A Tip For Someone Buying Their First Kamisori

As I've been shaving exclusively with Kamisori style razors for over two years now and I thought I'd pass along an observation. If this is your first Kami, whether traditional Japanese style or Western style, I would gravitate toward one that has a tacky handle. By this I mean that Japanese kami's often have an unwrapped, plain metal tang (handle) and many Westerns have either unwrapped metal or rubber or even a polished wood handle.

I would avoid these for a newbie simply because soap is slippery and (if you use) razor oil is even slicker. I would recommend a Japanese kami with a rattan or cord-wrapped handle and similarly a cord or cloth-wrapped Western. You will appreciate the control that having a tacky handle gives you when you are first figuring out the nuances of shaving without some scales to be able to grip between your fingers.

Cheers!

Well said! Even a tight wrapping of cord over some cotton fabric does wonders for safe shaves.
I have a few and each had a different tang finish method. The greater diameter and non slip gripping are my preference.
~Richard

I like the rattan. Wrapping a rubber band around it helped with the grip.

The Tosuke's came with a blue rubber grip textured and they were very non slip. The handles were available for some time after he died.

Many like to take the handles and wraps off kamisori due to rust issues down the road.

My Inoue also came with a blue rubber grip.
Easy enough to replace it with reed.
The discoloration under the wrap is natural/forge scale - ie it is un-polished there - not corrosion.
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These is another idea that Charlie came up with years ago and I copied on one of my personal Kamisori..

You can actually completely seal the handle using Epoxy if you want to really get crazy

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When I bought my Kami from a local artisan, I immediately covered the tang in a waxed cord. It made handling the Kami far easier.