Hi guys, wanted to share my new acquisition. It was made for me by Tslil (Alchemist), a true gentleman to deal with. I've had a couple of shaves with it; it is lighter than what I'm used to, but it is so sharp that there really is no effort in slicing hairs.
It being my first Japanese style razor, I was surprised at how easy it was from shave one to cover every spot on my beard doing just a right handed, one side of the blade shave. Thanks to JimR's video, I realized early that I really had to forget about a regular approach and just let the blade do it's thing. I think because the edge is only 50mm, this is accomplished easier than, say, with a razor edge of western proportions.
The sheath (saya), is bamboo to match the handle.
Anyhoo, here are the pictures taken by TC, the brush and bowl are his. Enjoy
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/9010/tcblade6.jpg
http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/481/tcblade5.jpg
http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/3306/tcblade3.jpg
http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/1053/tcblade2.jpg
http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/7982/tcblade1.jpg