. I think you'll find it interesting.

Iwasaki-sensei: Lessons Learned Part 2 | Eastern Smooth: The Blog

IWASAKI 67mm Tamahagane Blade 1637.2 Straight Razor

https://sites.google.com/site/transl...attredirects=0

All credit to original posters, JimR of Eastern Smooth and Takeshi at A Frames Tokyo.