Thread: Japanese Razors

So finally after a couple weeks of shipping, and another week or so of it being stuck in customs, my 2 new shiny Japanese Razors have showed up!

The very first thing I noticed, was that I couldn't find the seam in the wooden box they came in. Somewhat of a small thing, but it still impressed me how the Japanese have such an attention to detail and a devotion to perfection.

They came to me about as blunt as a butter knife (at least for my tastes), but in comparison to most razors, about the same as a DOVO comes from the factory. I still think large razor companies should have a honemeister on-site to make each razor truly shave-ready. Who from DOVO or TI are actually shaving with their razors right out of the box? Anyway...back on topic, I was hoping for some reason that the Japanese would be a bit ahead, but possibly if I had gotten an Iwasaki...

Anyway, it did however come pretty well ground, and nearly flat. It only took around an hour to flatten the bevel perfectly on my DMT plates. My assumption is that they used a natural stone that may not have been perfectly flat, but still was pretty close. The pictures aren't the greatest...I'm no photographer, but I think you should be able to see the two types of steel, the outer steel is somewhat rough looking.

As for the shave, after honing on the DMT then using pastes down to 0.25 micron, I was very pleased with the results, but the razor seemed TOO sharp. I think with this type of steel that either Chromium Oxide or a Chinese 12k would be the ideal finish. I'll be getting a CrO paddle courtesy of a member here at SRP soon, so I'm hoping to see if that works well for me to calm the edge down a bit. With the proper finishing I think this razor has the potential to be vastly better than my other western style hollow ground razors...but it is worth noting I don't have any wedges, and I think my experience with this razor really makes me want to try one.

One other thing about the shave, is that this type of razor seems much easier to maneuver to me. And though some people say only the hollow ground side is supposed to be against your face when shaving, I used both sides and it worked very well, but you do have to adjust your angle as it is different for each side. I was also a bit worried about the size of the razor, but I find that I never use the entire length of any of my other razors anyway, and so the shave with this one didn't take any longer than usual.

Overall, it's quite a bit of work to get one of these out of Japan, but assuming you have the chance, I would venture to say that it is very much worth the time, effort and money that I put into this. Next stop...Iwasaki.......