Thread: Japanese razors, for right handed people only?

Been looking at things like these...



and also reading some posts here that suggest they perform best on one plane. I'm left handed, right arm isn't very useful due to multiple fractures (wrist to shoulder) picked up in a bike crash.

Does anyone know of a left handed person that uses one of these successfully?

Old_School would know. I have often wondered myself.

I have one like that, but with the bamboo wrap and a stainless steel. The tang is skinny even with the thin bamboo. I thought I'd not get used to it. However, it's become pretty much the go to razor now. The way they are ground looks funny and aside from the shorter blade mine just wipes off hair. Long or stubble, no difference.

Use either side to shave with, strop both sides as usual. You might find yours to be better when honed only on one side. I have honed on one side only and put it back into service and honed on both sides with not really much apparent difference in performance. You'll adjust to the right angle just as you would with a straight straight. When I use a regular straight now, it feels heavy and weird.

Mike, the width of these blades had me thinking. With my current Wapi, I can't actually use the full width of the blade because the resistance of chomping though my stubble is immense, instead I have to scrape, scrape, scrape. Now obviously, with a narrower blade, the amount of hairs being cut in one pass is less, which kind of explains why people say they are ideal for wirebeards. I reckon my Wapi with 1" off the end would probably be easier to use.

Thanks for the reply, all very handy

All I'm going to say is if you look at the razor you'll notice the edge is canted towards the concave side of the blade. So why would you want to shave with an edge that is canted away from your face? If you shave with the convex side towards your face that is what you are doing. Yes the razor will shave on both sides however if you hone properly there should be a difference. if you hone improperly you've thrown off the asymmetry of the razor and created a frankenrazor.

Originally Posted by netsurfr

Old_School would know. I have often wondered myself.

Never seen a left handed one that was made in Japan or by a Japanese artisan, that's not to say they don't exist. There was a member who had made a left handed Japanese style one, I don't recall his name, and am unsure if he ever came back after making the one thread.

Russel Baldridge (sp?) On the other hand does make custom Japanese style razors which look pretty good. You might PM him and see if he has time to whip one up for you.

Originally Posted by Shredder

Mike, the width of these blades had me thinking. With my current Wapi, I can't actually use the full width of the blade because the resistance of chomping though my stubble is immense, instead I have to scrape, scrape, scrape. Now obviously, with a narrower blade, the amount of hairs being cut in one pass is less, which kind of explains why people say they are ideal for wirebeards. I reckon my Wapi with 1" off the end would probably be easier to use.

Thanks for the reply, all very handy

I don't have the greatest shave stylings or technique, but I think you could just use a portion of the blade, toe or heel without requiring a chop job. A chop job is a fine idea as well.

If you haven't seen Russ' Japanese style razors you should search 'em up.
But it doesn't sound like you are especially hunting a kamisori just a short blade.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

All I'm going to say is if you look at the razor you'll notice the edge is canted towards the concave side of the blade. So why would you want to shave with an edge that is canted away from your face? If you shave with the convex side towards your face that is what you are doing. Yes the razor will shave on both sides however if you hone properly there should be a difference. if you hone improperly you've thrown off the asymmetry of the razor and created a frankenrazor.

The concave side lays flat on my stone. No problem there. The convex side has a secondary bevel that was there beforehand. Only the secondary bevel was honed. In either case, there are two flat bevels that approach the edge. This is the edge angle and it remains the same despite the bend formed by the concave and convex sides. The concave side really does making single side honing much easier. I took pictures of this blade and it appears no different than when I bought it. So it ain't Frankied yet.

My hand has apparently figured out the correct angle for shaving, despite the cant. Must be the automatic pilot in my head or something that adjusts to what needs to be done.

Now that I think of that, I've definitely seen left and right handed Japanese knives but I cannot find any reference to a left handed razor. Either way, despite which hand is being used, at some point the wrong side will be doing the shaving.

Originally Posted by OLD_SCHOOL

Never seen a left handed one that was made in Japan or by a Japanese artisan, that's not to say they don't exist. There was a member who had made a left handed Japanese style one, I don't recall his name, and am unsure if he ever came back after making the one thread.

I never saw him again after his initial thread. Pity, because his razors looked interesting.
Search the gallery and you might find them again.

I posted those razors I made in the gallery a while back. Old School, even looking at my Iwasaki razor I do not see how you percieve the edge cants towards the concave side. With a half width hollow
on the bevel concave side, and a full width hollow on the other side, the geometry of the blade makes the edge cant towards the full hollow side in my eye. I have trouble posting on my home computer so stopped posting. Lets see if this makes it through.