Question on Iwasakis

Hi dear fellas!

I' ve been given an Iwasaki as gift from a friend (he had it for a couple of years but never used it).

The thing is that I use europoean straights (TI, Filarmonica) and this little beauty is totally different.

I have not tried to shave with this because I think that it needs honing.

Can you suggest from your personal experience the recommended way of honing an Iwasaki?

I would very much appreciate your thoughts, because I do not want to screw up with this masterpiece!!

Thanks in advance.

I have got an Iwasaki and I hone it the way I hone a European razor, but that's not the way you are supposed to do it and it gives me great shaves. There's various decriptions of how it should be done, most in Japanese and poorly translated.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by esal

........ because I do not want to screw up with this masterpiece!!

Thanks in advance.

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+1 on this.......:w
Like you said, it is a masterpiece - i think i'll keep mine that way........:bow

I'd be interested to know though.

regards,

mark......

Iwasakis are Japanese masterpieces. That was a great (not to mention expensive) gift.
Some people hone them like a normal western style straight, while others use an asymmetrical honing aproach.

If you search for iwasaki on this forum, you will find lengthy discussions on this very topic.
And welcome to SRP.

Try these links.

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The proper way to hone is using a 12K hone and about 3 strokes on the concave side to 2 strokes on the convex side of the blade with considerable downward pressure and using a back and forth motion.

For the iwasaki you can also effectively use a diamond pasted strop with .5 and .25.

And now we need someone to translate all this.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kees

And now we need someone to translate all this.

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I've been working on that kees.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/basic...akamisori.html

Thank you all....You have been very helpful!!